| Have we all seen the new Daily Mail article? 23:40 - Aug 8 with 1430 views | Happy_Satsuma |
Blackpool hit rock bottom as fans say Oyston family are driven only by greed and new boss Jose Riga tries to bring together squad that has TWELVE new players
Jose Riga arrived at the club in July to find only six professional players
Club have signed 12 players in as many days, including former England U21 goalkeeper Joe Lewis and midfielder Andrea Orlandi
Fans have staged numerous protests at Oyston family's running of the club
Three years ago Blackpool were playing in the Premier League
Club have banked £100million in parachute payments and transfer fees since falling from the top flight in 2011
Owner Karl Oyston is not expected to be at their first Championship game of the season on Saturday as he is due to fly to Miami for a summer holiday
At Bloomfield Road last Saturday, Blackpool supporters arrived outside the turnstiles armed with buckets to rally the troops and collect funds for the Gary Parkinson Trust.
‘Parky’, as he is affectionately known, is the former Middlesbrough and Burnley defender who was working as a coach for Blackpool when struck down by locked-in syndrome in the autumn of 2010.
The locals are relentless in their support, and they were upset and angered to be told by stewards that they could not fund-raise within the grounds.
This is just one example of a club who appear to have lost their moral compass. This famous old club – whose most gifted forefathers include Stanley Matthews, Jimmy Armfield and Alan Ball – have plummeted from everyone’s favourite Premier League underdogs to an embarrassing basket case in three years.
Sportsmail has spent the week in Blackpool, talking to fans, players and former employees. It does not take long for a picture to emerge of a club bemused and angered in equal measure by the actions of chairman Karl Oyston and his family.
Our investigation uncovers the explosive truth behind the bedlam at Blackpool, where organisation, structure and common decency are foreign concepts to the chairman. Many supporters believe his only motivation is avarice.
When manager Jose Riga leads out his side at Nottingham Forest on Saturday afternoon, an illusion of normality will descend over the City Ground. This football club, however, are anything but normal.
Riga, a summer appointment, arrived at the dilapidated training ground in July to discover that he had only six professionals.
Since then, a bargain-basement approach to the transfer market has seen 12 players arrive in 12 days – midfielder Andrea Orlandi the latest on a one-year deal.
They now have 19 but many are strangers to one another. A goalkeeper, Joe Lewis, was signed on a loan deal from Peterborough on Tuesday.
Karl Oyston risks angering Blackpool fans by jetting off on holiday and leaving barely enough players to make up a team
Blackpool sign Ishmael Miller and John Lundstram, with Edu Oriol to follow, as chairman Karl Oyston gears up for his holiday at the end of the week
Lord only knows how Blackpool intend to defend set-pieces on Saturday. Not that Oyston will be there to witness it – he intends to jet off to Miami for his summer holiday.
Blackpool have banked £100million since falling from the Premier League in 2011 in parachute payments and transfer fees.
This summer their rotten core has been on public display, but the signs have been there for long enough. The working conditions that former manager Paul Ince was subjected to before he was dismissed in January after less than a year in charge reeked of Sunday League football.
On away trips, senior members of staff would be expected to go to local supermarkets and buy ready meals of lasagne and spaghetti bolognese.
At the club’s Squires Gate training ground, players did their morning stretches with rain water splashing into buckets from the gymnasium’s leaky roof.
The facilities there – once described by former manager Ian Holloway as a ‘hell hole’ – are among the worst in the English game. ‘Terrible and a turn-off,’ was one scathing verdict this week. Last season, many players refused to shower, dodging the temperatures that veer between freezing and boiling, to head home after training.
The club refused to respond to criticism of the facilities, as they did when approached by Sportsmail repeatedly by telephone and email over the past week. No wonder stalwarts have jumped ship.
Matt Williams, the long-serving secretary, is understood to have left for a better financial package at League Two Shrewsbury.
The last of the players from the Premier League team who were relegated in 2011, Matt Gilks, departed for Burnley after being offered a contract extension – with a 60 per cent wage cut – by text message.
