HUI 'N CRY ...
new chairman Vico Hui (centre) leads in his team
New chairman Vico Hui, and vice-chairmen Sammy Yu and
Peter Pannu, emerged from their first day in charge "proud, happy
and excited" to be taking over.
And just as Manchester City are emerging from years in
the shadow of United under their new owners, there is a positive
belief on the new Brum board that bitter rivals Villa have a fight
on their hands to remain top dogs in England's second city.
New finance chief Pannu said: "The highest we can say
at this stage is we will be bringing Birmingham City up.
"And Aston Villa will be a very positive rival for us
as a path to surpass."
Just how they plan to achieve that will be revealed
when Hong Kong tycoon Yeung makes his first public appearance as
the new owner at St Andrew's on Thursday.
On the question of how much money will be available to
strengthen the team in January, Pannu added: "We'll let the boss
answer that!
"He has so many things in his mind to do something
really good for the club and we are all very excited.
"I can tell our supporters we will not let them
down.What we really want to do, is foster better relations with the
supporters.
"There are quite a few fans in the past year or two
that the club has lost, and we want to be extending our hearts and
our hands to them, and to bring all those missing supporters back
to us."
New chairman Hui, described by Yu as 'The Mastermind,'
even went as far as insisting Blues are now part-publicly
owned.
He said: "The club is not only owned by ourselves, it
is owned by the people of Birmingham. So come on boys, let's all
work together - and buy the tickets!"
The new Brum regime are at Arsenal on Saturday and Hui
said: "Football is full of surprises!
"We will try our best to be a family and to get the
best result. But the priority this season is to stay in the Premier
League.
"That will give us the foundations to build for the
future. But we will need time to do our foundations."
Yu will share the day-to-day running with Pannu and
admits it is taking two men to do the job previously done by
outgoing managing director Karren Brady.
He said: "We had a very good talk to Karren Brady this
morning and we will try at every opportunity to co-operate with
everyone. Our doors will always be open.
"I feel so proud and happy to be here. We are only
looking forward. Everything 'no change'. Only important thing is a
better tomorrow."
Yu also vowed boss Alex McLeish will get the new
board's full backing.
He added: "I think Alex will work really well with us.
We all want the same thing - to get some good results."
Yu also admitted top Chinese stars could be heading for
St Andrew's 'in time'.
He said: "Of course there are many good players in
China and we want to be an international club."
Former Everton secretary Michael Dunsford is set be
confirmed as the new chief executive, with Michael Wiseman, a Blues
director since 2005, also joining the new board.
~~will he be
like Thaksin @ Man City?