Birmingham chairman David Gold has defended Norwich City supremo Delia Smith over her halftime outburst during Monday's home match with Manchester City.
Smith has been criticised in some quarters for her impassioned plea towards the Canaries supporters to get behind the team in their battle to stay in the Premiership.
Gold believes Smith has been harshly treated and said he had undertaken a similar task four years ago in trying to gee up Blues fans during the Division One play-off semi-final at Preston.
He said: "Delia is being lambasted in the papers and I feel so sorry for her. What people have to understand is that chairmen and chairwomen are just as passionate about their football club as the fans are.
"Delia felt she had to do something. She felt the fans were not giving their all and words started to come out of her mouth - and sometimes when you walk out in front of 25,000 fans and start to speak, the right words don't always come out.
"When Delia watched herself on television she may have felt 'oh my God, what have I done?' but I know that passion and that feeling of 'I've got to do something.'"
