Karl Oyston on Blackpool tickets (Blackpool Gazette)

[TangerineArmy]

All us pool fans knew we would never sell 38K so someone is to blame. After seeing my 1 yr old have stuff chucked over her I will rightly be complaining to BFC, FA and Wembley about the whole ticketing farce and IF i do get any answers I'll let you know.

As for us poor Northerns, yes times are hard but ignore our Chairman as their family took 11million out of our accounts last year!!! Yes 11 ****ing million.

Really is a shame all this crap has taking away the talk of a good playoff game

[Roby]

Oyston is a disgrace.

The money he syphoned off from their season in the top flight, selling DJ Campbell and Adam for decent money and spending a couple of hundred grand on Ince and Dobbie... Where is all the TV money and parachute payments going?

They can moan about our wage bill if they want but the truth is they could have gambled last season and made a half decent fist of going back up. Instead they were stupidly frugal and scraped the top 6.

It'll cost them Holloway as well and from the noises he's been making since the final he won't put up with any more of it.

I really hope we only gave them half the gate receipts, also how many of the 30k seats that Oyston boasts they sold were actually our fans in their end? Must be at least a thousand surely.

[Devils Advocate]

“There was a bit made of the ticket situation by West Ham, which was disappointing.

“If they think that in the present economic climate, a skip across London by tube can compare with a round trip costing a lot of money – and tickets costing a lot of money – for people who, in some cases, would probably struggle to afford it, then I think it is disingenuous of them at best.

“It lacks a bit of judgment and grace.

“I don’t want to start some war of words with West Ham, because it sounds like sour grapes and it isn’t.

“But I think it is ill-advised to make that sort of comment when we had such wonderful support, and when things are so difficult economically – particularly in our part of the world.

“It is not much of an achievement to get a tube across London as it is to get a train or a bus and bring your family back to Blackpool.”

Dear Mr Oinkston,

It appears to have escaped your notice, but there has been an economic crisis since 2008. Surely this enough time even for you to have considered the potential effects on your ticket sales? It is even more astonishing that it seems to have come as somewhat of a surprise to you that Blackpool isn't exactly just round the corner from Wembley. The problem is not that West Ham think that it's an easy matter to afford tickets and nip down from Blackpool, it's that these considerations seem to have completely bypassed your few functioning brain cells when it came to selling your tickets.

Your comments saying that all West Ham fans just had to travel across London are also incredibly naive (or just deliberately stupid). West Ham fans travelled to the game not only from all over the UK and Ireland, but from many parts of Europe, the USA and even Australia - journeys that make the trip from Blackpool seem like a trip to the local park.

"Lacking judgement and grace" - now you're really having a bubble bath. Firstly there was the lack of judgement before the game shown by one of your players who fell for an internet hoax and attempted to use this for motivational purposes, but instead made himself look a complete tit. The lack of grace has almost exclusively come from your club, with the honourable exception of Ian Holloway, who conducted himself with dignity on a day that must have been bitterly disappointing for him. It's a pity that his players and club owner have not been able to find it in themselves to follow his example.

“I don’t want to start some war of words with West Ham, because it sounds like sour grapes and it isn’t." Err, if you don't want to start a war of words, then why not just shut the **** up? And, you know, it really does sound like sour grapes, because that's exactly what it is.

[GPW]

[
Admit it Oyston you got it wrong (or did you ? thats the cynic in me who beleives they knew but did not want an even further imbalance in support)

Hadn't considered that but it seems quite possible to me that they knew they wouldn't sell out (put the tixs straight on general sale I think) but didn't want to increase the imbalance in the stadium so deliberately set out to sell in a way that was likely to leave gaps. If losers do get the gate money I guess they ended up losing out but it could have turned out that they cost us that money. Either way they ensured supporters missed out on the game.

I wonder how Blackpool would have handled the sales if they had been required to pay for all tickets they took whether they sold them or not? I can recall occassions where sides have done that to us for cup games and it seems pretty straightforward to do.

[Bishops Finger]

Yes - I don't understand his point either - the bottom line is that there were upwards of 8000+ empty seats which could have been filled - fair enough it was a good effort by Blackpool fans in these economic times and all that but there were huge tracts of empty seats that could have been filled by West Ham fans.

The second point is that there was a massive loss of revenue - possibly upwards of 600,000k - Carl Oyston and his father are only too happy to take out huge amounts of cash from his club and he definitely missed a trick there!

