Blackpool chairman Karl Oyston axed by dad Owen after amazing family feud
Owner Owen Oyston was looking to move his son aside as chairman and the club confirmed Karl had stepped down
KARL OYSTON has been axed as Blackpool chairman by his Dad after an amazing family feud.
Owner Owen Oyston was looking to force his son to step down and club confirmed Karl had been replaced by his sister on Friday evening.
Karl has left the club’s parent company and Companies House documents revealed he resigned.
The Oystons are reeling after being told they need to find £31million to pay former director Valeri Belokon for unfair prejudice.
Owen Oyston wants to sell family assets a bid to raise a second payment of £10m payment.
Belokon still plans to take charge of the League One club but is currently banned from becoming a director by the EFL.
Karl Oyston’s sister, Natalie, has become the interim chairwoman with an overseas-based British businessman backing a takeover bid.
The bid, which is being fronted by the former chairman of another English Football League club, has been in talks with the club's majority owners, the Oyston family, for several months but is being held up by the ongoing civil war at the club.
The company that owns the club and their assets, including their Bloomfield Road stadium, was put up for sale on November 10, four days after the Oystons lost a high court battle with ex-business partner Belokon.
Latvian Belokon bought a 20 per cent stake for £4.5million in 2006 and served as the club's president until last August, when he resigned.
By then, however, he had been in dispute with fellow directors Owen Oyston and his son Karl for more than a year over claims they had taken £27m out of the club after their season in the Premier League in 2010/11.
Owen Oyston, for example, paid himself a director's salary of £11m.
After months of wrangling between the parties, Justice Marcus Smith agreed with Belokon and ordered the Oystons to pay him more than £31m, plus costs, for "illegitimate stripping" of the club and "fundamental breaches" of their duties as directors.
The Oystons were ordered to pay this sum in four instalments: £10m in early December, £10million by the end of January, £7.5mby March 31 and £7.1m by May 31.
They met the first of these payments but missed Wednesday's deadline for the second tranche and must now return to the high court on Monday to hear if their application for an extension will be approved.
Belokon denies any wrongdoing and his representatives say the verdict was politically motivated. It is understood his status in English football is also under review.
But the complexity at Blackpool does not finish there, as relations between Owen, 84, and Karl, 49, have completely broken down and they are now acting against each other.
When asked if there is any update on the sale, a club spokesman said there is no change to November's statement that the "Blackpool Football Club Limited and Blackpool Football Club Properties Limited are on the market".
In the meantime, the only real bid on the table is from the overseas-based Briton, who wishes to remain anonymous at this point, and his partners.
With many fans boycotting the club in protest against the Oystons, Blackpool is fighting to stay in League One after last year's promotion.
Despite earning significant revenue from a hotel and other tenant businesses at Bloomfield Road, the club are still losing £2million a year, thanks to the poor gates and lack of sponsors.
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The interested party believes the club would break even if attendances return to an average of 10,000 and is proposing to slash season tickets to £200.
It would also sell the club's dilapidated training ground and move to a new council development near the airport, as well as selling some houses at Bloomfield Road.