Blackpool Supporters’ Trust will clarify details of its takeover bid to Owen Oyston “in due course” but wants future talks on a proposed £16m leveraged buyout held in private, according to its chairman Steve Rowland.
BST published plans to take control at Bloomfield Road this month amid serious unrest among supporters about the Oyston family’s running of the League One club and after previous approaches to the owners went unanswered. On Monday, Oyston posted a thorough response on the club’s website asking BST to answer a range of questions before proceeding any further with the takeover offer.
Oyston, whose family would keep several assets connected to the club as part of any leveraged buyout, has taken issue with BST’s assertion that he bought Blackpool for £1 in 1987, insisting he has put “multimillions of pounds” into the club.
He also asks: “Is it true that you are not putting in one penny of new money into the club? Is it true that on behalf of BST your proposal is that I GIVE YOU, not sell to you, all my shares in Segesta Limited which brings with it all Segesta’s assets which includes the majority shareholding in Blackpool Football Club Limited which you would then control, bank balances with millions of pounds in cash, Bloomfield Road stadium and its land and many other assets together with the substantial guaranteed income streams generated from these assets?”
Oyston has given BST a 14-day deadline to respond to his queries. Speaking to BBC Radio Lancashire, Rowland confirmed the trust is “not putting any money up as part of this bid” but would invest over time. The BST chairman added: “We are going to be replying to Owen in due course. If he is serious about holding a dialogue with the trust about our letter of intent to buy the club then we think we should relocate the conversation from the public domain to the boardroom.”
