Blackpudlians are a resolute and determined bunch not easily
put off by challenge or difficulty. If treated with respect and dignity, we are
loyal, supportive and accepting – when patronised, insulted and taken for
granted we are more likely to respond with what might best be described as
constructive criticism – we are not a group that suffers fools or foolishness
gladly – we do not have that luxury.
Blackpool FC’s greatest successes have come when playing a
brand of football that most matches the town’s identity – a brash, imaginative
style that makes the most of what might otherwise be regarded as largely
unpromising circumstances. Who would have thought that the grey Irish seas, the
possibility of foul weather throughout Summer and a wind that cuts right
through visitors and locals alike would ever provide the perfect situation for
a holiday destination? The famous
Blackpool sides of the 1950s’s were renowned for their pure, free flowing
football and attracted huge gates wherever they played because of their
fabulous style as well as their commitment to all that was good about the game. Again, under Grayson and
Holloway – the town’s identity as a bastion of fun, joy and pleasure was
affirmed by its football club. During these times the club and its supporters
were united in a common purpose and there was a sense of hope
and optimism within the club that spread itself throughout the town.
The football that Paul Ince’s team have played this season
has been just about as far from that heady ideal as it is possible to get. A play style that suggests fear of defeat is
now more of a driving factor than the possibility of victory. Instead of
football that allows players freedom of expression, they are imprisoned in a
system that requires them to sacrifice displays of their talent and technique
in order to achieve some of the most dour and joyless football seen at
Bloomfield Road for decades. This is, to most fans, absolutely mystifying. If
the system proves successful then a certain amount of pragmatism is acceptable,
as it was at the beginning of the season. However, when this system proves to
be both unattractive to watch and is also failing to get results, then any
merits it was initially thought to have, must now be considered disappeared
entirely.
The manager’s persistence with this unsuccessful
methodology, in the face of obvious and persistent failure, is an important
contributing factor to his having lost the support of Blackpool fans. Equally
important has been the negativity inherent in most of his public statements
along with his seeming inability to take responsibility for his circumstances.
When we lose, it is the fault of the match officials, the fixture list, the
quality of the players at his disposal, the supporters’ not providing enough
backing of the type he requires or just plain bad luck. Some of these
suggestions may have merit but the absence of his willingness to take
responsibility is startlingly clear. It is easy to regard Mr Ince as arrogant,
and his attempts to tell some of the most supportive and best-informed fans in
the country that their responses to what they see on the pitch are unwarranted,
when he has clearly misinterpreted the crowd's disappointment with his choices
as disapproval of the players, is both ill-advised and counter-productive.
Where Mr Ince does gain sympathy is in regards to not having
the necessary resources at his disposal to properly develop his squad. If he
retains support at all, it is largely because the fans recognise that he, as
with his predecessors in the post of Blackpool manager, has received minimal
financial support from the Chairman, Karl Oyston. Simon Grayson and Ian
Holloway both benefited from money that was made available by Valeri Belokon,
the club’s President, to secure bigger and better squads. As soon as Belokon
ceased to plough his money into the club, and despite the enormous Premier
League wealth, the investment in the football side of the business shrivelled
to almost nothing. The owners helped themselves to an astonishing dividend,
unparalleled in world football. Mr Oyston, who has expressed his disdain for
football chairman, football agents, football players and football fans removed
inordinate sums from the game for which he has such unabashed contempt and from
which his family have benefited so greatly. His stance on many financial
approaches to the professional game has great support among the Blackpool
faithful but far more money is 'leaving the game' by entering the pockets of
our owners than was ever likely to be paid to greedy agents and avaricious
players.
It seems reasonable to assume that the decade long delay in
our club’s own plans to replace Squires Gate has occurred for no other reason
than to maximise the profit that the owners are able to make when their plans
do come to fruition. Fleetwood who have recently announces a new training
complex are perhaps at the other end of the scale when making risk/reward
decisions but again a better balance must be possible, one in which the
business side of the football club is more in harmony with our footballing
endeavours. Similarly, the loan system, which Blackpool have made regular use
of over the last ten years, can be an effective means of getting players who
would otherwise be out of our price range to play for the club. However, it has
increasingly become a core part of our strategy to rely on loan players rather
than as a means of supplementing a core squad. The departure of six loan
players in a short space of time leaving an impossibly threadbare squad has
revealed the shortcomings of such a strategy - a situation that occurred
previously when Simon Grayson left the club.
Mr Oyston is a man who describes his own customers as
peculiar and a mob when in fact, he has, when it comes to football finances,
some of the most knowledgeable and well-informed supporters in the country. His
insistence in constantly talking about the club in fiscal terms has encouraged
many of the club’s supporters to pay much closer attention to the finances of
the club. We are likely amongst the most realistic and undemanding supporters
in the UK when it comes to club finances and Karl Oyston should take some
credit for that. However, we understand other basic notions relating to
business and not just that it should remain in the black at all costs. The
balance between investment in the squad and ensuring that the owners are
properly rewarded for their risks and effort have long since passed the point
of proper balance and this will continue to have a negative effect on the
success of the football club. It is no coincidence that Blackpool are the only
club to have been promoted from the fourth tier to the Premier Division via the
play-offs, financially we refuse to compete with clubs that are challenging at
the top of the various divisions. In such circumstances, it appears that our
best, perhaps only hope for promotion, is through the play-offs.
Mr Oyston has spoken, in his time with the club, a great
deal more about financial management than he has about football matters. He has
made it clear that his primary concern is the wellbeing of his business. That
financial profitability is the main focus of the club and the well-being of the
owners is paramount.
The mark of a true leader is someone who is prepared to
sacrifice his own desires for the greater good. What we have at Blackpool are
two people who appear prepared to sacrifice the hopes and dreams of everyone
else in order to satisfy their own vision. Our football club, our town and its
supporters deserve far better than this and we at SISA will do all that we can
to help bring the plight of our football club to greater attention.
SISA will often disagree with the choices and decisions that
the owners make but that does not make us a mob of anti-Oystonites. SISA will
express the opinions of our members forthrightly and publicly. We are a
pro-Blackpool group with the express aim of maintaining an independent voice
for Blackpool supporters. We will attempt to hold those who own, manage and
represent our club to account, be it employees bringing the club into disrepute
with ill-disciplined or errant behaviour, owners for relieving the business of inordinate
amounts of wealth or anyone else whose actions hinder the development and
success of the football club that we support. We intend to form a Trust and
trust is a word that has real meaning for us - we must be able to represent as
broad a body of opinion as is possible and intend to remain responsible to our
members, the people of the town and all supporters of our great club.
We invite all Blackpool fans to ‘blow the whistle’ on the
chronic lack of investment in the club. Volunteers will be handing out whistles
outside the ground prior to the Doncaster game on January 25th. We will be
asking fans to blow their whistles in the 53rd minute of the game for a period
of 60 seconds. This is in no way a reflection on the players who, when Saturday
comes, remain our footballing heroes - we will continue to provide the team
with unstinting support whatever the circumstances. We, as Blackpool fans and
patrons of the club request that the owners reinvest in the players and the
infrastructure of the club, a greater proportion of the money earned by the
football team and largely provided by us, its’ paying customers. We will
continue to convey this message to the owners for as long as it might take.
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