Tomorrow the nightmare is finally over

[Malcolm Clarke]

for the thousands of Blackpool fans who have spent recent years fighting to reclaim their club from the Oystons, who have now finally been thrown out by the courts. As the high court judge said, with masterly judicial understatement ‘the Oyston side enriched itself, prejudiced Blackpool FC and behaved in a discriminatory manner towards the other members of the club’. They are gone. Tomorrow the fans will march before the game, as they have so many times in recent years, but this time it will be a march of victory and celebration, not a march of boycott and protest, and for the first time in years, it will end with those heroic and dedicated fans going through the turnstiles to watch their team play at home. No wonder the game is a near sell-out.

I pay tribute to the Blackpool Supporters Trust for their energy, staying power, faith and professionalism. The rest of us in the national supporters movement have given them support where we can, but ultimately this is their achievement, their victory. I am sure they will enjoy every moment, with more than a few tears shed. It shows that even on planet football, sometimes the bad guys can be beaten. I will of course be at QPR, but I would love to be at Bloomfield Road sharing the moment with them.

On this Board in the last couple of years I have read concerns and anger about some of the things which have happened at Stoke City, some of it justified, some of it not, in my opinion. But of one thing I am certain. Whatever view you take of the way our club has been run, we don't come even remotely near what the Blackpool fans ( and those of other clubs such as Coventry) have had to endure, and on occasions like to tomorrow it is as well to remember that.

[lennythegoose]

Well said, Malcolm.

[pottersrule]

Mar 8, 2019 20:40:42 GMT Malcolm Clarke said:

for the thousands of Blackpool fans who have spent recent years fighting to reclaim their club from the Oystons, who have now finally been thrown out by the courts. As the high court judge said, with masterly judicial understatement ‘the Oyston side enriched itself, prejudiced Blackpool FC and behaved in a discriminatory manner towards the other members of the club’. They are gone. Tomorrow the fans will march before the game, as they have so many times in recent years, but this time it will be a march of victory and celebration, not a march of boycott and protest, and for the first time in years, it will end with those heroic and dedicated fans going through the turnstiles to watch their team play at home. No wonder the game is a near sell-out.

I pay tribute to the Blackpool Supporters Trust for their energy, staying power, faith and professionalism. The rest of us in the national supporters movement have given them support where we can, but ultimately this is their achievement, their victory. I am sure they will enjoy every moment, with more than a few tears shed. It shows that even on planet football, sometimes the bad guys can be beaten. I will of course be at QPR, but I would love to be at Bloomfield Road sharing the moment with them.

On this Board in the last couple of years I have read concerns and anger about some of the things which have happened at Stoke City, some of it justified, some of it not, in my opinion. But of one thing I am certain. Whatever view you take of the way our club has been run, we don't come even remotely near what the Blackpool fans ( and those of other clubs such as Coventry) have had to endure, and on occasions like to tomorrow it is as well to remember that.

They certainly are a stoic bunch.There are many that have stayed away for over 3 years.That must be so difficult to do when you are passionate about your club.
There have been 30+ volunteers a day at the ground getting the seats and standings cleaned up for Saturday.Hats off to them.

[rickyfullerbeer]

I remember their centre circle protest on the last game of the season a few years back. Excellent stuff.

[telfordstoke]

Very well put, and a very special and well earned day for them

[norman conquest]

Didnt the Oystens sue a fan and win quite a wedge off him or am i thinking of something else or another club

[Malcolm Clarke]

Mar 8, 2019 21:07:17 GMT norman conquest said:

Didnt the Oystens sue a fan and win quite a wedge off him or am i thinking of something else or another club

They certainly did, on more than one occasion, successfully sue for libel over social media comments.

[cousindupree]

It will indeed be a great day for Blackpool fans by throwing out the odious Oystons and they deserve serious praise for their long battle.
What is bizarre and a bit baffling is that last summer I was in Blackpool for a few days and couldn't believe the number of Oystons property signs on houses! These people are absolute arseholes and yet locals are prepared to put money in their pockets through house sales. There are loads of alternatives, why would you?

