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
Owen may refer to:
Origin: The name Owen is of Irish and Welsh origin.
Its meanings range from noble, youthful, and well-born.
Gender: Owen is historically the masculine form of the name. Popular feminine variations include Eowyn and Owena. ...
, Karl's father, was jailed for six years in 1996 for rape and indecent assault. 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
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
. 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
In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...
, 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
Valērijs Belokoņs or Valeri Belokon (russian: Валерий Белоконь; born 14 February 1960) is a Latvian businessman. He is a majority shareholder and chairman of the supervisory board of ; a former co-owner of Blackpool F.C. From ...
, Blackpool were, for the first time, promoted to the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
. After this promotion, Belokoņs was frozen out of day-to-day involvement, he claims because the Oystons no longer needed his financial backing.
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
The ''Blackpool Gazette'' (locally marketed as simply ''The Gazette'') is an English daily newspaper based in Blackpool, Lancashire. Published every day except Sunday, it covers the towns and communities of the Fylde coast. It was founded as '' ...
'', 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
The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world an ...
,
["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"](_blank)
- 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
Property management is the operation, control, maintenance, and oversight of real estate and physical property. This can include residential, commercial, and land real estate. Management indicates the need for real estate to be cared for and monit ...
, farming
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...
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
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
board of directors as a representative of League One
The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...
,[ ] 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 #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
s 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."
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
but had to leave this post at the end of the season following Blackpool's promotion to the
.
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
. 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. 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.