Birmingham City’s trouble at the top
Carson Yeung’s takeover of Birmingham City in 2009 brought with it a sense of optimism and hope at St Andrew’s.
There was a feelgood factor about the club enhanced by Yeung’s promises to invest heavily in the team and Birmingham fans were feeling the love for the man from Hong Kong.
In 2011 Birmingham upset Arsenal in the Carling Cup final and that should have been the platform for the Midlands club to excel themselves to bigger and better things. It was, however, the beginning of what has been a trouble time for the club.
That same year Birmingham were relegated (the first club ever to win silverware and be relegated in the same season). Following relegation to the Championship Yeung was arrested in Hong Kong for money laundering, an incident that accelerated Birmingham’s downward spiral.
With Yeung’s assets frozen as a result of his arrest and trail the club were forced to sell their highest earners leaving them with a threadbare squad.
Manager Alex McLeish jumped ship to Aston Villa and the fact that new manager Chris Hughton was able to get the team to the Championship play-offs amid the chaos is a credit to the now Norwich manager.
The financial implications of being a newly relegated team were compounded by Yeung’s misdemeanors in the far east.
The revelations today of acting chairman Peter Pannu’s demands for cash uncover a dark hierarchy woven into the club’s infrastructure which is unwelcome at a time when stability is key.
2 comments