[auntiegeorge]

Mar 8, 2019 21:07:17 GMT norman conquest said:

Didnt the Oystens sue a fan and win quite a wedge off him or am i thinking of something else or another club

They took the guy who ran the online forum to court for alleged defamatory comments but the case was thrown out. Owen and Karl Oyston were suing for £150,000 EACH. Vile, disgusting bastards. Good riddance at long last.

This is a magnificent and victorious day for the great football club of Blackpool FC.

[Deleted]

The most disappointing part of this episode is the chronic lack of interest and coverage from our national media, the odd few (quality) journalists excepted.

A lot of their fans have taken one of the most difficult roads that any football supporter can take and that is to walk away from their club to stand up for something they believe in. So often threatened in times of hardship and so very little actioned.

Their actions have been justified and they have got their rewards.

I will personally forever hold them in the highest regard, from one fan to another, after what they have done and ultimately achieved.

Fair play.

[stokefc]

this is fabulous , total respect to the Blackpool fans

[owdestokie2]

Mar 8, 2019 20:40:42 GMT Malcolm Clarke said:

for the thousands of Blackpool fans who have spent recent years fighting to reclaim their club from the Oystons, who have now finally been thrown out by the courts. As the high court judge said, with masterly judicial understatement ‘the Oyston side enriched itself, prejudiced Blackpool FC and behaved in a discriminatory manner towards the other members of the club’. They are gone. Tomorrow the fans will march before the game, as they have so many times in recent years, but this time it will be a march of victory and celebration, not a march of boycott and protest, and for the first time in years, it will end with those heroic and dedicated fans going through the turnstiles to watch their team play at home. No wonder the game is a near sell-out.

I pay tribute to the Blackpool Supporters Trust for their energy, staying power, faith and professionalism. The rest of us in the national supporters movement have given them support where we can, but ultimately this is their achievement, their victory. I am sure they will enjoy every moment, with more than a few tears shed. It shows that even on planet football, sometimes the bad guys can be beaten. I will of course be at QPR, but I would love to be at Bloomfield Road sharing the moment with them.

On this Board in the last couple of years I have read concerns and anger about some of the things which have happened at Stoke City, some of it justified, some of it not, in my opinion. But of one thing I am certain. Whatever view you take of the way our club has been run, we don't come even remotely near what the Blackpool fans ( and those of other clubs such as Coventry) have had to endure, and on occasions like to tomorrow it is as well to remember that.

Malcom

I’m fully on board with the sentiments of your post.  I would however add the following.  We are in a fortunate position of having the Coates family run our club.  Yet we have a CEO who wouldn’t know any other part of the ground other than the Corporate Hospitality suite.

I wonder if;

1. He has walked any part of the concourse areas at 2:30 to see for real the service provided to the customers
2. He has witnessed first hand the traffic management system after a match
3. He has witnessed the farce of security before entering the ground

I could go on

My guess would be no, if he has it’s even worse

[spitthedog]

This should be the biggest story in football today

Go to Sky Sports Football page....any sign of it???.....tells you all you need to know.

Congratulations Blackpool!

[johnnypotter]

Well done, Blackpool fans, so pleased that you have your football club back, hope you start to enjoy supporting your club again.

[Malcolm Clarke]

Mar 8, 2019 23:01:09 GMT owdestokie2 said:

Mar 8, 2019 20:40:42 GMT Malcolm Clarke said:

for the thousands of Blackpool fans who have spent recent years fighting to reclaim their club from the Oystons, who have now finally been thrown out by the courts. As the high court judge said, with masterly judicial understatement ‘the Oyston side enriched itself, prejudiced Blackpool FC and behaved in a discriminatory manner towards the other members of the club’. They are gone. Tomorrow the fans will march before the game, as they have so many times in recent years, but this time it will be a march of victory and celebration, not a march of boycott and protest, and for the first time in years, it will end with those heroic and dedicated fans going through the turnstiles to watch their team play at home. No wonder the game is a near sell-out.

I pay tribute to the Blackpool Supporters Trust for their energy, staying power, faith and professionalism. The rest of us in the national supporters movement have given them support where we can, but ultimately this is their achievement, their victory. I am sure they will enjoy every moment, with more than a few tears shed. It shows that even on planet football, sometimes the bad guys can be beaten. I will of course be at QPR, but I would love to be at Bloomfield Road sharing the moment with them.

