Autobiography

the end to stave off the threat of relegation.
One of the major problems was the signing of
Mike Newell, which was a disaster. Trevor
signed him from Blackburn Rovers and played
him for a while before he became the focus of
a row between Trevor and David Sullivan,
which ended with the striker successfully suing
David, and Birmingham having to pay out
£30,000 in compensation. Newell was
dispatched on loan to West Ham and then
Bradford City.
It was at the start of the following season that
I became Chairman of the club, succeeding the
legendary Jack Wiseman, whilst David Sullivan
became chairman of the public limited
company. There is no doubt that Jack had held
the club together before our arrival, and had
done much to help us through our difficult
early years at the club, but he was now in his
eighties and planning to retire.
I took on the responsibility with apprehension.
It’s not like being chairman of a company
where you know the business inside out, but
my misgivings were offset by the knowledge
that we had a chief executive of Karren Brady’s
calibre to run the day-to-day operation. I saw
my role as pulling all the strands of the club
together. I officially became chairman in
August 1997 and that season we finished
seventh when Sheffield United pipped us to the
play-offs on goals scored rather than goal
difference, which is now the standard.
The season after that, 1998/99, Trevor took us
one step further, to the play-offs themselves.
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