Birmingham City owner Carson Yeung bids to block Karren Brady's lucrative pay-off

Oct 27 2009 by Colin Tattum, Birmingham Post

Carson Yeung’s new Birmingham City regime has decided to get tough with former managing director Karren Brady and try to block her severance package and perks.

The Hong Kong tycoon is prepared to battle it out in court if necessary to try to stop Brady’s bonanza. A source said: “Yeung has decided to act after taking advice from his lawyers.”

Brady, who quit the club in the wake of Yeung’s £81.5 million takeover through Grandtop International Holdings, had her ‘golden goodbye’ signed-off by the former board.

Documents showed that she was entitled to:

n A bonus of £520,000 if Blues were sold and her employment terminated.

n A bonus of £260,000 if Blues retain their Premier League status.

n A year’s salary of £179,372 in full with no need to serve a 12-month notice period.

n A company car.

n Sole and exclusive use of an executive box for 12 months at the club’s expense.

n Two directors’ box tickets for each away fixture, plus car parking, for six months.

n A mobile phone for 12 months.

n Private health insurance for her and family for 12 months.

Ms Brady could not be contacted for comment yesterday.

Yeung’s camp were unhappy after discovering the terms of her service and compromise agreements.

The use of the best executive box at St Andrew’s, 12a, the ‘chief executive’s box’ at the back of the Kop behind the directors’ seating, rankled particularly.

Brady is not expected to use the box personally and donated the facility to the club’s nominated charity for 2009-10, the Teenage Cancer Trust, for Saturday’s game against Sunderland. The club told the charity that. as it had become the subject of a dispute, they would be housed in another box, free of charge.