On this Board in the last couple of years I have read concerns and anger about some of the things which have happened at Stoke City, some of it justified, some of it not, in my opinion. But of one thing I am certain. Whatever view you take of the way our club has been run, we don't come even remotely near what the Blackpool fans ( and those of other clubs such as Coventry) have had to endure, and on occasions like to tomorrow it is as well to remember that.

Malcom

I’m fully on board with the sentiments of your post.  I would however add the following.  We are in a fortunate position of having the Coates family run our club.  Yet we have a CEO who wouldn’t know any other part of the ground other than the Corporate Hospitality suite.

I wonder if;

1. He has walked any part of the concourse areas at 2:30 to see for real the service provided to the customers
2. He has witnessed first hand the traffic management system after a match
3. He has witnessed the farce of security before entering the ground

I could go on

My guess would be no, if he has it’s even worse

All I would say, owde, is that we have a mechanism for dialogue with the club, the Supporters Council, unlike the Blackpool fans until now, and indeed fans of some other clubs. The issues you mention, and others like them, should be pursued through that route, and the members of the Council held to account and/or replaced if the fan electorate feel that they are not being pursued strongly or effectively enough.

Speaking personally, I sit in the main stand, where I wouldn't say (1) is a huge problem although I'm quite often already in my seat at that time rather than on the concourse, but I'm told things are much worse in the Boothen End ?

I completely agree with you on (2) - it drives me crazy that I can't even think about trying to drive off the car park until about an hour after the final whistle.

I agree (3) is a farce, but it doesn't cause me any inconvenience (precisely because it is farce) and I'm not sure I would want more thorough searching, or feel it's necessary, but maybe other fans disagree.

For my sins, I have just been 'elevated' (if that's the word) to be Chair of the Supporters Club and I will ensure that its committee discusses the 3 points you raise at our next meeting. Unfortunately, the Supporters Club place on the Supporters council has now been taken away, but we can, and will, still raise issues with the club.

[surreystokie]

You beat me to it, Malc.

Was so excited when I heard the news and only wish it had happened a fortnight later when we have a free weekend and I wouid have been at Bloomfield Rd to share their deserved Big Day, after so much deprivation for so long. I did the same for BHA, enjoying their return home, after seasons at Gillingham and worse. Being in different divisions, we did not have a match that day.and It was a real tear jerker.

So many appalling owners - and don’t get me going on that wretched Mike Ashley on Tyneside, doing his damnedist to wreck Newcastle United. It is beyond the imagination to try to swap places with the likes of Charlton Athletic, Coventry City Bolton Wanderers and Pompey that was. Surely the ultimate in football nightmares.

Well done to the sacrificial Tangerines! May they enjoy their Bid Day when the score doesn’t matter, as defeating those appalling Oystens is the supreme victory that does.

[onefatcopper]

Mar 8, 2019 23:56:05 GMT surreystokie said:

You beat me to it, Malc.

Was so excited when I heard the news and only wish it had happened a fortnight later when we have a free weekend and I wouid have been at Bloomfield Rd to share their deserved Big Day, after so much deprivation for so long. I did the same for BHA, enjoying their return home, after seasons at Gillingham and worse. Being in different divisions, we did not have a match that day.and It was a real tear jerker.

So many appalling owners - and don’t get me going on that wretched Mike Ashley on Tyneside, doing his damnedist to wreck Newcastle United. It is beyond the imagination to try to swap places with the likes of Charlton Athletic, Coventry City Bolton Wanderers and Pompey that was. Surely the ultimate in football nightmares.

Well done to the sacrificial Tangerines! May they enjoy their Bid Day when the score doesn’t matter, as defeating those appalling Oystens is the supreme victory that does.

I think a little bit of praise must be shown to our brothers at the Vale, after all it was their brainchild of staying away from home matches, as a act of silent protest towards the current custodian of the club Mr Norman Smurthwaite.
 So as we all can join in the celebrations of the Blackpool fans for their victory over dictatorship, please spare a thought for those brave souls in the north of the city, as they continue in their own battle of good versus evil ! Tomorrow in their quest they have come up with a truly original way of showing their contempt ! They have had 3000 red cards produced, so they can be waved towards Norman in the forlorn hope that he will relent and sell the club to a local business mogul.
 

