Blackpool players receive promotion bonuses
Blackpool chairman Karl Oyston has revealed that his club’s players have at last been paid the bonuses they had been due after winning the Football League Championship play-off final – and with it promotion to the English Premier League - in May.
It had been reported by several publications that the squad were not pleased that the close season had almost ended without receiving the money they were owed. However, Oyston said that the hold-up was due to the fact that the club did not receive any money from the EPL until last week.
The chairman told the Blackpool Gazette that: "I don't know if it caused dissent but we didn't get the first chunk of Premier League money until Thursday. The players have received it. I'm delighted. I think they deserved it. Maybe one or two players thought we'd be there handing them a bagful of money as they walked off the pitch."
'Demand issued by players'
Several players were said to have demand teir bonus money fron Oyston after returning to the club for pre-season training in July. Some senior members of the squad were reported to have been owed up to £400,000. However, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association revealed at the end of July that the players were not worried about the situation and were aware that they would be paid after the money was given to Blackpool by the EPL.
With the promotion money saga now having been brought to a close, Oyston is looking ahead to the new season with the hope that he can pay out more bonuses to his players - if they manage to retain their EPL status for another season. He said that: "I hope they earn another £5m this year by keeping us in the Premier League."
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