Oyston: We Won’t Pay Silly Money

Speaking at the end of a ‘mad, but good mad’ week, Blackpool chairman Karl Oyston has outlined some of his plans for the Seasiders’ forthcoming season in the Premier League – including stating that the club will not pay silly money for anyone.

Oyston’s comments come after it was revealed that DJ Campbell’s and Stephen Dobbie’s transfer fees have become vastly inflated since the Seasiders gained promotion.

Speaking on behalf of Oyston, Blackpool club secretary and press officer Matt Williams said:

‘The chairman is speaking to Swansea and to Leicester about Dobbie and DJ.

‘But you know the way Karl (Oyston) does his deals. It has got us to where we are and there will be no change in policy.’

Indeed, whilst many changes should be occurring at Bloomfield Road this summer, Karl has said that he does not want to change the ‘ethos’ of the club – something echoed by Ollie, his staff and players.

Switching focus to the ground, the club held a very productive meeting with the Premier League this week to discuss the improvements that need making to Bloomfield Road in order to make it Premier League standard.

Despite Oyston admitting that the club aren’t even Championship standard in some aspects, the list of improvements that the Premier League expect aren’t too lengthy.

Speaking to the Blackpool Gazette about the meeting, Matt Williams said:

‘We gave them a tour of the ground, and they measured the dressing rooms and were happy with them. We showed them where we propose to do the post-match TV interviews and that was fine.

‘They looked around the stadium, looked at the boardroom… looked at everything really.

‘Obviously we have to address the press facilities and press working rooms, which will be in the east stand.

‘We must have space for 50 journalists and 20 radio commentary positions, plus 14 camera positions around the pitch, which will double if you broadcast in 3D.’

By stating that the media will be housed in the East, it suggests that a permanent East stand will be on its way shortly.

However, as of yet, the plans for such a structure do not remain clear, despite promises that they would be as soon as we won promotion.

Indeed, Oyston is now saying that he held no discussions on the East prior to Wembley because he did not wish to tempt fate – something that is of course incorrect; discussions about the East have been going on for a while, with the fact that we were considering selling our temporary stand to Accrington being reported in the local press.

Despite the excitement of the Seasiders making the Premier League, concerns still remain over Oyston’s management of the club. A lot more will be expected of himover the coming season – let’s hope that he delivers.