Millionaire businessman admits interest in Blackpool FC

Fleetwood-born Ian Currie, who has previously been involved with Bolton Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers, told The Gazette he is keeping a ‘close eye’ on the current situation at Blackpool.It comes after Pool’s owners, the Oyston family, were ordered to buy out Valeri Belokon’s shares for £31.27m following a bitter High Court battle. The club was put on the market four days later.It has been rumoured that Pool fan Currie could possibly be the local investor that Belokon would want to work alongside should the Latvian want to remain involved with Blackpool.Currie, who is a director of investment banking and private investment firm Seneca Partners, is the son-in-law of former Blackpool director Gavin Steele.Currie told The Gazette: “I’m just watching the situation at the moment and seeing what happens. I’ve not made contact but I’m certainly keeping a close eye on things.“I’m not too sure what is going on to be honest, but I am certainly watching pretty closely. I come from Fleetwood, I was born and brought up there, and my family loves football.“We had a box at Blackpool for a long time and then obviously Gavin got involved as a director.“I tried to buy Blackpool a while back too. This is going back a while now so probably around 15 years ago, but we never heard anything back from them. I tried to make contact but I had to give up in the end as we didn’t get a reply.“Bolton heard about my interest and they asked me to get involved with them, so I thought why not? I had good fun during my time there.”Currie resigned from Bolton’s board in 2004 after then chairman Phil Gartside rejected his offer to invest £5m in the club. He later became involved with Blackburn Rovers and last year put forward a proposal to buy a stake in the club alongside his business partner Ian Battersby.Currie added: “Obviously at Blackburn they’ve got a pretty similar situation going on with the Venky’s.“It’s such a shame to see what is happening with these clubs. Clubs are such a valuable asset to their towns and it is tragic to see what has happened at Blackpool especially.“Hopefully it will be resurrected and a bit of pride can come back with the fans right behind them.”