| McPhillips Critical of Oyston - Hard hitting Interview 23:16 - Mar 6 with 336 views | spell_chekker |
A revealing interview.  With Jack Gaughan, published in the Daily Mail
'The last time I met Oyston he was very rude and obnoxious': Blackpool boss Terry McPhillips on a shambolic club... but at last there's hope
- Blackpool chairman Owen Oyston was removed from the board last week
- Fans had been furious with the lack of investment under his ownership
- Terry McPhillips says Oyston treated the club's staff as if he was better than them
- Fan have been cleaning the stadium, which had been neglected over the years
The change in mood during Tuesday's win at Accrington was striking
- A sell-out is expected for Saturday’s joyous homecoming against Southend
Barely nine hours have passed since the most affirming night in Blackpool’s recent history, and as he enthusiastically converses about a club reborn, Terry McPhillips is talking bird droppings.
He is praising more than 100 volunteers who gave up their week to scrape faeces off the faded tangerine seats at Bloomfield Road. Describing how disgusting the stadium had became under the wretched Owen Oyston is tricky, but McPhillips manages it.
‘The bird muck in one corner was atrocious,’ the Blackpool manager says. ‘This is years of muck on top of muck. It’s almost concrete. The stadium has been neglected. Really neglected. Who wants to sit on a seat with bird muck all over it?’
'The last time I met Oyston he was very rude and obnoxious': Blackpool boss Terry McPhillips on a shambolic club... but at last there's hope
Blackpool chairman Owen Oyston was removed from the board last week
Fans had been furious with the lack of investment under his ownership
Terry McPhillips says Oyston treated the club's staff as if he was better than them
Fan have been cleaning the stadium, which had been neglected over the years
The change in mood during Tuesday's win at Accrington was striking
A sell-out is expected for Saturday’s joyous homecoming against Southend
By Jack Gaughan for the Daily Mail
Published: 22:30 GMT, 6 March 2019 | Updated: 22:30 GMT, 6 March 2019
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Barely nine hours have passed since the most affirming night in Blackpool’s recent history, and as he enthusiastically converses about a club reborn, Terry McPhillips is talking bird droppings.
He is praising more than 100 volunteers who gave up their week to scrape faeces off the faded tangerine seats at Bloomfield Road. Describing how disgusting the stadium had became under the wretched Owen Oyston is tricky, but McPhillips manages it.
‘The bird muck in one corner was atrocious,’ the Blackpool manager says. ‘This is years of muck on top of muck. It’s almost concrete. The stadium has been neglected. Really neglected. Who wants to sit on a seat with bird muck all over it?’
Blackpool manager Terry McPhillips is enthusiastic about the reborn club's future
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Blackpool manager Terry McPhillips is enthusiastic about the reborn club's future
Controversial chairman Owen Oyston was removed from the club's board last week
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Controversial chairman Owen Oyston was removed from the club's board last week
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McPhillips then delivers the perfect metaphor for Oyston’s disgraceful 31-year reign. ‘There has been a seagull decomposing in the car park for six months,’ he sighs.
‘That sums it up. It’s been lying just by Jimmy Armfield’s statue. I didn’t realise how bad that statue was, by the way. What a botched job the paving around it was. Oh my God. Slabs at different levels. Gaps, holes in it. How can that happen? This is the great Jimmy Armfield. It’s ridiculous. It’s in a poor state. Who was responsible for that?’
Thursday is day four of the big clean before Saturday’s joyous homecoming against Southend United. A sell-out is expected.
Tuesday’s late 2-1 victory at Accrington, in front of 1,900 travelling fans, was the first act of unity since Oyston’s court-ordered removal last month. The players fed off their fresh support and are not ruling out a tilt at the League One play-offs, provided the EFL do not impose a 12-point deduction for entering receivership.
There has been so much to do on the Fylde Coast. The kitchens, disused for years, are filthy. The scoreboard needed fixing. Card machines don’t work because WiFi bills went unpaid. Fleetwood Town owner Andy Pilley, a lifelong Blackpool fan, has been in to help. The pitch, unloved for years, is near unplayable.
Receivers, led by Paul Cooper, must find a buyer so the club can be sold to pay off some of the £25million owed by the Oyston family to Latvian banker Valeri Belokon, a former director at the club.
The change in mood at Accrington’s Wham Stadium, the joviality and camaraderie many clubs take for granted, was striking. This was a town stuck in reverse during a courageous five-year boycott, but McPhillips is now discussing ‘the electricity’ at a recent supporters’ trust meeting he attended.
