Peter Pannu has been removed as a director of Birmingham City’s parent company, Birmingham International Holdings Ltd, with receivers for the club announcing sweeping changes that could have long-term ramifications.
Birmingham, currently 14th in the Championship, insist the changes will have no impact on the day-to-day running of the club. The removal of Pannu, a long-term associate of the convicted money launderer Carson Yeung, along with the resignation of seven directors still represents a significant overhaul, amid much uncertainty regarding the club’s future.
Ernst and Young, appointed as the club’s receivers last month, announced on the Hong Kong stock exchange that Pannu and Chan Shun Wah had been removed from the BIHL board. Cheung Kwai Nang and Carson Wong Ka Chun have been suspended. Panos Pavlakis, who has effectively been running the club, has also resigned from BIHL, but will remain a club director.
Pannu, Birmingham’s former acting chairman, resigned from the club’s board in December. BIHL bought the Blues in 2009 for £81.5m and Yeung, who owns 27.5% of the company’s shares, is currently serving a six-year prison sentence. Ernst and Young were last month appointed as receivers with the club describing “fractious and inharmonious relations within the management” at BIHL.
Their employees, Stephen Lui and David Yen Ching Wai, have been named chairman and chief executive of BIHL respectively, effectively seeing the receivers take control.
A statement on the club’s website read: “Ernst & Young, receivers of the parent company Birmingham International Holdings Limited, stated last month after its appointment that it is ‘business as usual’ at St Andrew’s. The club can assure supporters and staff that this still very much the case – there is no change in the day to day running of the club.
“Panos Pavlakis continues to lead the UK management team from St. Andrew’s and work closely with Gary Rowett on all football matters, as per usual. The board also carries on working in unison and in full cooperation with the receivers for the good of the club.”
Birmingham’s fortunes have improved drastically under Rowett since October, with the club unbeaten in the last three matches after earning a point at Derby County on Saturday.
