Blackpool FC owner Simon Sadler reveals why he wanted to buy Seasiders

Sadler, right, with close friend and board member Brett Gerrity

The Gazette's report from fans' forum with new Blackpool FC owner Simon Sadler

The 49-year-old had always harboured an intention to own his beloved Seasiders; however it was only recently his mind was completely made up.

The lifelong Pool fan was eventually confirmed as the club’s new custodian last month before officially being unveiled to the nation’s media on Monday.

“I had said for years, ‘one day I will own it’, and then things have clearly moved quickly and there was some momentum behind it as things unfolded,” he said.

“(Friend and new board member) Brett Gerrity was sending me lots of WhatsApp messages keeping me in touch with what was going on and we’d have the odd conversation, where he’d ask me ‘are you going to do it?’

“I replied saying ‘I’m not sure’ and ‘the timing’s not quite right’, and then there was the Southend game and it really came home to me just how important the club is to the town.

“I had already known, of course, but with so many people turning up and being so vocal and so happy, I just thought it was my civic duty to step up.

“I wanted to make sure the next owner of the club was the right owner of the club for the next 20 or 30 years and would look after it the way it deserves to be looked after, develop it and be its custodian. That’s why I stepped up.”

While Sadler wasn’t present for last season’s homecoming clash against Southend, a game that was attended by 15,500 fans, he says that was the moment he realised he needed to ‘step up’.

“How did I feel on that day? Gutted I had not gone on a plane and come here,” he added.

“I saw the images and I was absolutely blown away and I really realised at that point in time I should step up.

“That moment was one of two things that made me decide I should step up.

“The other one was a dinner in Hong Kong with a couple of friends where we had a conversation about it and I said ‘I’m not quite sure if this is the right time’.

“They just looked at me and told me I might not get another chance, and I went home that night and I remember sitting there, calling Brett and telling him ‘I’m going to do it. I’m going to for it’.”

Sadler held senior roles in finance before setting up an asset management business, Segantii Capital Management, in Hong Kong in 2007, where he remains chief investment officer.