Blackpool chairman resigns
Blackpool chairman Karl Oyston has announced his resignation from the post with immediate effect. The 43-year-old will continue working as the club's acting chief executive until the end of the season or until a new chairman is appointed.
A statement on Blackpool’s official website added that: “He will continue to work closely with the manager Ian Holloway on player recruitment and to oversee the continued development and reconstruction of the stadium. The club would like to emphasise that there will be no interruption in the recruitment of players or the work required on the stadium.”
Osyton previously said that he was not a fan of the conduct and influence of players’ agents in the English Premier League, a culture that the newly-promoted club have struggled with as they did not sign any players until last week – though they have since made seven new additions to Holloway’s squad.
Strategy ultimatum
The former chairman said earlier this month that he would quit if the club’s board members did not agree with his strategy for competing in the EPL. Wary of the massive debts that have plagued clubs such as Hull City and Portsmouth, he has been careful not to overspend and is said to have places a wage limit of £10,000 a week on the club’s players.
After his team beat Wigan Athletic to briefly lead the league, Oyston said that his offer to resign still stood. He told The Independent that: "I expected the way people behaved to be different and I have been very disappointed in the way some agents have conducted themselves. The more I talk to other Premier League clubs the more I realise I am a lone voice."
Oyston was at the centre of controversy this summer when it was revealed that Blackpool’s players were not paid their bonuses – some reported to be as much as £400,000 - for achieving promotion when they beat Cardiff City in the Football League Championship play-off final in May. The players eventually received their money this month after Blackpool received the first of their payments from the EPL.
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