Blackpool fans warned to be patient for regime change

In yet another momentous week for the club in court, Owen Oyston was dealt a major blow in his last-ditch bid to delay payments to former director Valeri Belokon after missing last week’s deadline to hand over the second instalment of £10m.Justice Marcus Smith has ordered Oyston to pay the £25m he owes Belokon in full immediately or be forced to sell his assets.Belokon issued a statement yesterday calling on the Oyston family to protect the club “over the coming months”, leading some supporters to fear that a change in ownership might take longer than was first hoped.However, the Latvian went on to say he hopes a “new chapter” might begin soon that allows the club to return to its former glory.Speaking on The Gazette’s Fylde Football web-chat yesterday, Tim Fielding, honorary vice-president of Blackpool Supporters’ Trust, said the statement “hit the right tone” but advised caution.Fielding said: “Having met Valeri on a few occasions, I know he’s not the sort of person to make promises he can’t keep.“A few people are saying his statement doesn’t go far enough. They want him to come out and say he’s going to take over the club.“But he’s measured and not the type of person who will say, ‘I’m going to take over the football club’ unless he knows he’s definitely going to do it.“I thought he made the clearest hint he possibly could have with the line about envisaging regime change in the short to medium term.“We all hope that will involve him and my reading of the situation is that it’s what he wants as well.“I think the only time he was slightly less measured was in his comment that he wanted to get Blackpool into the Premier League within five years. That’s probably been the most outlandish he’s been and he actually achieved that.“Normally he’s quite guarded. He doesn’t say a lot but what he does say, he does.“So I took some comfort from that statement. I think it hit the right tone.“There are still a couple of stumbling blocks in the way. First is Owen’s attitude because he wants to keep the club at any cost. “Secondly there’s the EFL’s position This isn’t something that is going to sort itself out in the next day or two .“In an ideal world, the EFL would release a statement today saying the ban is lifted. In an ideal world Owen would get in contact with Valeri, have a chat and come to an agreement over the football club.“That’s the ideal scenario but we live in the real world and the real world is slightly different.”