[FrankButcher]

Having kept an eye on the goings on at Blackpool in recent years I am thrilled for them to be able to have the club back from the oystons. Imagine having to boycott a Wembley league two play off final and to stay away from Bloomfield Road for a few years I can't imagine how hard it was for them but they had to do it and got justice for it seeing them get promoted from league two and be close to the league one play offs while being involved in a battle with the owners is quite an achievement dare I say it but Blackpool slowly but surely could be on the rise again!

A visit to Bloomfield Road before the season is out I think!

[portugalpotter]

When I first saw the headline to the thread I thought Berahino, Wimmer and Imbula were sold along with it being May 5th and our season was completed. Must admit the pain other clubs have gone through is greater than our pain at the moment, which is nothing in comparison. The question I have always asked over the years is how has the Oyston family been allowed to run a football club when prospective chairman/chairwoman/owner has to be verified by a various body. Scandalous.

[scfc64]

There is a real feel good factor around the town which hasn't been felt since the PL days. This day is all about their fans and what ever happens today, its just about them.

[werrington]

The lack of media coverage comes with the general obsession with the all incumbersing top 6 premiership clubs ....its pathetic and you only have to look how they lost interest in Portsmouth and their troubles once they dropped out of the premiership even though their problems remained

Blackpool dropping out of existence or a Dr getting sacked at Chelsea and the main story for 2 months

Sickening

[sheds1862]

As a guy who works with two of the unwashed and has one as a close mate it'd be interesting the comments were Vale to have a centre circle protest.
Certainly wouldn't be along the lines of excellent stuff as quoted above !!

Too many scurrilous owners are ruining lower league football and the greed and wealth of the top flight is never recognised nor filters down .

How can it be right that say Accrington could of gone out of business over 100 grand, yet players earn 100 grand plus a week in the Premier.

Money is the root of all evil in Football

[Mr_DaftBurger]

Mar 8, 2019 23:54:17 GMT Malcolm Clarke said:

Mar 8, 2019 23:01:09 GMT owdestokie2 said:

Malcom

I’m fully on board with the sentiments of your post.  I would however add the following.  We are in a fortunate position of having the Coates family run our club.  Yet we have a CEO who wouldn’t know any other part of the ground other than the Corporate Hospitality suite.

I wonder if;

1. He has walked any part of the concourse areas at 2:30 to see for real the service provided to the customers
2. He has witnessed first hand the traffic management system after a match
3. He has witnessed the farce of security before entering the ground

I could go on

My guess would be no, if he has it’s even worse

All I would say, owde, is that we have a mechanism for dialogue with the club, the Supporters Council, unlike the Blackpool fans until now, and indeed fans of some other clubs. The issues you mention, and others like them, should be pursued through that route, and the members of the Council held to account and/or replaced if the fan electorate feel that they are not being pursued strongly or effectively enough.

Speaking personally, I sit in the main stand, where I wouldn't say (1) is a huge problem although I'm quite often already in my seat at that time rather than on the concourse, but I'm told things are much worse in the Boothen End ?

I completely agree with you on (2) - it drives me crazy that I can't even think about trying to drive off the car park until about an hour after the final whistle.

I agree (3) is a farce, but it doesn't cause me any inconvenience (precisely because it is farce) and I'm not sure I would want more thorough searching, or feel it's necessary, but maybe other fans disagree.

For my sins, I have just been 'elevated' (if that's the word) to be Chair of the Supporters Club and I will ensure that its committee discusses the 3 points you raise at our next meeting. Unfortunately, the Supporters Club place on the Supporters council has now been taken away, but we can, and will, still raise issues with the club.

Can you also propose a sort of 'Undercover Boss' where he works in various positions in disguise, all filmed of course! I'm sure that would be interesting for him!

Oh and as for Blackpool, absolutely delighted for them and their fans. I've never met a bad Blackpool fan, don't know if it's the Sir Stan connection, but always had a soft spot for them.

[adi]

After all that they can’t sell out a little stadium? They really have lost the fans.