The offer to Gilks, a long-standing servant, is symptomatic of the cost-cutting policies Oyston continues to employ. Players are paid £90 a week in the summer as they are not deemed to be ‘working’.
‘Everybody at this club is captive,’ explained one dressing-room source. ‘The players are unwanted trialists in need of a club or young players who need experience. The coaches or managers appointed tend to be out of favour and in need of one more chance. Nobody actually wants to be there, it’s a short-term stepping stone.’
Riga, appointed in June, already faces an uncertain future. The Chinese whispers suggest Noel Blake, the assistant manager, is being lined up as his replacement, while the name Billy Davies continues to crop up in discussions.
Loyalty: Club's longest serving player Matt Gilks, pictured right during Blackpool's 2013 game against Bolton, has joined Burnley after being told to take a pay cut. He played against the Seasiders in a friendly last week, left
For the Blackpool supporters, the true victims among the wreckage, resentment intensifies over Oyston’s refusal to invest. This distressing script is now mimicking the best funfair rides in town, but the steady climb that captured the hearts of most fans has been followed by a relentless and frightening descent.
Supporters we spoke to despise Oyston for his failure to cement a legacy from the year they enjoyed in the Premier League.
Since earning promotion to the top flight in 2010, around £100m has entered Blackpool’s accounts. Official figures from the Premier League reveal that Blackpool have received £76.53m, including parachute payments and solidarity fees. They are soon due another injection of just under £10m from the Premier League. The club’s coffers have also been swelled by ticket sales, sponsorship agreements, merchandise and player sales. Charlie Adam and Matty Phillips left for a combined £14m while a tribunal fee is to be agreed for Thomas Ince’s move to Hull.
Only £5.5m has reportedly been spent on permanent signings since Blackpool were promoted
This summer, most of the club’s youth team were released. The finest talent, Harrison McGahey, was offered a derisory contract and will drop down a division to play at Sheffield United.
It is estimated that at least £26m has been paid to the Oyston family – principally to father Owen, the convicted rapist – and their numerous businesses since 2011. The club’s former shorts sponsors, Bradley’s Builders, who did many jobs for the club, claim they were left bankrupt by Karl Oyston after a dispute over payments.
Owner Mark Bradley, who was an usher at Oyston’s wedding and went on family holidays with Karl, said: ‘We had to be put into receivership after 25-30 years in business. We have emigrated to Spain due to the personal embarrassment.’
Again, the Oyston family declined to comment.
The family this summer bought the Quernmore Park Hall estate in Lancashire, valued by one property website at £3.25m.
Determined: Mark Cartmell, a lifelong Blackpool fan, holds a poster protesting against the Oystons on August 2
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Determined: Mark Cartmell, a lifelong Blackpool fan, holds a poster protesting against the Oystons on August 2
Karl Oyston’s son, Sam, regularly mocks supporters on social media, posting pictures of his plush cars on Twitter. Sam now has a minder to protect him.
Sam runs the Blackpool FC hotel, a separate business on the corner of the stadium, which fans believe is often prioritised before the club. Many of them are refusing to buy season tickets.
At the working men’s club over the road, fans are mulling over their next move. Tim Fielding, chairman of the Blackpool Supporters Trust, said: ‘We want Karl to put football first. Look at the hotel compared to the stadium. It is pristine with fancy furnishing.
'In the stadium, you can see panels coming away from the ceiling and rust on the stands. Outside, there are weeds on the statue of the great Jimmy Armfield.
‘The relationship between the Oystons and fans is at its lowest ebb. If he’s not prepared to invest, give someone else a chance.’
Don’t bet on it. As long as there is money to be made, Oyston is likely to remain.