Everything changed with the tap of a gavel. That goes for his own disposition, too, although his face hardens when the personal relationship with Oyston is broached.
‘We barely spoke but the last time I met Owen he was rude. We had a planning meeting and he was very rude to me and my coaching staff. I didn’t enjoy that meeting, didn’t like it. Without going into detail, he was just obnoxious. Is he any better than me? Is he any better than you?
‘Whether he meant to be or not, he was rude. We’ve got thick skin so we crack on. Has he made it easy for us day-to-day? No.
‘The whole place has been working without a plan. The club’s been drifting. It’s a great opportunity for someone to get hold of this big club with potential.’
McPhillips is relaxed at home on the outskirts of Liverpool, still riding high on the Accrington win hours earlier, a night where the club’s heart began to beat again.
‘Last night inspired the players,’ he says. ‘It was awesome, properly celebrating with your proper fans. You can’t buy that. The sheer volume – they never stopped.
‘We’ll try to inspire each other. I’m lucky that after all these years the ownership is changing and it looks like I’ll be the manager taking them out on Saturday. It’s great when it’s bouncing. Hopefully we can put a show on.
‘Everything we’ve asked for from the receivers has been done. We don’t want a lot. Not the Ritz, just a hotel close to the stadium. We just want a fighting chance.
‘There’s not a lot they can do at our Squires Gate training ground at the moment. The Portaloo doesn’t work. That fell on to (striker) Mark Cullen’s car last season. Players were being addressed after training and they’re all laughing. You look behind and the Portaloo has toppled on Mark’s car. Barely anyone used it anyway.’
So players went elsewhere. But those same players are now looking up under a new regime.
‘Pre-season plans are in place with the new board,’ says McPhillips. ‘If we can retain our best players and get a bit of finance then it becomes an exciting place.’
Then come the knowing looks. ‘What should happen is if a player comes to sign it should all be agreed beforehand. That is what should happen.
‘If the agents know they’re going to get paid, they’ll bring them to Blackpool. If they don’t think they’re going to get paid, why would they? That’s been hard.
‘There are the likes of Charlie Adam and Alex Baptiste who’d love to come back because they love the club. Those are just a couple I know of. It’s not because they want to train at Squires Gate – nobody wants that. It’s because they have an affinity with the club.
‘I’m finding there are quite a few people who have a soft spot for Blackpool. The fans have a lot to do with that. I’ve learned loads in the last couple of weeks. Personal stories. People saying what happened to them, being taken to court by the Oystons.
‘This is the fans’ club, not anybody else’s.’ [Post edited 6 Mar 2019 23:17]
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| McPhillips Critical of Oyston - Hard hitting Interview on 23:41 - Mar 6 with 316 views | BringBackTheRedRoom |
Credit to Terry McPhillips (and Jack), didn't have to do that interview. [Post edited 6 Mar 2019 23:42]
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| ‘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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| McPhillips Critical of Oyston - Hard hitting Interview on 23:42 - Mar 6 with 313 views | spell_chekker |
I thought it was a bit of a wow interview.
Not many have come out like that against OO. | |
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| McPhillips Critical of Oyston - Hard hitting Interview on 07:34 - Mar 7 with 290 views | ROTTWEILERS |
He comes across to me like a monkey looking for the strongest branch. | |
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| McPhillips Critical of Oyston - Hard hitting Interview on 07:47 - Mar 7 with 284 views | spudgun |
"...monkey looking for the strongest branch."
Don`t know whether that is actually fair to McPhillips, but a great aphorism all the same.  | | | |
| McPhillips Critical of Oyston - Hard hitting Interview on 09:07 - Mar 7 with 276 views | seasider81 |
Not that we needed it but more confirmation that boycotting was the right thing to do. | | | |
| McPhillips Critical of Oyston - Hard hitting Interview on 09:15 - Mar 7 with 274 views | spell_chekker |
I'm not convinced that TM was being insincere. | |
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| McPhillips Critical of Oyston - Hard hitting Interview on 10:49 - Mar 7 with 262 views | ROTTWEILERS |
Well I walk past that statue approximately 10 times a day and there ain't no decomposing seagull. Plus he's only just realised what a poor state around the statue is? Pull the other one......
It wasn't that long ago he was having thinly-veiled pops at NAPM so I'm taking this interview with a massive pinch of salt I'm afraid. The content and tone will make most of our fans happy so no harm done I suppose. | |
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