[adi]

Mar 9, 2019 8:07:20 GMT sheds1862 said:

As a guy who works with two of the unwashed and has one as a close mate it'd be interesting the comments were Vale to have a centre circle protest.
Certainly wouldn't be along the lines of excellent stuff as quoted above !!

Too many scurrilous owners are ruining lower league football and the greed and wealth of the top flight is never recognised nor filters down .

How can it be right that say Accrington could of gone out of business over 100 grand, yet players earn 100 grand plus a week in the Premier.

Money is the root of all evil in Football

Because people have to pay for the best entertainment and the best providers of that entertainment demand a premium. It’s simple economics really. Supply and demand.

[Goonie]

Mar 8, 2019 21:42:59 GMT Malcolm Clarke said:

Mar 8, 2019 21:07:17 GMT norman conquest said:

Didnt the Oystens sue a fan and win quite a wedge off him or am i thinking of something else or another club

They certainly did, on more than one occasion, successfully sue for libel over social media comments.

Let's hope this judgement allows said fan(s) to counter-sue or even the CPS wades in with a perjury suit!

The truth will out!

[Goonie]

Fit and proper person to own a football club? No but its ok to be on the board!:


en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Oyston

Conviction
Four months after a high-profile police raid on a modelling agency in Manchester nine charges were levelled against him, including four rape charges. He was initially arrested on 9 February 1995. At the committal in May 1995, one of the alleged rapes and two separate charges of indecent assault were thrown out by a stipendiary magistrate. Charges involving three complainants came to trial. He was cleared of offences against two women but found guilty of the rape and indecent assault of the third complainant. At his first trial in Manchester in February 1996 for the rape and indecent assault of a former model, he was acquitted of indecent assault but the jury could not reach a verdict on the rape charge. At retrial he was acquitted of the rape charge after the former model was shown to have lied at the first trial and that Oyston had had a long term relationship with her both before and after the alleged rape. She also admitted that it was only after being contacted by police officers investigating the model agency that she felt impelled to speak out having previously made no allegation against Oyston.

A second rape trial in Manchester in March 1996 saw Oyston acquitted after it was shown that the model had taken money from him, enjoyed a consensual affair with him and continued to meet him socially after the alleged rape.

A third trial at Liverpool Crown Court began in April 1996, including both the retrial of an earlier rape case and the trial of the allegations of rape and indecent assault made by a third complainant. The third complainant had originally said she was raped at Oyston's home on a night between October and December 1991, but seven days into the third trial the judge agreed to a request from the Crown and allowed the indictment period to be extended by twelve months, to run from 4 October 1991, to 31 December 1992. The woman had made no complaint in that period and notes from her first police interview had been lost. She had been between 16 and 17 years old in the indictment period. Oyston denied having any intercourse with her. After failing at first to reach a verdict, the jury eventually found Oyston guilty of rape and indecent assault. He was jailed for six years on 22 May.

During the trial Oyston also claimed he was the victim of a long-running conspiracy by two government ministers, and that a "very nasty campaign" had been waged against him for up to twelve years. Oyston claimed that at one time he was being investigated by the Fraud Squad, the Inland Revenue, the Drugs Squad, the City's regulatory takeover body Imro, international private investigators, The Sunday Times and other newspapers. He told his defence counsel Anthony Scrivener, QC, that he had been cleared of wrongdoing. In 1989, he had won substantial damages, costs and an apology from The Sunday Times. He also distributed a 72-page glossy booklet, "The Oyston file", detailing the allegations to reporters at his trial.

Appeal
After his conviction Oyston continued to maintain his innocence, claiming that he had been framed in an elaborate conspiracy involving business rivals and government ministers. Doubt was cast on the validity of his conviction as well as the case and the police investigation. Questions were raised in the House of Commons, particularly by Labour MP Dale Campbell-Savours who brought the matter up a number of times from January 1998 onwards. He brought the matter up again, when he had become Baron Campbell-Savours, in the House of Lords, in 2003.

