Oystons DENIED permission to appeal High Court judgement

The Oystons have been denied permission by the Court of Appeal to appeal November's High Court ruling.
Valeri Belokon, left, and Owen OystonValeri Belokon, left, and Owen Oyston
Valeri Belokon, left, and Owen Oyston

The owners of Blackpool Football Club had hoped to overturn the decision made by Justice Marcus Smith, or at least reduce the payments owed to former director Valeri Belokon.

So they asked for permission to take the case to the Court of Appeal, but Lady Justice Asplin found there was "no real prospect of success".

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The Oystons raised four grounds for appeal but all four were refused.

She found: "There is no real prospect of success or other compelling reason why an appeal on this ground should be heard.

"The judge was entitled to come to the conclusion he did on the facts in relation to the 'gentleman's agreement'.

"The judge set out the relevant facts carefully and in detail. There is no real prospect of succeeding in arguing that there was no evidential basis for his findings or that no reasonable judge could have come to them.

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"The judge was entitled to find that the improper payments were concealed dividends. His reasoning reveals no error of law.

"Further, the judge took account of the expert evidence and gave detailed reasons for declining to follow the conclusions to the reports."

An application for a stay has also been refused.

This only compounds the misery for the Oystons, who must now pay £10m by 4pm on Wednesday. Two further payments of £7.5m must be paid by the end of March and May respectively.

They met December's deadline to pay the first £10m installment.

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It comes after a High Court judge ordered the Oystons to buy out Valeri Belokon's shares for £31.27m back in November after it was found they had illegitimately stripped the club following its promotion to the Premier League.

The football club was put up for sale four days later.

During November's judgement, Justice Marcus Smith found the Oystons had paid £26.77m out of the club to companies they owned which fundamentally breached their duties as directors and unfairly prejudiced Mr Belokon.