Former Birmingham City chairman David Gold is happy to see the club now in foreign hands.

Despite the manner of Carsen Yeung's unsuccessful takeover two years ago, Gold welcomes the foreign invasion that means half the Premier League is under overseas ownership.

"People cast new foreign investors into bogeymen, as if they are coming in to rape and pillage our wonderful game," he said. "People said English football was boring because it was just Manchester United and Arsenal, maybe Liverpool, battling for the title. Then Roman Abramovich arrives [at Chelsea] and, wow, we had a fourth superpower. A few years later, another super-wealthy owner [Sheikh Mansour] comes in at Manchester City.

"They've broken the guarantee of the top four: there's a top five and only four Champions League places available. Maybe one day Birmingham City will make it a top six.

"I look at the foreign owners coming in and I don't see any damage. I see the sophisticated leadership of Randy Lerner at Aston Villa, who's done a superb job in quietly building up his club; I look at some of the English owners, such as Mike Ashley at Newcastle United. Do I need to go into detail? Which would you prefer?"