In December 1997, at the Court of Appeal in London, the conviction was upheld and Oyston's appeal against his six-year jail sentence was dismissed. He was ordered to pay £100,000 court costs. The Radio Authority then ruled that he was not a fit person to own a radio station and wrote to the four stations in which he was known to have a controlling interest – The Bay (North Lancashire and South Cumbria), Radio 1521 (County Armagh, Northern Ireland), Goldbeat (Cookstown, Northern Ireland) and City Beat 96.7 (Belfast), saying that Oyston should not hold the licences. He was forced to relinquish control as each of the radio stations stood to lose their licence should he retain a controlling interest. He also stood down as chairman of Blackpool F.C. In March 1999 the girl brought a civil action against Oyston, claiming £500,000 for psychological damage, which he settled out of court. In April 1999 a parole panel rejected his application for parole because he had not completed the Sex Offenders Treatment Programme from which he had been excluded by his refusal to admit his own guilt.

Release from prison
After serving three years and six months in prison, Oyston was released on parole on 7 December 1999. After a judicial review of the Parole Board's refusal, Mr Justice Hooper found on 14 October 1999 that the board had acted unlawfully by denying an early release because Oyston would not admit the crime. The rule had been applied as a "catch 22". Under normal parole terms, Oyston would have been due for release in May 1999. Still maintaining his innocence, he was released from Wealstun Prison in West Yorkshire on 7 December. He was enrolled on the sex offenders' register as part of the conditions of release. All he said in public on his release was, "I am pleased to be going home but there will be no celebrations until my name is cleared." He also repeated allegations of a conspiracy, claiming police had been told by a businessman in the West Midlands three months before his arrest that he had paid £5,000 to a woman to "set Owen up". He also unsuccessfully appealed to the European court for his conviction to be overturned.

In the twelve months after his release, he was not seen in public, and became a recluse in his home at Claughton Hall, Claughton, Lancaster. On 29 June 2001 Oyston spoke publicly for the first time since his release. He vowed to fight to clear his name, saying "The fact that the media haven't caught up with me until now doesn't mean I have been hiding. I’m still fighting to clear my name. Shortly a judgement will be made in Europe about my case. I won't stop fighting to clear my name. I will eventually." The appeal was rejected by the European Court of Human Rights on 22 January 2002 as "manifestly ill-founded". They ruled that it was a fair hearing and that fresh evidence adduced by Oyston in the rape case which was refused by the Court of Appeal was inadmissible. They stated that "there was no reason to reach a different conclusion in the present case."

FEB 2019:

Owen Oyston removed from Blackpool board by Court Receiver | Football News | Sky Sports www.skysports.com/amp/football/news/11728/11648260/owen-oyston-removed-from-blackpool-board-by-court-receiver

Owen Oyston has been removed from the Blackpool board of directors by a Court Receiver.

[Malcolm Clarke]

Mar 9, 2019 4:25:11 GMT portugalpotter said:

When I first saw the headline to the thread I thought Berahino, Wimmer and Imbula were sold along with it being May 5th and our season was completed. Must admit the pain other clubs have gone through is greater than our pain at the moment, which is nothing in comparison. The question I have always asked over the years is how has the Oyston family been allowed to run a football club when prospective chairman/chairwoman/owner has to be verified by a various body. Scandalous.

We have produced a set of detailed regulation reforms which, had they been in place, we believe would have largely prevented the Blackpool and Coventry situations. 3 of us gave a presentation to the full FA Board on them, and got a reasonable reception. We will now have meetings with the various leagues. I am not naive about how difficult it can be to get change in football but I am hopeful we might make some progress on this. The fact that the FA, the Premier League and the Football League are all currently looking for a new CEO means the timing isn’t perfect 😢

If anyone would like a copy of our proposals PM me your email addy

[Deleted]

Mar 9, 2019 9:14:46 GMT adi said:

After all that they can’t sell out a little stadium? They really have lost the fans.

There’s only about 200 tickets left. I know fans that live abroad that have flown back just for this today. It’s a huge day for them. I can’t imagine anything like this happening to Stoke and what it must have been like for the fans. I mean we’re losing fans because we’ve had a shit a few years. Fans have gone to clean the stadium before this game. If that’s not commitment I don’t know what is.

[greystokie]

Not a bad article about this in the Daily Telegraph:

www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2019/03/08/blackpool-fans-prepare-many-happy-returns-ousting-oystons/