Where’s the money gone?

That’s the question being asked by Blackpool fans.   The club is thought to have netted £40m from its year in the Premiership, it is due the first of £14m of parachute payments (with three more come in successive years) and £8m was received from the sale of Charlie Adams and D J Campbell.   From a fans’ perspective the three best players have gone and there have been no replacements of equivalent quality.

That’s the question being asked by Blackpool fans.   The club is thought to have netted £40m from its year in the Premiership, it is due the first of £14m of parachute payments (with three more come in successive years) and £8m was received from the sale of Charlie Adams and D J Campbell.   From a fans’ perspective the three best players have gone and there have been no replacements of equivalent quality.


The other side of the coin is that the Oyston family have bankrolled Blackpool for 24 years, although it is possible that when losses were incurred they could have been used as tax write offs.  The club has a much better stadium and other facilities.


The broader question that this raises is one of transparency.   How much are fans entitled to know about how their clubs are run?   On one level they are just customers, but we all know that a fan’s identity is bound up with the club.   Karl Oyston will run Blackpool in the way he thinks fit and he is entitled to do that.   But sometimes more information can put paid to the wilder rumours that can circulate on message boards.