Amid the calm after the storm, two of Birmingham City's co-owners appeared yesterday to be mellowing after their emotional threats following relegation from the Barclays Premier League on Sunday.

Having received abuse from fans, David Sullivan and David Gold had given warning that they might leave the club. After sober reflection, Sullivan, the plc chairman, has revealed that he is already putting plans in place for life in the Coca-Cola Championship next season. Gold, the club chairman, who said on Sunday that he may resign, is also believed to be considering his position in a more favourable light.

Sullivan, though, remained indignant about the insults directed at not only the board - Ralph Gold, David's brother, is the other co-owner - but also his young sons, David Jr, 8, and Jack, 6. Some Birmingham fans ran on to the pitch at the end of the 4-1 victory over Blackburn Rovers, which failed to save the team, and broke a set of goalposts.

“When there's a large chunk of your supporters singing, 'Sack the board,'” Sullivan said, “and shouting at me, in front of my kids, '**** off you little ******', you think to yourself, 'What am I doing here?'

“The kids were upset, but they are resilient. They were OK afterwards and it's probably character-building for them. Me, I admit that you have only so many fights left in you, and yesterday left a sour taste. I have given 15 years of my life to the club and it's in a lot better shape than many others.

“Yes, we were relegated and that hurt everyone. But we can come back from this and, although the fans want me out, first thing today I was putting plans into place for next season. If someone wants to come in and take over, and they could do a better job, then fine. But what is the alternative as of now?”

Gold was similarly distressed by the reaction of sections of the fans. “The people doing it in front of where you are sitting are the ones that really hurt because you can see the hatred in their eyes,” he said. “Probably, if I wasn't chairman, I'd be joining them. But what I wouldn't be joining in was the venomous verbal attack that went far beyond being unpleasant.

“I am hoping it was a minority and maybe that's survivable. But when it's a collective thing, they are embracing the board, all of us, you think, 'Is it the time to step down?' An hour after the game, my plan was to walk in and resign as chairman. But I have been here before in other businesses when you feel really dreadful and your knee-jerk reaction is to do something that you feel is meaningful. The following morning, you get up and your mood has changed.”

Gold was due to address fans at an end-of-season dinner last night. Two years ago, when the club were last relegated, his speech took on the guise of a lengthy apology. It was believed that Sullivan would not be present at the dinner.

Sullivan partially blamed relegation on Steve Bruce, the former manager, who left for Wigan Athletic in November and was replaced by Alex McLeish. “What I'd like to have said when the manager [Bruce] was buying players last summer was, 'No, you are buying a pile of rubbish,'” Sullivan said. “And we bought a pile of rubbish last summer.

“What people forget is that, prior to the arrival of Alex, we had lost seven of the last eight games. We weren't in great shape. It didn't go wrong when Alex arrived. But I don't lay all the blame with Steve. He bought what he thought was the best he could. With the team we had, I think we would have gone down with or without him.”

Sullivan also gave warning that, if the criticism continued, he could yet sell up. “I don't want that abuse in my life,” he said. “I'm worn out of it. I'd happily have a discussion with an individual one-on-one, but you can't have a conversation with a mob. I think it's 50-50 I'll be at Birmingham next season. Deep down, though, I don't want to be. I don't need any more of that.”