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Fans offer hated Oystons a way out

Supporters Trust launches £16 million buyout plan to rid club of family

by Suzanne Beishon

DEFIANT Blackpool fans launched an audacious £16 million bid to buy their club from loathed owners the Oyston family on Tuesday.

With owner and support relations at rock bottom the Blackpool Supporters Trust (BST) have written to owner Owen Oyston with their intentions to buy the club from the man who bought it for just £1 in 1987.

In order to fund the bold plans the trust proposes to sell all the club’s assets and write off the loans owed to the club, holding on to just the stadum, training ground and a two-year £6m budget.

The letter states that: “The actions taken by [chairman] Karl during the last four years have ensured that any good that you and your family may have done for the club has been entirely negated and rendered worthless.

“You have lost the goodwill and the confidence of the supporters and indeed the people of the Fylde Coast.”

Relations have become so toxic that club chairman Karl Oyston has been involved in direct conflict with angry supporters resulting in his banning from football activity for seven months for sending abusive tweets to a fan and being spoken to by police for carrying a firearm in public.

The embittered owners also sued a supporter for libel after he posted allegations about them on his Facebook page, provoking a huge campaign backed by football fans across the country to crowd-fund the £20,000 needed to aid the fan’s case.

The club has been engulfed in protests against how the wayward owners have run the club in recent years and these reached a pinnacle when fans forced their last game of the season against Huddersfield to be abandoned following a pitch invasion.

Mirroring the crisis off the pitch the Tangerines, who were only relegated from the Premier League four seasons ago, won just four games of 46 last season ­— finishing 13 points behind nearest rivals Wigan to confirm their relegation from the Championship.

Challenging the owners to display their loyalty to the future of the club in the face of falling attendances and revenue, BST chairman Steve Rowland said: “If Owen Oyston really does have the best interest of Blackpool FC at heart he will see this as a perfect chance to bring to an end a toxic situation. This is an financially sound offer for Blackpool Football Club.”

The BST, who recently launched an alternative home shirt aimed at hitting the owners in the pocket, have given the family two weeks (July 21) to respond to their offer warning that: “Any outright rejection of this bid will be taken as final confirmation that you no longer have any intention to promote or ensure the well-being of the club or the community that supports it.”

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