Blackpool Judgement Day

Back from Blackpool and what an incredible day! I took part in the march and protest and met many fans from other clubs and shook hands with too many Blackpool fans to count.
Sadly, I missed the pitch/invasion sit-in as I refused to enter the ground on the basis that Oyston was not having any of my money! But every credit to those that took that direct action.
I have a feeling that Oyston may now be cracking.
Will write a report of the day over the weekend and post here.
For now a couple of pictures... I laid a Brighton banner at the foot of the Stan Mortensen plinth (the only one I had with me!)

On the Left Wing said:

Back from Blackpool and what an incredible day! I took part in the march and protest and met many fans from other clubs and shook hands with too many Blackpool fans to count.
Sadly, I missed the pitch/invasion sit-in as I refused to enter the ground on the basis that Oyston was not having any of my money! But every credit to those that took that direct action.
I have a feeling that Oyston may now be cracking.
Will write a report of the day over the weekend and post here.
For now a couple of pictures... I laid a Brighton banner at the foot of the Stan Mortensen plinth (the only one I had with me!)

Click to expand...

The 'allegedly' at the bottom of that poster gave me a right giggle

Good work

Shylock and the Judge!
They were well prepared and organised ... and kept taunting the police with chants of "On the pitch"!

Excellent work there and many thanks for representing the Albion. I'd have loved to have been there having been at our Fans United day back in 97 and more recently at Plymouth's. It really doesn't matter that points are docked, the fans need to stick hard with this and win their club back.

On the Left Wing said:

Back from Blackpool and what an incredible day! I took part in the march and protest and met many fans from other clubs and shook hands with too many Blackpool fans to count.
Sadly, I missed the pitch/invasion sit-in as I refused to enter the ground on the basis that Oyston was not having any of my money! But every credit to those that took that direct action.
I have a feeling that Oyston may now be cracking.
Will write a report of the day over the weekend and post here.
For now a couple of pictures... I laid a Brighton banner at the foot of the Stan Mortensen plinth (the only one I had with me!)

Click to expand...

Fair play to you. fans united will never be divided.

My letter to the Football League. If others could do the same - obviously use you own words - it would really help Blackpool supporters.

Shaun Harvey
Chief Executive
The Football League
Edward VII Quay
Navigation Way
Preston
PR2 2YF

