Post by Tangerine Sherlock on Oct 3, 2014 9:24:49 GMT 1
From the Blackpool Gazette today.
Where's the cash gone?
It is a question repeatedly asked over the last few years ever since Blackpool's Premier League dream turned into a nightmare for many fans.
From the darlings of English football's top flight to the bottom of the championship in just three years.
A summer beset with problems; three points in the first 10 games this season ; and repeated allegations the club's owners do not care and are happy to "trouser" the cash at the expense of the team and its loyal fans.Tonight, in a live televised match against Cardiff City many are expected to again show their anger at the Oyston regime and call for the family to sell up. Pool won a estimated £90m-plus windfall when they were promoted to the Premier League in 2010. But fans say little - if anything has been invested back into the team since relegation back to the championship.
Accounts over the last two years show loans paid from the club to a number of Oyston owned companies. This has led some fans to claim the cash has been siphoned off, misappropriated for the benefit of the Oyston family - a claim the pool owner strongly denies. It comes as Oyston confirmed the club is now taking legal action against "five individuals for defamation". In his first interview on football matters for years, Oyston said his family had "always defended the right of the supporters" to "criticise the club and ourselves" even if "it has often been painful and, in our view, often unjustified".
He said "We are pleased the Blackpool fans are so passionate and dedicated they want to make their views known. We know that they want the same as us - success on the pitch." But he hit back at those who have accused the club's owners of being thieves. stating that "certain individuals" had "crossed the line demarcating acceptable criticism",Oyston said "It's simply not true we have asset stripped or misappropriated football generated funds". "If those responsible had examined the accounts of the football group they would have seen we had been building up substantial assets to strengthen and secure the football club over 27 years, protecting the club from debt and producing revenue income and more recently substantial profits for the football group. "we are one of the few clubs in football that have no debts and are in profit".
Asked about the £90m the club got from its time in the Premier League and the subsequent parachute payments after they were relegated Oyston said 47.6m had been spent (between 2010-13 on players wages, bonuses and transfer fees. In 2011 he was paid £11m as a director - in lieu of the money he had put into the club since taking over in 1987. He added that 23.7m often quoted as the cash siphoned off to other companies was used to pay for the development of the stands and hotels.
He said much of the rest has gone on maintenance of the ground and paying stewards and other staff wages over that period. Oyston said when he took over the club in 1987 it owed creditors £827,000 and had losses of £77,000 on the balance sheet. its net assets (the total assets minus total outside liabilities) were listed as -£42,000. In may 2013, the last declared figures, Oyston says the club's net assets were £25m. Oyston said before achieving Premier League status three years ago he never took a salary, a dividend or consultancy payment from the club over a period of 24 years.
Detailing his investment over the years, he said when he took control in 1987 he immediately loaned the club £160,000 to cover bills that needed paying within 12 months. within seven months the loan had risen to £600,000. In 1990 he bought into the parent company of the club formerly Blackpool FC Properties Ltd, which changed its name to Segesta, for £1.34m. At the end of May 2000 he put in a further £4.1m bringing his total investment to £5.5.m. Another Oyston company Zabaxe Ltd, also loaned money to the club (£944,652) as well as time and services of its staff free of charge for such things as accountants, solicitors, architects, secretaries advisors and other staff.
In 2000/01 football season the Oyston family sold the company which published Lancashire LIfe magazine and from the proceeds, used £6.5m to lever £2.5m of further funding fromt the Football Foundation and used this £9m to build the North, North West and West stands. He said revenue from those stands flows directly back into the club. He said "That's my own money and I set aside millions of ponds in profit from those magazines to fund a club most professional advisers said could never pay me back"
He said that in 2006 Valeri Belokon bought 20 percent of the shares of the club for £1.8m and then he together with Oyston financed the building of the south and South west corner stands. More money was needed to finish thes off. And he added he has made a series of other loans to the club in may 2001 to September 2002 of £125,000, in February 2005 of £200,000, in March 2006, £150,000 in May 2006 £60,000 and in March 2009 0f £100,000. He said "I have poured into what had been a bankrupt and derelict club, millions of pounds, from my own money, and also from interest free loans from my own companies, not just to keep the football club afloat but also to build much of what you see in the modern Blackpool Football Club stadium today."
Over the claims the Oystons took out 23.7m from the club to give to other Oyston companies, he said that money was used by the companies for the funding, finishing and fitting out of the stands and units within them as the ground was being redeveloped. Also it was used to buy the Travelodge hotel on Bloomfield Road. He explained Blackpool FC Ltd couldn't financed the stands and paid to finish them off. That money went to Segesta and was then used through various other companies to carry out the work. We had to have separate construction companies to do it. Part was also used to repay loans made to the football group by the Oyston group companies interest free at a time when no-one else would lend money to the football group and without which they could not have continued. Therefore of the 23.7m loaned to Segesta by Blackpool FC, 22.8m has been used to benefit the football group and produce revenue to both BFC Limited and its parent company Segesta.
He said £640,000 loan from Blackpool FC Ltd to Blackpool FC Hotel was used to develop the south stand hotel and was being repaid. All these decisions, he said, would mean the club will survive on its own two feet for years to come. Oyston added: The avowed intention of the directors is to return to the top flight and to have the passionate support of all the fans again. I recognise all this effort and investment over this long journey with Blackpool FC and its parent company will have little or no impact on the fans.
"I know what happens on the pitch is what the fans are really concerned about and it is always my concern too and that is why I have dedicated my money,time and energy to this project because I'm a lifelong supporter."