David Gold and David Sullivan to sue new Birmingham City owners

The rift between Birmingham City's owners and the previous regime at St Andrew's is set to widen after David Sullivan responded to a writ served against him and four other former board members at the club by vowing to issue a counterclaim for £2m in allegedly unpaid expenses. Birmingham's owners took their own claim for more than £5m in compensation to the High Court on Tuesday after being unhappy with aspects of the financial situation they say they inherited when Carson Yeung completed his £80m takeover in October through his investment vehicle Grandtop International Holdings (now known as Birmingham International Holdings). An investigation that Yeung ordered shortly after assuming control revealed that Sullivan and David Gold, the former co-owners at St Andrew's who now hold identical roles at West Ham, had each paid themselves £420,000 in management fees for the season ahead. Yeung's representatives claim that Sullivan and Gold have not delivered on their promise to return those funds to the club and, having highlighted other areas of what they view as of potential concern, are claiming a total of £5m. Their writ is against Sullivan and Gold, Karren Brady, who was managing director at Birmingham before also moving to Upton Park, and the former board members Ralph Gold and Roger Bannister. Sullivan and Gold had hoped that the matter could have been resolved amicably, through a negotiated settlement, but the latest development has left them resigned to facing the prospect of a protracted and bitter legal battle that could last as long as two years. If no agreement can be reached Sullivan, the Golds, Brady and Bannister say they will issue a £2m counterclaim in relation to allegedly unpaid expenses over a period of six years and monies which they claim Brady is due as part of her contractual entitlement when she left the club. Yeung's camp have dismissed those suggestions as no more than a "knee-jerk reaction" but Sullivan says he intends to fight fire with fire. "Unfortunately as they started it we'll be issuing writs ourselves," he said. "We'll be counter-suing for several million. I don't think it is right for people in football to sue each other as it is not good for either club. Right from the start we tried to find a way to resolve this amicably. Now the only gainers will be the lawyers."