[WestHamAlways]

This is all a smoke screen to either cover up poor planning or a cynical move to have less of an imbalance of fans inside the stadium. How unique to see a chairman who has not got the clubs best interests in mind.

I made an extremely short trip from Watford, this was however much longer that my trip to the 1981 League Cup Final from Wembley to Wembley. That day I walked home!

[Romford]

Im fed up with all this...i must say that the Blackpool fans have come out of this the worst.

They seem to mostly miss that it was their fault due to the general sale allocation from the dot, their fans attacking very small groups of Hammers in cowardice and then moaning and whinging to everyone about everything afterwards.

That they cannot see it was their fans doing the attacking says a lot about the "family" fans that club has...

IMHO.

[Albie Beck]

This is a touch cryptic....

http://www.blackpoolfc.co.uk/page/NewsD ... 77,00.html

They also appear to be asking for feedback:
http://www.blackpoolfc.co.uk/page/NewsD ... 18,00.html

Keep it constructive...

edit: sorry it's actually a FL survey.

[Serbian Hammer]

UtJ:

My trip from Serbia:

Thursday afternoon 4 hours drive to Belgrade, Friday morning flight to Luton, stayed in central London, back home on Sunday afternoon.

[neilbob]

honestly is this anything other than a two dimensional attempt to deflect (rightful) criticism? He's not addressed David Golds points, he's postured and blustered in way to give the impression that he has.

The FA will probably see through this quicker than a loyal fan would.

[man-of-raisin]

Oyston is a disgrace.

The money he syphoned off from their season in the top flight, selling DJ Campbell and Adam for decent money and spending a couple of hundred grand on Ince and Dobbie... Where is all the TV money and parachute payments going?.

Agreed.

Where's the money going?
Well, from the last accounts:
1. £11m direct payment to Karl's dad Owen. The convicted rapist.
2. £6m paid to Oystons for a piece of land that they bought from the club for £600k a few years ago. It's now got a hotel on it but all the operating profit goes to them.
3. £5m set aside for a training ground that was promised when we won the last playoff. It will be built on Oystons land, but hasn't even got planning permission yet. So, the final price isn't sorted but they've taken £5m on account.
The playing budget before the Prem was less than £5m, and from memory I think it went up to £12m in the last accounts, but that included the £5m bonus for getting there.
They own the ground and charge the club an exorbitant rent, which tripled when we went in the Prem.
They have set up a lot of companies that provide services to the club, at reportedly high prices. For example, we're currently building our South East corner. An Oyston company get the prime contract, and then subcontracts to other Oyston companies, profit all the way. It was the same with the South Stand.
Income from the businesses that rent space in the stands, such as NHS, all goes to them. The Hotel in the South Stand will be the same.
We don't know what arrangements they have to pass money to Valerie Belokon, who has a 25% shareholding. Apparently they have fallen out because of the Oyston's attitudes, and Belokon hasn't been heard of in the past 12 months.
Most fans would accept a reasonable profit but what goes on sickens the majority. Meanwhile, everything that actually costs the Oystons money is done on a shoestring ... Premiership teams got cold showers because the system was so poor, the club doesn't have a scout (he went to Sheffield united last summer), the club refuses to pay Chelsea £15 for lasagne for the team post-match, the players wash their own kit, the training ground is straight out of the 1950's, it goes on and on.

Karl Oyston has always said in his approx 10 years as chairman that he has no real interest in football. They are only there for the business. Sadly, he wouldn't take the chance that spending a bit more on the playing side could have kept us up last season, and he won't change. He was recently found guilty of illegally dumping waste from the South Stand, and declared himself bankrupt last season to avoid paying alimony to his ex wife, until the FA started to investigate. Then everything was ok again. My father in law has met him during the course of business, said he was a thoroughly odious man. It all stinks, but at least we're playing at a good level at the moment

[RichieRiv]

Christ alive and we thought we had problems with our previous / current administrations!

[joyful]

the club refuses to pay Chelsea £15 for lasagne for the team

All the rest is really odious, but I am also shocked that Chelsea charge for the food they provide visiting teams...and that any team orders lasagne after what happened to Spurs!

[old fart]

Im fed up with all this...i must say that the Blackpool fans have come out of this the worst.

They seem to mostly miss that it was their fault due to the general sale allocation from the dot, their fans attacking very small groups of Hammers in cowardice and then moaning and whinging to everyone about everything afterwards.

That they cannot see it was their fans doing the attacking says a lot about the "family" fans that club has...

IMHO.

