Rob Tanner gathers views of Birmingham City fans from various far-flung supporters groups.

Following Birmingham City's relegation from the Barclays Premier League, a section of the St Andrew's crowd launched a bitter protest against the board of directors which left chairman David Gold and co-owner David Sullivan questioning their futures at the club.

After the 4-1 victory over Blackburn Rovers eight days ago, which wasn't enough to save City, an emotional David Gold said that if the protest was a true reflection of how the majority of Blues fans felt, he would have no choice but to resign.

The Post decided to gauge the true feelings of Blues supporters by speaking to various supporters' clubs, nor just in Birmingham or the West Midlands but from around the world and their unanimous response was that Gold should stay - but it wasn't quite so unanimous for Sullivan.

Here are some of the fans' responses.

* Basil Tomlinson, (BCFC Canadian Supporters Club) Manotick, Ontario, Canada:  I do believe that it is time for David Sullivan to sell-up and go. He is bitter, frustrated, and obviously does not want to be at the club. David Gold is a different matter. I believe that he is genuinely cares for the club, and wants to see it advance. But we need new blood, people willing to invest and not be so concerned about profits.

We all know that owning and running a football club for the most part, is not a lucrative business for the owners. In order to beat the system you have to join it, hence the plethora of wealthy owners of the most successful Premierships clubs who have invested a portion of their wealth, without ever being repaid.

Blues fans such as myself, a life-time supporter for 55 years despite living in Canada for the last 41 of them, feel badly let down by the Board. I firmly believe in new blood, and new investment, with David Gold still in place.

Finally, David Sullivan appears to be completely out of synch with the fans. The supporters for the most part feel that the board have produced false promises, and don't support them. If the present group remains in place, I can only see a downward spiral, with the fan base at games rapidly diminishing. As a result of recent negative comments by Sullivan, which players would want to stay or who would want to come and play for the team?

* Philip Glynn (Mid Wales Supporters Club): We cannot let a minority of the fans decide who runs the club. I want David Gold to remain as chairman. If all the fan clubs emailed back to the club supporting him, it might make him change his mind about resigning as chairman. I am not particularly bothered about Sullivan who is a loose cannon and very unpredictable.

Just after Alex McLeish's appointment as manager, he was all for staying for the long term, but now that the new man has failed to stave off relegation, he wants to jump ship.

I am not surprised that a section of fans turned on Sullivan after some of his recent press statements because his PR sense is shocking. But David Gold is a different story, he needs to stay.

* Duncan Jackson (BCFC Australian Supporters Club): There are always a few idiots among the fans at Birmingham City - there always have been. But I beleive David Sullivan and the Gold brothers have done wonders for the club.

I know we should strive for the top, but the world of football has changed and gone are the days of Wimbledon climbing from non-league circles and beating Liverpool at Wembley, or Nottingham Forest winning Division Two and then Division One before claiming the European Cup.

Birmingham have always been a second-rate with an empty trophy cabinet. The purpose of a good football club is to provide entertainment every fortnight and support the local community, although beating the Villa occasionally does help!

Calling for the board's heads simply shows that the fans doing so should have theirs chopped off, but that's how they think, that's how they will always think,and they are perfectly entitled to; otherwise, wouldn't it get very boring very quickly?

I believe the best clubs around are those who keep their managers and board of directors the longest, as well as having billions to spend -something that Blues are unlikely to get for a very long time.

* Steve McIntosh (BCFC Cornwall Supporters Club): I very much hope that David Sullivan and David Gold stay on. They've done a huge amount for the club over the last few years and invested their own money. Whatever happens on the pitch, at least we have a club which is sound financially and at least has some business sense.

* Leigh Bosworth (West & South Yorkshire Bluenoses): I've been fortunate enough to speak to David Gold on a few occasions. I'm absolutely sure he really does want the club to reach greater heights and I was saddened by the aggressive reaction of some fans as we faced up to relegation.

Given the fact we were unlikely to survive anyway, as it was always probable that Fulham and/or Reading would do enough in their own final games, I was a little surprised by the vitriolic reaction last Sunday.

However, there was an announcement made just before all the trouble started, that the team would be coming out after the end of the game for a 'lap of honour', or something similar.

In my opinion, this statement displayed gross misunderstanding of fans' feelings. Most were surprised that such a talented bunch of players had contrived to get themselves into such a parlous position, but football supporters rarely display a great deal of dissatisfaction as long as they can see some effort being put in.

I think the statement, which seemed to imply that relegation was worthy of a lap of honour, inflamed the deep seated disappointment of the fans and came across as the club thinking: "Oh well, it's not that important that we're going down'. Well, yes it is.

The club has been run along frugal lines this season, with pre-season comments from the board suggesting that that 17th place will do nicely for us Well, Sunderland spent more than £40 million and only just managed to finish outside the three relegation places, so hindsight tells us that the board were always lacking in real ambition to progress from the previous time we were in the Premier League.

This may be because they truly feel they want to sell their stake(s) in the club, and presumably, talks were already advancing at the start of the season.

However, the proposed takeover by Carson Yeung was an unmitigated disaster and had a real impact on our season, as the turmoil had a serious effect on the management and led to a change (with Steve Bruce's departure being welcomed by most Blues supporters, it has to be said).

The board must decide if they want to stay or go - if they would prefer to sell their shares or sell the club, then they should concentrate on this.

However, they will now find that the prospect of buying a Coca-Cola Championship team is not as great a lure to the kind of big-money buyer they want than a Premier League club. There is a resentment on trhe terraces towards the board at present, but they have it within their power to massively reduce that resentment if they were to throw themselves behind the club and ensure Alex McLeish is able to develop the playing staff to mould a team that is his and that can return quickly to the top level. Mr Sullivan has not begun that journey in great style by roundly damning the fans who dared to demonstrate their disappointment and by rubbishing the purchase of a group of players he and his colleagues sanctioned in the last close season.

The board have to decide if they want to move the club forwards. If they are repared to do that, the fans will unite behind them.

We all become as one when we are together behind the team and the club, all seeking the same outcome from that tackle, that move, that half, that match, that season. The Board are welcome to join in - it is ultimately up to them.

* Richard Tanner (Wahroonga, Sydney, Australia): I support David Gold staying. I am also extremely disappointed by the abusive treatment he and the board received after the Blackburn game.

I apologise on behalf of real Blues supporters and express my gratitude for his commitment to the club to date. I hope he stays and helps to turn around the grim situation we currently find ourselves in.

* BCFC Redditch Supporters Club: We believe the majority of supporters would like to see David Sullivan depart and David Gold stay. Sullivan has always seen the club as a status symbol while on the other hand, Gold got the Blues' bug very early on and showed his emotions as the chairman, joint-owner and most of all a Blues fan at the scenes last week.

The feelings of the true fans of the club are not resentment towards relegation (we're used to that) but the broken promises and constant effort by the club to extract every penny they can out of us.

They said the main stand would be replaced when we get to the Premiership for the first time; six years on, there has been no action.

Part of the Boxing Day 2005 celebrations were supposed to include the launch of a new scoreboard screen or clock; two years on, there has been no action.

This is besides the customary 'we're going to spend this and that on players' and the old favourite 'we're not going to sell our best players' when the fans know they are.

Then the money side. Take Wigan and Blackburn Rovers, who have lower ticket prices and lower crowds but better players who are probably on higher wages. Why cant we compete?

The latest comparison is Sunderland. Well, two years ago they were relegated with us and labelled the worst Premiership side ever. Their crowds were nonexistent. Two years on, what a turn around; what did it? Investment.