David Gold, the Birmingham City chairman, admitted the club's board "made a number of mistakes" which contributed towards the club being relegated from the Barclays Premier League.

"The board made lots of mistakes this season and I carry the mistakes heavy on my shoulders at this moment in time," Gold said. "On reflection we could have done more in January. Alex McLeish brought in good signings like James McFadden and David Murphy but we could have done with a couple more players.

"We failed with a number of bids, not through ambition but because players wanted to go and play in other cities and for other clubs. But there is no doubt that the failed takeover bid caused a lot of grief and culminated in us losing Steve Bruce to Wigan.

"The mistake of the board was in compromising with the takeover in allowing Carson Yeung to complete the deal in two parts - first by buying a 29.9 per cent stake in the club and then giving him three months to tie it all up.

"Our mistake was being gentlemanly and allowing a period of time for the Yeung consortium to raise and put in place the funds required instead of saying 'the deal has to be done in 30 days and not a moment later'.

"It started to break down and ultimately collapsed but by then the damage had been done and Steve left because of all the uncertainty and a number of other issues. We would not make that sort of mistake again if the club was ever in a position to be sold."

Gold is quick to stress he is not looking to sell despite being upset by the personal nature of the abuse from fans during the Blackburn Rovers game. And he has faith in Alex McLeish to take Birmingham back to the Premier League at the first attempt.

"People saying about the huge financial gains that would have come from keeping Premier League status but it is about pride," Gold said. "I want to be in the Premier League. I was awake at four o'clock on Sunday morning and got up soon afterwards because I was feeling the nerves and the tension - and that had nothing to do with money.

"Do I want to sell the club? No, I'm not a willing seller. I'm only a seller if this club can be owned by a substantial player who can take it forward because I have a responsibility to the club. I've always felt that responsibility and that will continue. I want Birmingham to come straight back to the Premier League."

"The one redeeming feature, the one silver lining to this dreadful set of circumstances, is we have in place one of the best set of management teams that are available in Roy Aitken, Andy Watson and Alex McLeish.

"I am confident Alex bring Birmingham back up at the first attempt. I absolutely believe it but I also believe managers alone do not bring back football clubs from the Championship to the Premier League and neither do boards. What does bring clubs back is a combination of team work where everyone comes together, where the board comes together, supportive of their manager, and the manager works together with the board.

"That is what I believe will happen once we overcome this sad day."