Wednesday 6 May, 2015

Dear Mr Harvey

Re: Karl Samuel Oyston / Blackpool Football Club

I write to you as a lifelong supporter of my home town football club Brighton and Hove Albion (I attended my first game in 1967), a former national organiser of Fans United, a retired newspaper editor of 28 years and a multi-award winning investigative journalist.
Over the 48 years I have been following and supporting Association Football I have witnessed many changes to the game and its management. But, during recent years I have become increasingly concerned - and at times outraged - by the criminals, incompetents and asset strippers allowed to own and run clubs in the football league. I cite as examples: Bill Archer at Brighton and Hove Albion, Ken Richardson at Doncaster Rovers, George Reynolds at Darlington, Darren Brown at Chesterfield, Dennis Coleman at Rotherham and Alex Hamilton at Wrexham. Sadly the Fit and Proper Persons Test (2004) was too late to stop these individuals destroying the clubs at the heart of their respective communities. But now, I fear that Karl Samuel Oyston, the chairman and chief executive of Blackpool FC, may outdo all of the above noted rogue owners.
I have followed and investigated the situation at Blackpool FC, and last Saturday was one of 2,000 football fans who took part in a march and protest against Mr Oyston’s activity and ownership of the club.
Blackpool has boasted healthy annual profits since its relegation from the Premier League in 2011, but it is now being relegated to the third tier of English football after escalating battles on and off the pitch.
Karl Oyston and his father Owen - the club’s majority owner - have presided over a unique and remarkable decline in this once great football club with no end in sight.
During the four years since its relegation from the Premier League, Blackpool FC has benefited by £48million in so-called Parachute Payments.
The most recent accounts show the club made an operating profit of £9.4million for the year 2013-14, up from £5.9million the previous financial year.
The total loans to the club’s parent company, Segesta Limited, of which both Oystons are directors, increased from £23.7million to £27.7million.
Yet, Blackpool’s healthy financial position is at odds with their performance on the pitch – a pitch that has not been relaid since the summer of 2013 and would shame even the poorest of non-league grounds.
This is despite the fact that three years ago Blackpool paid a salary of £11million to a company owned by Owen Oyston.
Karl Oyston joined the board of directors of the club in August 1998 before going on to become the club’s chairman a year later.
His time at the helm has been characterised by a significant lack of investment in the club.
Bloomfield Road’s South Stand was demolished in 2003, but no replacement was built for a full seven years.
Former manager Ian Holloway described the club’s Squires Gate training ground as “a hell-hole” and “a horrible environment to work in.” The training ground remains in a terrible state.
And the aforementioned Bloomfield Road playing surface has long been one of the standing jokes of the Football League over its poor state of repair, a situation which led to the League writing to the club to demand an explanation as to why it was in such a poor condition.
In October 2010, former player Charlie Adam took Karl Oyston to court after having been short-paid by £20,000 on his bonus to get the club into the Premier League.
This penny-pinching combined with what might very well be interpreted to be much like asset-stripping, led to a crisis last summer with the club having just eight contracted players only weeks before the start of the season.
Assistant manager Bart de Roover left at the start of September 2014, claiming that he had not been paid for his time at the club. Manager Jose Riga followed shortly afterwards. A short while later the club’s kit man left leaving the players to wash their own shirts.
The Oystons, in particular Karl and his son Sam, seem to compound the predicaments in which they find themselves by frequently acting like spoilt brats.
When protesting supporters left a mobile billboard outside Bloomfield Road with the words “Oyston’s Cash Cow” on the side of it last year, Karl Oyston posed next to it with a big smile on his face and Sam posted it to Twitter.
At the end of last year, when a supporter texted Karl Oyston with questions about the way the club was being run, Mr Oyston responded with a series of messages during which he described the supporter as a “retard,” a “****tard,” and “an emotional cripple.”
He went on to tell the supporter, who is employed as a business manager: “Sorry that your life is so shit, but that’s only your fault not mine. Enjoy the rest of your special needs day out,” and described protesting supporters as “lower mentality types.”
Despite having “apologised” at the time for making the comments, Mr Oyston has since denied the charges brought against him by the FA for misconduct.
Elsewhere, Karl Oyston, in an act that can only reasonably be considered to be a further provocation of supporters, began wearing an “Oyston Out” scarf and carried a personalised registration plate on his car which reads “OY51 OUT.”
And when Mr Oyston isn’t sending abusive text messages to supporters, he’s threatening to sue them.
As has been widely reported, a 67 year-old lifelong Blackpool supporter, Frank Knight, was required to pay £20,000 and make an online retraction of comments that he had made about the Oystons.
Elsewhere, Mr Oyston also threatened to sue the chairman of the Blackpool Supporters Trust, Tim Fielding, for comments that he made on social media. Mr Fielding resigned his position of the Trust as a result of this threat.
Elsewhere, another supporter, Steven Sharpe, also had to publish a retraction of comments made on a supporters’ forum after a threat of legal action from the club, and the same thing happened to yet another, David Ragozzino, with the club claiming a total of £150,000.
The club then issued a statement, warning of further legal action against people, whom they claim, make false statements against the Oystons.
With the team having been relegated from the Championship with a record low number of points, it was perhaps inevitable that Blackpool supporters would be likely to protest at last Saturday’s match against Huddersfield Town.
The meeting point for the protests was agreed as the statue of Stan Mortensen, who scored a hat-trick in Blackpool’s most famous ever match, their 4-3 win against Bolton Wanderers in the 1953 FA Cup Final.
But Mr Oyston’s response to that, in yet another demonstration of the complete disrespect and incitement, was to remove the statue - a memorial paid for by supporters’ subscriptions.
Quite what the club was hoping to achieve as a result of this desecration is unimaginable. By chance, Mr Oyston returned the statue to its plinth late yesterday (Tuesday, 5 May) in what can only be described as a damaged state.
There is now civil war at Blackpool Football Club, and Mr Oyston’s callous prediction that he would oversee them being eventually relegated to the Conference looks an increasingly likely reality.
One of the Football League’s four cornerstones is “We are at the heart of 72 communities across England and Wales, and share the pride and heritage of each.”
I therefore call on the Football League to protect the pride and heritage of Blackpool and immediately convene an investigation into Mr Oyston’s:
* Poor and inconsistent management of Blackpool FC
* Incitement and Provocation of Fans
* Financial Irregularity
* Bullying of supporters and members of the local community

Yours sincerely

What damage has been done to the statue, Nic?

For grotesque new bolts painted over where they used an angle grinder plus chips to the bronze base.
The ******* Oyston .... the fans raised £12,500 to pay for this statue!

Hmm, that looks like primer to me, better hope they get a decent match for the top-coat, as leaving it like that would be just plain vandalism to my mind.

I think Tangerine Knights are speaking to Mortensen’s family to see if it is possible to remove the statue themselves and keep it safe until this mess is sorted out. Such a shame.

On the Left Wing said:

Elsewhere, Karl Oyston, in an act that can only reasonably be considered to be a further provocation of supporters, began wearing an “Oyston Out” scarf and carried a personalised registration plate on his car which reads “OY51 OUT.”

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I almost have some grudging admiration for the thickness of the man's skin, reading that. He REALLY doesn't give a single ****, what anyone thinks, does he?

hans kraay fan club said:

I almost have some grudging admiration for the thickness of the man's skin, reading that. He REALLY doesn't give a single ****, what anyone thinks, does he?

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I suppose when your father is a convicted rapist you get used to it.

well done for representing the Albion