'What is Karl Oyston playing at?' asks former Pool favourite

Supporters’ groups claim thousands will walk through the town ahead of the final League One home game against Wigan, a demonstration dubbed Judgement Day 2.

It follows the mass protest at last season’s final home fixture against Huddersfield, a match which was abandoned after a pitch invasion.

Former England international Trevor Sinclair told The Gazette he plans to march with fans and now O’Keefe has done likewise.

“I just wish I could give Karl Oyston a shake and ask him what he’s playing at,” said O’Keefe, a member of Blackpool’s Hall of Fame despite making only 36 appearances between 1985 and ’86.

He continued: “There comes a point of no return in life and in business sometimes, a point where no matter what you do things won’t recover. I honestly think that’s the case now with Blackpool and the Oystons.

“I don’t know what Karl Oyston is playing at or is trying to achieve with all this. The whole thing just makes no sense.

“Karl Oyston must look at himself in the mirror now. He’s blamed football, managers, fans –surely at some point he needs to think, ‘Hang on, it must be me!’

“It’s gone past the point of fixing this now. There’s no trust. It’s time they gave someone else a go.”

The hugely popular O’Keefe, who scored 23 goals in his year with the club, said: “We can’t just let the club rot. Some former players are reluctant to get involved. I’m disgusted more aren’t speaking out and getting involved on Saturday.

“They all had good times at Blackpool and took money from the club. The least they can do is get involved.”

The 62-year-old has sympathy for manager Neil McDonald and his squad but questioned why they joined the club.

“McDonald never had a chance from day one,” he insisted. “Had they finished mid-table it would have been like them winning the league.

“How on earth do Blackpool attract players? The players and the manager are the victims of all this but why did they come to Blackpool?

“When I was a player, there’s no way I’d have come anywhere near a club like this.

“If you are a half -decent player and have an option to go elsewhere, you’d never pick Blackpool.

“I couldn’t believe it when I read Ian Holloway saying he was talked out of coming back by Karl Oyston (in Monday’s Gazette).

“What sort of chairman talks people out of coming to his club? According to Holloway, Karl Oyston actually told one of the club’s best ever managers, ‘You don’t want to come here – it’s rubbish’. You couldn’t make it up.”

Fans will march from the Stanley Arms on Church Street at 10.30am, arriving at Bloomfield Road ahead of the 12.30pm kick-off.

The march has been arranged by Blackpool Supporters’ Trusts and protest group Tangerine Knights, and O’Keefe added: “I’ve spoken to the people behind BST a lot lately and it’s not like they are a Mickey Mouse set-up.

“They are a serious group with some fantastic people, I really want to help and support them.

“Everything in Blackpool is suffering, not just the football club.

“I’ve read about the local chip shops, the suppliers of food and the whole local community. This is affecting everything.”