| Letter to the Football League 20:13 - May 8 with 1048 views | BFCSupportersTrust |
I write to you on behalf of Blackpool Supporters Trust. We have almost 1500 members and are, by far, the largest Blackpool FC supporters group. We are aware that the Football League are currently considering the issues pertaining to the forced abandonment of the Blackpool versus Huddersfield game that took place on Saturday 2nd of May 2015 and wish to contribute to your deliberations.
There are very few examples of fans invading the pitch with the aim of abandoning a match. Most often it has been done where the invading fans have acted to assist their club avoiding defeat or relegation. This was clearly not the case on the 2nd of May as Blackpool was already relegated. The reason for the pitch invasion was simply to bring the plight of the club to greater public attention and in this way, it was a unique event. Football fans chose to bring to an end the very entertainment that they had come to see and although there were, according to police figures, only 150 fans on the pitch, there was a large majority of fans in the stands who supported the action that was being taken.
The situation was an extraordinary one. Blackpool supporters are a group of fans not known for radical behaviour of any kind, but for the last two and a half years, there have been a steadily increasing number of demonstrations and protests. Blackpool Supporters Trust (formed initially as SISA in January 2013) has attempted throughout this time to develop a formal and respectful relationship with the current owners of the club. Throughout this whole period, the Trust, and by extension the members it represents, has been treated with disdain, contempt and disrespect. The Trust has always acted with regard to the integrity of our club’s supporters — a group that we believe represents the very best of what football supporters are capable of.
The unwillingness of the current owners to engage in dialogue with the Trust has been the tip of the iceberg for many fans. Karl Oyston has vilified supporters in print, abused us verbally, mocked us on social media, sued supporters for comments made and generally acted in a manner that might best be described as tyrannical and despotic, over a period of more than three years. We, as fans, have appealed for help from football’s governing authorities over all manner of issues and frankly, we feel we have been completely let down by those who are running the sport.
All of our protests and demonstrations have been peaceful and within the limit of the law. It has always been our intention to represent the very best of what it is to be a football fan and to represent and enhance the reputation of Blackpool itself. We take the matter of the club seriously and consider it to be a cornerstone of our community, a uniting factor and one that adds to the richness of life in the town. We will not see it treated with disdain or abused by any owner, regardless of how rich and powerful they or their family might be.
Professional football is not like any other business, one of the major differences being that we, the customers, often care more about the wellbeing of the business than the owners themselves. For us, the club is not a means to an end, but the end in itself.
The Trust, together with another supporters’ group, the Tangerine Knights, arranged a peaceful protest in full consultation with the police and the club’s excellent Ground Safety Officer, Tony Pinder, for the morning of Saturday 2nd of May. There would be a march, a ceremonial laying of wreaths, shirts, scarves and other Blackpool memorabilia at the statue of Stan Mortensen (one of Blackpool’s most beloved and revered players), then speeches would be made and a peaceful protest outside the main entrance was to take place.
A few days prior to the march, the owners removed the statue of Stan Mortensen from the plinth for reasons which still haven’t properly been explained. The club statement said this had been done on advice of the police and the police then issued a statement denying that they had given any such advice. It is unlikely that the owners of the club could have taken any single action that would have proved a greater affront to the fans, the history of the club or Stan Mortensen himself. This single act would have been enough to lead to serious public disorder at many other clubs. In the circumstances the Blackpool fans did their club and community proud with the demonstration going ahead as planned and fans simply laying their tributes at the empty plinth. The club and its heroes reside in the hearts of the supporters and without that heart, football becomes a game like any other, material only to those who play it and are directly involved in it.
A pitch invasion is the very last act that any football supporter would wish to make but it seems to the Trust that the fans felt there was no other way to make the strength of their feelings known to the owners and the wider public. The removal of the statue was, for many, the final insult; an act of hubris and vandalism perceived by many as a desecration of the fans relationship with the club.
We do not seek to condone the pitch invasion but to place it in its proper context. This is a case of the supporters feeling that all alternatives had been exhausted. We have no doubt that if there had been anything at stake for either team or any other club in the division that the game would have been allowed to conclude. Our supporters were not trying to avoid the club’s footballing fate, they were striving for something much more important, the safeguarding of its future.
For this reason we hope that you will take the view that this matter is far more serious than the abandonment of a football match. We fully expect that the club will at least receive a suspended points deduction of 10 points pending any further encroachment on to the field of play by home supporters during the next three seasons. We would be keen to avoid a fine for the club as we are concerned that this may simply be passed on to those that invaded the pitch. We would prefer that the club be required to take action to heal the rift with its supporters, that it be required to undertake further community work, that the Supporters Liaison Officer be made to meet with all supporters groups.
For Blackpool fans, the last three seasons have been one long punishment. What appears to be happening is that the Chairman of the football club is not only challenging his customers but seeing just how far he can stretch the rules of the Football League and the FA. He effectively ran onto the pitch and had our whole season abandoned before it even began — and the fact that the supporters waited until the very last game of the season before taking this action speaks volumes for their patience and integrity.
We want the Football League to open an enquiry into the way our football club is being run. The owners are bringing the game into disrepute and if you allow this opportunity to escape you, any legitimacy you have in the eyes of football fans as guardians of the game will likely evaporate.
We look forward to a prompt and positive response.
Regards,
[Post edited 8 May 2015 20:29]
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| Letter to the Football League on 20:51 - May 8 with 1024 views | BigHandsOliverKahn |
Somewhat misses the major point in my opinion.
The fundamental reason for the fanbase deperation is the huge profits which have rolled in during the past 4 seasons amounting to around £30 Million, most of which has been loaned out by the football club to a variety of Oyston owned companies whilst failing to provide a football team capable of competing on the pitch.
It is the whole essence of The Football League which is being questioned by our fanbase. What is the point of a football league if football clubs don't care to compete at football but just appear to seek making profits? | | | |
| Letter to the Football League on 20:58 - May 8 with 1014 views | BringBackTheRedRoom |
Excellent letter, however just one point, I think the company should be fined, say £30m - £32m. | |
| ‘Where there is harmony, may we bring discord. Where there is truth, may we bring error. Where there is faith, may we bring doubt. And where there is hope, may we bring despair’ |
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| Letter to the Football League on 11:30 - May 9 with 960 views | 1953Original |
Think you need a P.S. We are a Club without a manager ... again! | |
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