Oyston: ‘Ian Has Done An Unbelievable Job So Far’

In an interview with the Blackpool Gazette, BFC chairman Karl Oyston has praised the work done by manager Ian Holloway this season.

Oyston appointed Holloway to the position last summer, but surely can’t have expected the Seasiders to be in playoff contention at this stage of the season.

‘It is a fantastic achievement to get where we have and Ian has done an unbelievable job so far,’ said the chairman.

‘For a club like ours to still be in with a shout at this stage of the season just shows that doing things properly bears fruit.’

However, the chairman said that he has banned all talk of promotion at the club. Asked if he had ever dreamed of promotion to the Premiership, Oyston replied:

‘No, definitely not. Nor did I dream of it in either of the seasons we were promoted. I ban all talk of it and won’t discuss it.’

Oyston also took the time to defend his running of the club (‘I feel totally justified in how I’ve run the club’) and speak about the opening of the South Stand tomorrow afternoon against Palace (‘It will be a fantastic day for a fantastic man [Jimmy Armfield]’).

However, one thing that Oyston is not happy about is the situation with the Number One club in the South East corner of the ground.

After a Blackpool Council u-turn, the club will now be turned into a casino despite Oyston’s last-gasp attempt to steal the place for peanuts when it looked like the casino would fall through.

It is not yet known how this development coulf affect the future building of the East Stand, but speaking to the Blackpool Gazette, Oyston was far from happy:

‘I’m very disappointed. When we made a formal approach to the council on the same issue we were told that this use (a casino) wouldn’t be considered in this area.

‘While it might sound like sour grapes I think there has to be some consistency. It renders the council’s policy documents pretty useless if the officers recommendations are not followed.’