Was it ok for large number of Hammers to go in the "away" end wearing colours or was it crass? Was it Ok for Wembley staff & stewards to let them?

[hammer it home]

At the end of the day (as Romford has said on numerous occasions), WHU know EXACTLY each and every one that the club sold a ticket too for the final. Blackpool were selling tickets left right & center to any one. You only had to look at the ticketing part of this site to see people saying "theyve got through to them and claimed a membership number, saying they only went to aways...".

I am not saying that was wrong to do, as TBH I would of done the same if I didnt have a ticket.
Its why Millwall operate a strict ticket sales policy for their high profile games, so they know exactly who they are selling too.
So by rights, if Blackpool only had x amount of people on their database they should be able to make a quick guage at what their ticket sales are likely to be...

[psychoscoredthelot]

Agreed.

Where's the money going?
Well, from the last accounts:
1. £11m direct payment to Karl's dad Owen. The convicted rapist.
2. £6m paid to Oystons for a piece of land that they bought from the club for £600k a few years ago. It's now got a hotel on it but all the operating profit goes to them.
3. £5m set aside for a training ground that was promised when we won the last playoff. It will be built on Oystons land, but hasn't even got planning permission yet. So, the final price isn't sorted but they've taken £5m on account.
The playing budget before the Prem was less than £5m, and from memory I think it went up to £12m in the last accounts, but that included the £5m bonus for getting there.
They own the ground and charge the club an exorbitant rent, which tripled when we went in the Prem.
They have set up a lot of companies that provide services to the club, at reportedly high prices. For example, we're currently building our South East corner. An Oyston company get the prime contract, and then subcontracts to other Oyston companies, profit all the way. It was the same with the South Stand.
Income from the businesses that rent space in the stands, such as NHS, all goes to them. The Hotel in the South Stand will be the same.
We don't know what arrangements they have to pass money to Valerie Belokon, who has a 25% shareholding. Apparently they have fallen out because of the Oyston's attitudes, and Belokon hasn't been heard of in the past 12 months.
Most fans would accept a reasonable profit but what goes on sickens the majority. Meanwhile, everything that actually costs the Oystons money is done on a shoestring ... Premiership teams got cold showers because the system was so poor, the club doesn't have a scout (he went to Sheffield united last summer), the club refuses to pay Chelsea £15 for lasagne for the team post-match, the players wash their own kit, the training ground is straight out of the 1950's, it goes on and on.

Karl Oyston has always said in his approx 10 years as chairman that he has no real interest in football. They are only there for the business. Sadly, he wouldn't take the chance that spending a bit more on the playing side could have kept us up last season, and he won't change. He was recently found guilty of illegally dumping waste from the South Stand, and declared himself bankrupt last season to avoid paying alimony to his ex wife, until the FA started to investigate. Then everything was ok again. My father in law has met him during the course of business, said he was a thoroughly odious man. It all stinks, but at least we're playing at a good level at the moment[/quote]

And you wear ORANGE too !!!!

[Los Martillos]

At the end of the day it was an absolute disgrace to see so many empty seats at a Wembley final. Fact is for several decades footaball fans have gone to all lengths to get to see their team at Wembley. Oyston is a moron. Blackpool's support is sh1t. End of.

[pezza20]

UTJ

As you know I live in the UAE, so me and my son left Friday, spent 450quid each on box tickets, because we weren't going to get any from the club having given up our ST's when we moved here 4 years ago, paid over 1000 quid for flights, arrived Friday night, 2 nights in a hotel near Heathrow at 120 quid a night, went to the match via public transport and flew back to the UAE Sunday taking a day off work.

The whole day was incredible and it will remain in the memory of my boys forever, despite the substantial cost and effort getting there it was all well worth it. Its also the first tiem they've been on a tube packed with Hammers fans after a win, it was surreal day.

On the claims made by Pool fans, no doubt there was a lot of trouble in their end, but **** happens when away fans get in the home end due to insufficient ticketing arrangements made by BFC and Wembley. They all sound like random incidents and both clubs have idiots who would cause trouble if they were the only ones in a locked room. Issue lies with the ticketing, and I'm not sure we should have got more, but they should have retained 8 - 10000 tickets in order to keep the fans segregated.

Looking on the BFC forum there are some real horror stories and all West Ham fans to some on there are scum .....

[JohnsonWHU]

What is it with northern teams and their moronic Chairmen.

[Hammers Dad]

What is it with northern teams and their moronic Chairmen.

They're trying to catch up with the Southern teams and their moronic chairmen