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Ten years of Karl Oyston
"IT was a basket case which had been haemorrhaging money. The first decision when I came in was whether or not to keep the club going".
Say what you like about Karl Oyston – and there are many who will – but he could never be accused of not being to the point.
Oyston is celebrating a decade at the helm this year.
But not everyone is celebrating.
As the Blackpool FC chairman would be the first to acknowledge, he isn't to everyone's taste.
Opinion among the supporters was split at the start, and 10 years later it remains the same.
Some love him, others loathe him.
Oyston knows it and accepts it.
As he never tires of remarking, you don't become a chairman if you want to win a popularity contest.
Looking purely at the facts he's done a terrific job.
He took over when the club was arguably at its lowest ebb. It was a shambles on and off the pitch, his mother – the then chairman – hounded out by the fans and Nigel Worthington in the process of presiding over the club's descent into the basement division.
Fast forward from then – March 1999 – to now and Oyston has partially rebuilt the ground and the club is in the Championship.
It sounds fantastic, and yet there are those that still can't stand the man.
Why? Because the Oystons are not everyone's cup of tea. Many a supporter has told me they will "not set foot into the ground until the Oyston family has left".
The bad news for them is that they maybe waiting quite a while.
The Oystons have been in charge for 21 years and counting. That is longer than any other family in English football.
Owen Oyston assumed control on May 31, 1988, in strangely low key circumstances.
The Blackpool-born millionaire, who made his money in the estate agency business, deliberately didn't show up at a shareholders meeting because he wanted them to be able to have a frank and open discussion without "feeling any embarrassment".
It worked. He was sold 75 per cent of the shares.
Oyston took over when the club was on its knees. He pumped in money, made extravagant promises about a new super stadium and almost took them to the top two tiers of the Football League in 1996, only for a heartbreaking and inexplicable play-off defeat to Bradford City, the memory of which still causes supporters of a certain age to feel queasy.
Then it went totally pear-shaped.
Oyston snr was sent to jail, his wife Vicki took over and a period of instability and general mayhem ensued.
That was the backdrop to Karl Oyston's entrance, thrust into the chairman's job at the age of 32 with a self-confessed limited knowledge of the footballing world.
It was a case of sink or swim.
Somehow, and against the odds, he managed to stay afloat.
"It was chaos when I came in," he recalls a decade on, in his swanky new office within a west stand that has rebuilt since he first took over and is now a world away from the decrepit and embarrassing safety hazard it once was.
"Probably the first few decisions were whether to keep the club going. That was the first decision.
"It was a basket case. It was haemorrhaging money and had been for six years. That needed to stop, and it did stop instantly."
As Oyston acknowledges, the stadium was the big issue.
"Obviously the ground was the big thing. It still is to this day, but it was a massive issue, back then when the move to Whyndyke was touted," he said.
"There were demonstrations and fan disaffection and to this day one of the best early moves I made was persuading what was then BISA to become BSA – losing the 'independent'.
"We still work very closely with them.
"I think they get some really uncalled for stick and particularly Glenn Bowley (the BSA chairman). He is in charge and I think it is difficult for him sometimes. But he tries his best.
"That's what I do. I never make a decision that I think 'that is the wrong decision'. You always make a decision you think is right. You don't always get them right and you never will – you can only try and do what you think is in the best interests of the club, even if it is sometimes hard for the fans to understand."
That's Oyston in a nutshell. The word stubborn could have been invented for him.
How do you think Karl's done? Has recent improvements helped his image? Leave your thoughts below.
He'll do what he thinks best, even if it's unpopular.
In a way that's a great trait to have, utter belief in your own convictions.
On the other hand it means he is likely to be forever disliked by some.
He isn't a man who particularly likes to look back and reflect, but when pushed he does manage to try and sum up the past decade, a decade where the club has been the major part of his life.
"It has been a funny 10 years really," he said.
"I look back on it and some of the highs we've had – the two play-off finals, both won, two LDV finals, both won, the demolition of the old ground, the opening of the new stands.
"Some of the managerial in and outs, some of the player in and outs. It has been a great experience.
"Representing League One on the Football League board and being on the FA Council.
"So from a personal point of view it has been a really fascinating 10 years and I think from then to now it's unrecognisable as a club and a business.
"We've got a new stand opening soon and there is a lot going on in Blackpool as a whole.
"There is so much to be positive about and so much to finish off.
"If we put those finishing touches on so we effectively got a club to be proud of and that is exciting."
He's almost displaying raw emotion then, not something you'd normally associate with a man who tends to keep his feelings hidden and deal with the world behind a cool, slightly distant exterior.
Those who don't know him usually dismiss him as cold and unfriendly.
Those closer will tell you he's got a cutting sense of humour and is good company.
He admits he has sometimes been his own worst enemy when it comes to image. He doesn't always help himself with some of the statements he makes.
To this observer, it appears he is trying to rectify that.
And certainly since the appointment of Ian Holloway, he has been at pains to push the importance of being positive – a statement aimed at himself as much as anyone else.
"The summer did come at a good time because I was a bit bogged down with the grind of it all I think," he said.
"But the new manager coming in, with his enthusiasm and positivity, really revives you and revs you up.
"We just need to get things properly in place now to give us the best possible fighting chance for next season.
"I, and everyone else, have got to remain positive.
"When everyone is down and things aren't going right then when you are in charge everyone looks at you to have a spring in your step.
"It is more important this year than any other that this coming season everyone is positive, myself included.
"I know it sounds awful and negative but at the end of last season I was just glad it was all over with. I was glad we survived and we could then just go and away and assess where we were, sort the manager situation out and all come back bright and positive.
"We are trying to be a lot more thorough in a lot of the things that we do.
"We need to eradicate the easily solvable issues that do irritate people and rightly irritate people.
"I think we've got to play our part in positivity and myself particularly.
"I want the supporters to have a club they can be proud of and I think the thing that really outlines the difference between Blackpool – and I take full blame for this – is when we were at Charlton at the end of last season and relegated them.
"They are a big club who had been in the Premier League recently, but there were no boos, no jeers, no chants.
"Everyone seemed to accept their fate and to be positive about coming back stronger and regroup.
"They have been there before, been through difficult times, and I think if we could ever get anywhere approaching that level of positivity, I'd be able to leave my post a happy man, as though I'd really achieved something."
Time will tell on that front.
Meanwhile, 10 years down the line, Oyston will carry on running Blackpool the only way he knows.
That will upset a few, others will say well done.
There's no doubt, though, that the club is in a healthier position now than it was when he stepped in.
If he gets the ground finished and takes the Seasiders up an other division, who knows, Mr Karl Oyston may even become liked.
Now that really would be a story.
How do you think Karl's done? Has recent improvements helped his image? Leave your thoughts below.
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Monday 13 February 2012
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