R5: Blackpool, Topps Match Attax Trading Card Game, Barclays Premier League 2010/11 Collector Binder

Today Mat Jolin-Beech brings us yet another first for the blog (no, not another algorithm) with a trip beyond the pitch, past the dugout and into the boardroom. The European Super League debacle brought the issues of club chairmen to the forefront in the closing weeks of the 2020/21 football season but, outside of the top flight, many fine clubs like Bury, Charlton Athletic and Leyton Orient have been at the mercy of some genuinely reprehensible owners. Over to Mat for more.

Many fans have a hate/hate relationship with their owners. Very few are lucky to be endowed with cash rich, supportive custodians such as Chelsea with Roman Abramovich or Manchester City with Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan. Both of those have invested heavily into the playing squad, training facilities, the stadiums and, in City’s case, have created an unrivalled campus of facilities for the youth and women’s teams.

There are those who are less lucky. Yes, as a Manchester United fan, the Glazers are on this list. The succubi syphoning several hundreds of millions out of the club and doing the minimum to keep Champions League football, and therefore income, up. There are also those, like Forest Green Rovers fans. Their chairman is Dale Vince and one of the first moves he did was to strip the meat pies and hot dogs from the refreshment stands, replacing them with an all-vegan menu. The locals and old timers were not happy but some say this was a commendable move as Forest Green have since been named the greenest football club in the world by FIFA.

Then there are Blackpool fans, my grandad being one of them. The history of the club is there. FA Cup winners in 1953, and club and country legend Sir Stanley Matthews gracing Bloomfield Road. After many dark years, they rose back up the divisions, resulting in an unlikely return to the top flight in 2010 under the leadership of Ian Holloway, and the ownership of the Oyston family.

There is a lot that I could say but I won’t in case something that shouldn’t be written here ends up on these pages. But, to say the least, the Oyston family were not popular in that Orange part of Lancashire after 2011. Promotion to the Premier League is said to be worth at least £135 million. For a club like Blackpool, the opportunities here were huge to invest in facilities and upgrade positioning them as a top-flight club for years to come. Just look at what Brighton have done.

But no, money was again taken out of the club and not put where it should have gone. Premier League players reported buckets in the club’s gym to catch dripping water, and woeful catering facilities. A £221 business rate bill on the training ground was also missed in March 2015. Other, more significant, and hefty deadlines for debt were also missed. Again, Google will help fill in blanks here. There are also stories of these top-level players (and Brett Ormerod) training on the sands of Blackpool beach.

A slow, and painful decline followed, with a return to the bottom tier of English professional football. Further scandals also came down the tracks, and the club was put up for sale in 2017. In early 2019, the club was put into receivership by the high court and threatened with a 12-point deduction something they narrowly escaped after the EFL ruled against this.

Since then, the whole sour saga is over, with Blackpool born and bred businessman Simon Sadler taking over, and the club has recently returned to the Championship, following their playoff final victory in May. So, however bad you think your club’s owners are, just remember, it could be worse. A lot worse.