Karl Samuel Oyston (born 20 February 1968) is an English businessman and the former chairman of Blackpool Football Club. Oyston took over the chairmanship at Blackpool from his mother, Vicki Oyston, in 1999. Mrs Oyston had taken over three years earlier when her husband Owen, Karl's father, was jailed for six years in 1996 for rape and indecent assault."Oyston gets six years for rape", The Independent, 23 May 1996. The Sunday Times Rich List listed the Oystons' wealth at £100 million.
At the time of Oyston's appointment, Blackpool were in the third tier of the Football League. At the end of the following 1999–2000 campaign, they were relegated to the bottom tier. At the first time of asking, they returned to the Second Division, where they remained for the next six seasons. In 2007 they were promoted to the second tier. Three years later, after financial backing from new club president Valērijs Belokoņs, Blackpool were, for the first time, promoted to the Premier League. After this promotion, Belokoņs was frozen out of day-to-day involvement, he claims because the Oystons no longer needed his financial backing."Blackpool bosses drive fans to despair as Tangerine dream turns to dust" – Daily Telegraph, 2 April 2015.
Blackpool remained in the top tier for one campaign, and after failing to return from the Championship at the first attempt, they have finished no higher than 15th, with Oyston employing four different managers since 2013. In 2015, Blackpool were relegated to the third tier for the first time since 2007. The following season saw a second-successive relegation, to the bottom tier of English professional football for the first time in fifteen years.
Oyston had a poor relationship with Blackpool's fans, mostly after the club's relegation from the Premier League, due to a perceived lack of funding. The relationship was described as being "at breaking point" by Tim Fielding, the chair of the Blackpool Supporters Trust, in December 2014.
Fielding resigned from his position the following month after the Oystons began legal action against him for comments he made on the internet, even though it was revealed that Karl Oyston had labelled Blackpool fan Stephen Smith a "massive retard" and an "intellectual cripple" in a text-message exchange two months earlier. The local newspaper, the Blackpool Gazette, subsequently decided to scrap Oyston's weekly column "given such disgusting and offensive comments"."Gazette comment: More shame on Blackpool FC", Blackpool Gazette, 22 December 2014. He was later charged with misconduct by the Football Association,"Blackpool chairman Karl Oyston charged with misconduct", TheFA.com, 23 March 2015. a charge he appealed."Oyston appeals FA misconduct charge", Blackpool Gazette, 20 April 2015. The appeal was rejected by a tribunal, and he was given a ban from all footballing activities for six weeks and fined £40,000."Karl Oyston: Blackpool chairman banned and fined over texts" - BBC Sport, 10 June 2015.
On 6 November 2017, the Oystons were found in a High Court judgement to have operated an "illegitimate stripping" of Blackpool F.C., paying £26.77 million out of the club to companies they owned. The Oystons decided to put the club up for sale following the judgement.
On 2 February 2018, Oyston rescinded his role as chairman of the football club."Karl Oyston steps down as chairman of Blackpool in apparent rift" - The Guardian, 2 February 2018
Blackpool F.C. Until 1999, Oyston spent much of his time involved in running the Oyston family businesses, including property management, farming interests and publishing.
On 3 April 1999, Oyston took over as chairman of Blackpool, becoming the third member of the Oyston family to occupy the role, after his father and mother, Vicki, from whom he inherited the role. Initially he took over the role of managing director, following the resignation of both the previous managing director, Gill Bridge, and Vicki Oyston, who had resigned as chairman following what was described as "an ugly 'Oyston Out' demonstration by fans at the stadium". Oyston had been handed control of the club by his father, who was, at the time, still serving a prison sentence for rape. Oyston stated that his mother had quit to give him a level playing field and let him run the club his way after his father had promised he would not seek to take over again upon his release.
In July 2005, Oyston was elected onto the Football League board of directors as a representative of League One, and in June 2006 was elected back onto the board.
In September 2006, after an undercover investigation into illicit payments in football on the BBC Panorama current affairs documentary series, Oyston claimed that he had been offered bungs by football agents, saying "I've been offered cash as a bribe to bring a player to the club and it's happened more than once. In one instance, someone wanted me to take a player on a higher salary than we would normally pay, so he offered me a certain amount of cash as a gift to get me to do it. I said no and it didn't take any time whatsoever to reach that decision. Since 1999 when I became chairman here, my managers have been offered bungs. We've missed out on a lot of footballers because of it and that is one of my biggest concerns. It is very disturbing and in the Premiership where there are huge, huge deals taking place, it is a major problem." The Football Association asked Oyston, and others who made similar claims, to name the agents concerned, saying that they had a duty to provide evidence.
On 26 January 2010, Oyston was elected to the Football League board of directors as a representative of the Championship in a ballot for the vacant position, but had to leave this post at the end of the season following Blackpool's promotion to the Premier League.
