Gold was visibly shaken by the abuse he received from a section of supporters, once it became clear the 4-1 victory over Blackburn at St Andrews would be in vain.

And the 70-year-old also admitted concern over the safety of co-owner David Sullivan's two young sons, David Jr and Jack.

Gold said: "I'm a bit stressed by the reaction of the fans. I can understand the disappointment of relegation. We have been there on a number of occasions, going back to relegation from the old third division.

"But never in my time at the club have I seen that sort of abuse from fans. You could see the hate in the eyes of the people sat in front of us. It was a venomous verbal attack.

"It was as unpleasant as it has been during my 15 years with the club.

"For a moment we also felt that David Sullivan's two sons were in danger and we had to get them out of the way.

"I'm very disappointed. What I have to ask is, is it hundreds of fans, thousands of fans or the majority?

"If it is the majority I will be left with no alternative but to resign as chairman.

"I feel absolutely dreadful but myself and the board will be fully committed to Birmingham City until any possible change comes about."

Blues manager Alex McLeish spoke of his pride at the way his team finished the campaign, but accepted the outcome had been settled over 38 games.

He said: "I'm very proud of the players' response today. They produced an outstanding performance. All they could do was win but results did not go for us elsewhere.

"We have missed out by one point. The players have punched above their weight many times this season, and they did it again today. We've only lost one of 13 home games since I've been here but we haven't won enough of them and that has cost us.

"Also there have been teams like Wigan and Bolton, who were underachieving but new managers, Steve Bruce and Gary Megson, have got them going.

"People ask if I could have kept us up had I been here for the whole season? But that is just conjecture.

"I now aim to bring in some more players. I've now got the chance to put my own stamp on the club."

Rovers boss Mark Hughes was left to lament lost opportunities as his side missed out on a place in Europe.

Aston Villa only drawing 2-2 at West Ham meant Rovers could have gained entry via the Intertoto Cup.

He said: "We had an opportunity to get the job done and we didn't, that's the galling thing.

"We are disappointed with that situation because we haven't taken the opportunity that presented itself.

"Obviously we needed to win the game, a draw really wasn't good enough so we had to throw on attack-minded players and when you do that sometimes you can get a little bit ragged and a little bit in-disciplined and as a consequence you can get exposed which happened in the end.

"Over all the season has been very good and we'll look to build on it next year."