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| Have we all seen the new Daily Mail article? on 23:42 - Aug 8 with 1424 views | realistic |
Good old Daily Mail, the Oyston family hate this paper, hope they keep up the good work! [Post edited 8 Aug 2014 23:57]
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| Have we all seen the new Daily Mail article? on 23:50 - Aug 8 with 1405 views | basilrobbiereborn |
If we happen to have a decent season you won't be able to move for buried newsprint. | |
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| Have we all seen the new Daily Mail article? on 23:54 - Aug 8 with 1393 views | bottle |
Daily Mail is anathema me personally but cannot fault their commitment to undermining the evil empire - never had a good thing to say about the Oystons for years, but this is real investigative journalism in the true sense of the word - according to TAM on T'other site there is more to come  | | | |
| Have we all seen the new Daily Mail article? on 23:55 - Aug 8 with 1389 views | BFC_Tim |
Is it me or does the Daily Mail have a vendetta against the O's? Seems to have started with Jack Gaughan who used to work on Blackpool Vital and has continued on since. It is an interesting one because had we have retained a dozen rubbish players from last season none of these headlines would have existed. As it is though we took too long to get a manager and then the lack of communication between manager and Owner was culpable.
All of that said, we have a team , I would say as decent as we've had in a couple of seasons, and who I believe can compete. The O's have been fair game which has been all good for the haters, but the last line is arguably the most relevant of the piece! | |
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| Have we all seen the new Daily Mail article? on 23:57 - Aug 8 with 1380 views | stu |
Did he write it? | |
| Tangerine is the new black |
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| Have we all seen the new Daily Mail article? on 00:02 - Aug 9 with 1366 views | clappers |
Its so accurate, they really must have spent the week in Blackpool. This is out reality. As if we are going to have a good season...its just kidding yourselves. Reality will bite pretty hard pretty soon. | |
| If you have the urge to stand and shout...it has to be for OYSTON OUT! |
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| Have we all seen the new Daily Mail article? on 00:12 - Aug 9 with 1346 views | hertfordseasider |
That's a big if Robbie and even if we do it doesn't stop what he wrote as being the truth. A truth that is far bigger than if we do well or badly. The club is poisoned from within. | | | |
| Have we all seen the new Daily Mail article? on 08:36 - Aug 9 with 1249 views | Wizaard |
You can't argue against any of it, apart from this Blake is waiting to replace Riga bit. In which case why not sign a deal? | | | |
| Have we all seen the new Daily Mail article? on 08:37 - Aug 9 with 1246 views | voyeur |
Yes what difference would a decent season make? Have you no values whatsoever Robbie? Any behaviour is fine as long as we get eleven players out on the pitch? | |
| I am a nutter. I come from the sea. |
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| Have we all seen the new Daily Mail article? on 08:46 - Aug 9 with 1232 views | Osbourne |
Blimey!
Karl  Karl  | | | |
| Have we all seen the new Daily Mail article? on 09:36 - Aug 9 with 1183 views | a_view_from_the_sofa |
I have decided Basilrobbie is on the wind up. No sane person can possibly ignore all the facts and still believe the Oystons are good for BFC | | | |
| Have we all seen the new Daily Mail article? on 10:08 - Aug 9 with 1141 views | tangerinedom |
Don't you think that this is just a load of old facts and information regurgitated for the sake of a story on the start of the new season? | | | |
| Have we all seen the new Daily Mail article? on 13:25 - Aug 9 with 1062 views | hackneyseasider |
I disagree this is "for the sake of a story". The language used is strident and challenges KOKO at every point. This is is the response to KOKO's tweets last week about the Mail's earlier stories where he had a dig at the Journo. There's a few things in there that I haven't heard before.
It is very strong stuff which unfortunately will wash over our thick skinned chairman.
Did I say thick skinned? No coincidence he's off to Miami - he was due a roasting from the fans today. | | | |
| Have we all seen the new Daily Mail article? on 14:32 - Aug 9 with 1013 views | realistic |
I agree with you a view from the sofa, but post with caution about basilrobbie, I had a valid post removed last night for voicing my opinion on him ... It seems he's still protected on here and free speech ( within reason of course) is not allowed.
Anyway, glad the Daily Mail can't be censored by basil or his clique. They are getting the word out nationally now, and it's great to see! | |
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