Karl Oyston
Born	Karl Oyston
Nationality	British
Occupation	Businessman
Net worth	£105M[1]
Known for	Blackpool F.C.
Parents	Owen Oyston, Vicki Oyston

Karl Oyston is an English businessman and the current chairman of the English football club, Blackpool F.C.

[edit] Background

Up until 1999, Oyston spent much of his time involved in running the Oyston family businesses including property management, farming interests and publishing.^[2]

[edit] Blackpool F.C.

In March 1999 Oyston took over as chairman of Blackpool F.C, becoming the third member of the Oyston family to occupy the role, after his father, Owen, and mother, Vicki, from whom he inherited the role.^[3] 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 when he got out of prison. ^[4]

In 2001 he oversaw the building of new West and North stands at Bloomfield Road, the first new facilities at the ground in around eighty years. He has also seen the club improve its financial situation and avoid the worst effects of the ITV Digital collapse, which saw several Football League clubs go into administration. He has though been at times a controversial chairman of the club. In May 2008 during an interview on BBC Radio Lancashire, after he had been criticised for season ticket price rises, Oyston said that he would continue to make decisions in the club's best interests even if that made him unpopular with supporters of the club.^[3]

In July 2005 he was elected onto the Football League Board of directors as a representative of League One, ^[5] and in June 2006 was elected back onto the board. ^[6]

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."^[7][8][9] 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.^[10][11]

The Sunday Times Rich List, which annually lists the 2,000 wealthiest people or families in the United Kingdom has Oyston's wealth along with his father Owen at £105M making them the 759th richest in the country, down from 659th in 2007.^[1]

[edit] References