Ex-chairman of Birmingham City and Cardiff City has hit the jackpot with cash windfall - He's a divisive figure | OneFootball

Former Blues and Bluebirds owner Samesh Kumar has recently been the subject of a personal cash bonus

Birmingham City and Cardiff City supporters have certainly seen their respective clubs endure mixed fortunes throughout history, with some of those coinciding with tumultuous and chaotic periods of ownership.

At present, though, it is the West Midlands side who are enjoying a peak rather than a trough under the American consortium of Knighthead Capital Management - fronted by the extremely vocal Tom Wagner - with lofty plans for the future recently coming to light.

Indeed, Blues recently unveiled plans for the upcoming 'Powerhouse' stadium as part of the transformative East Birmingham Sports Quarter development, with the ownership group sparing at least £1.2bn of their own cash to help fund the project which, they hope, will be completed by the summer of 2030.

The atmosphere at their current home of St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park is now incomparable to the apathy which surrounded the stadium between 2011 and 2023 under various Asian ownership groups, a feeling which has also been associated with the club at various points of its rich and dramatic 150-year existence.

Those who follow the Bluebirds also know such feelings all too well, with the current campaign seeing them swap places with Birmingham, as they themselves endure a first stint in League One for the first time in a generation, just six years after being relegated from the Premier League.

Vincent Tan's reign in the Cardiff City Stadium boardroom has been well-documented, with a badge and colour change between 2012 and 2014 still remembered to this day amid extremely mixed fortunes on the pitch.

However, those in the Second City and South Wales will certainly share mixed feelings towards former chairman, Samesh Kumar, whilst also being surprised regarding a recent set of developments which saw him pocket a nice cash bonus.

Birmingham City and Cardiff City supporters will have mixed feelings on Samesh Kumar's ownership

By the late 1980s, financial troubles had well and truly taken their toll on Blues, with Ken Wheldon looking to pass the book onto the latest custodian as they fell from the top-flight in 1985/86 to a seventh-place finish in the third-tier during their first-ever campaign at the level in 1989/90.

In April 1989, Kumar and his brothers, Ramesh and Bilal were all instilled within hierarchical roles in B9, with the former taking up position as chairman.

During a 1990 documentary tape, the man who made his money in the clothing industry, outlined his future vision for Blues, who would go on to finish 12th - their lowest-ever league standing - under Dave Mackay and Lou Macari, with the latter overseeing an EFL Trophy success over Tranmere Rovers before departing for Stoke City.

"I hope to bring a different attitude to Birmingham City. An attitude where, if you look at the grandeur of this stadium, there's tremendous facilities," Kumar said.

"There is no excuse," he stated. "As long as we are able to relate back to our supporters - who have a very strong affinity for this football club - this football club, I feel, can be up there with the 'big five'. No problem."

Whilst Terry Cooper was able to achieve promotion back to the second-tier in 1991/92 with Nigel Gleghorn ending the season on 22 strikes, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International put the Kumars' business into receivership, with the liquidators putting their 84 percent shares on the market in November 1992.

David Sullivan eventually bought out the stake for £1.25m in March 1993, ending an extremely chaotic and largely dismal period in Blues' history, although they would ironically be relegated in the Londoner's first full season at St Andrew's 14 months later.

However, that wasn't the end of Kumar's involvement in football, as he would complete a full takeover at Ninian Park in 1995, with the Bluebirds also on track to record their lowest-ever league finish of 22nd in what is now League Two.

City would then endure more mixed fortunes as they followed up a play-off semi-final defeat to Northampton Town with a 21st-place finish before regaining their third-tier status in 1998/99 under Frank Burrows.

In 1999, Kumar's resignation stunned Steve Borley, who was appointed interim owner before the Welsh side were taken over by Sam Hammam.

“Samesh Kumar took the club on when nobody else would. He ran the club with little or no help for a fair period," he said.

Samesh Kumar recently won £250k on the Postcode Lottery

After being out of the public eye whilst still somewhat remembered indifferently for his spells as owner of Blues and Cardiff, Kumar recently earned himself an individual £250,000 bonus as part of the Postcode Lottery winnings which were dished out in October 2025.

The 67-year-old now resides in Brookmans Park, Hertfordshire, dedicating the winning of the six-figure sum to his late mother, who urged him to take up a subscription due to being a 'lucky charm'.

A £1m sum was split between Kumar and six other winners, with the Dehli-born man stating he would like to spend a portion of his winnings on a family holiday.