In August 2010, Oyston offered to stand down as chairman of the club, stating his belief that he has a different approach to the rest of the Premier League chairmen and the difficulties of dealing with top-flight players and their agents. Oyston said: "The more I speak to other people at other clubs, the more I realise I am a lone voice. There was some support for things I did and said in the Championship but there doesn't seem to be any in this division ... We are the ones who are the employers. We are the ones offering the terms and the contracts. It is up to us how we go about things. I don't think any deal should be about the agent. It should be about the player, and about giving the player a platform under a wonderful manager to perform on one of the best footballing stages in the world. Agents are sometimes denying their clients that chance."
On 18 August, he stood down as both chairman and director of the club with immediate effect, although he remained as Acting Chief Executive. It was subsequently reported that he had been made bankrupt on that date, which would have prevented him acting as chairman due to Premiership rules. The bankruptcy order was annulled on 12 October."Blackpool reveal Karl Oyston bankruptcy order annulment" – BBC Sport, 12 October 2010 Oyston returned to his role as chairman in 2011.
On 2 February 2018, Oyston again resigned from his role as chairman of the football club after an alleged rift with his father.
Management style
Bloomfield Road's South Stand was demolished in 2003. On 14 January of that year, Karl Oyston promised the redevelopment of the stand would go ahead but insisted he would not be pressured into making any rash decisions. Five years later, after no sign of building work became a source of controversy, Oyston stated: "The South will be built as and when it is right for the football business. I know we need to progress as a club and it is top of our agenda, believe me, but it wasn't right to do it now." He also confirmed that the club had no immediate plans to start building the stand. The stand was officially opened in March 2010.
In 2012, Oyston was fined more than £40,000 for illegally dumping waste from the building of the new stand. Hundreds of tonnes of rubble were found at Whyndyke Farm, despite there not being a permit to do so. Oyston pleaded guilty to two breaches of laws made to protect the environment."Oyston fined for dumping waste from stand" – The Independent, 10 February 2012
In August 2010, nearly three months after their promotion to the Premier League, Blackpool's players received their bonuses, reported to be £400,000 each."Blackpool players finally receive promotion bonuses" – BBC Sport, 10 August 2010 Charlie Adam took Karl Oyston to court that October over the non-payment of a £20,000 bonus, which was tied to a $5-million promotion bonus after the club attained Premier League status."Charlie Adam interview: part one" - Seasiders Podcast, 7 February 2021 Adam won the case."Scotland star Charlie Adam set for court battle with Blackpool over bonus row" – Daily Record, 28 October 2010
During the 2012–13 season, the state of the Bloomfield Road pitch was criticised by managers and players."Michael Appleton & Alex Baptiste unhappy with Blackpool pitch" – BBC Sport, 30 November 2012"Poor pitch at Bloomfield Road will reduce Blackpool versus Bristol City to a battle" – Bristol Post, 27 February 2013 It was re-laid during the following close season,"Pitch perfect at Bloomfield Road" – Blackpool Gazette, 12 July 2013 but in December 2014 it began to deteriorate again."Matt Ritchie has double fun as Bournemouth hit Blackpool for six" – The Guardian, 20 December 2014 In February 2015, the Football League contacted the club, demanding an explanation for the current condition of the pitch."Football League step in over state of Blackpool’s pitch" – Blackpool Gazette, 12 February 2015 The pitch was relaid during the summer of 2015."Pitch perfect at Bloomfield Road" - Blackpool Gazette, 12 July 2015
Former Scotland captain Barry Ferguson, who was Blackpool's caretaker-manager from January to May 2014, said of Oyston in 2020: "He's crazy, man. Six months before [his appointment], I fell out with him, and he made me go and train with the youth team at a 5-a-side park. And then, six months later, he offered me the job. That's how crazy he was. And sometimes he would come in and talk to you; other times, he'd just walk past you.""BARRY FERGUSON & SLANEY REUNITED! | Keeping the Ball on the Ground" – Open Goal, YouTube, September 30, 2020
Relationship breakdown
In April 2014, with Blackpool flirting with relegation to the third tier for the second consecutive season, Oyston called for the police to investigate death threats aimed at him and his family. Fans had begun protesting at games, calling for Oyston to leave the club after failing to provide the necessary funding for the club's infrastructure, despite the club having received an estimated £80 million cash windfall after their victory over Cardiff City at Wembley. To compound the ill-feeling, Oyston paid his father £11 million,"That £11m salary and why Blackpool refuse to inflate players' wages" – The Guardian, 6 March 2012 distributed another £26 million around other Oyston-owned companies, and purchased land owned by the club behind the stadium for £650,000, which was then sold back to the club for £6.5 million after a lease for a Travelodge had been secured.
The death threats came a few weeks after Oyston was photographed, by his son, standing in a mocking manner beside a mobile billboard that was parked on Bloomfield Road. It referred to the football club as "Oyston's cash cow". His son then posted the photograph on his Twitter account.
On 24 July, in an open letter to both Oystons, club president Valeri Belokon demanded funds be put aside for player acquisitions.