A STATEMENT FROM SIMON SADLER........

Simonized said:
Firstly, I’d like to congratulate Neil and his team for their exciting victory over Wigan Athletic on Saturday. We worked hard, were well organized and entertained as we deservedly grabbed the three points. We’ve seen a Neil Critchley team grow and gel before and I am confident that we are again on the right track. I am excited to see how this season pans out.

I write today though because over recent weeks and months my commitment to our Club has, from some parts, been brought into question. As a reminder, I stepped in to buy Blackpool Football Club in 2019 because I wanted to secure its survival for future generations of fans. I insisted as a part of the sale process that I would only buy the full 96.2% of the Club and not the 76.2% that was originally available. I did this to ensure that the Club was free of its previous owners and so that we, as a fanbase, could unite under single ownership. To achieve this and to ensure that I, rather than any of the other three less credible bidders acquired the Club, I paid a full price for what in reality was a very distressed asset that had suffered years of chronic under-investment. Then, as now, my motives were not financial.

Since then, I have ploughed a further GBP18m of my family’s money into the Club. In this financial year alone, I expect to provide an additional GBP5m, this before any contribution to any large infrastructure projects. It’s this level of commitment that keeps Blackpool Football Club operational. It’s this investment that has given us a likely top six playing budget, and enables us to pay, for Kyle Joseph, the highest known transfer fee this year in League One. It’s this money that has helped us to bring in established pro’s like Oliver Norburn, Matthew Pennington, Richard O’Donnell and Jordan Rhodes, whilst also sign younger players such as Kyle, Tashan Oakley-Boothe, Albie Morgan and Kylian Kouassi - players who will hopefully develop into our stars of the future. It’s this that has allowed us to loan highly rated youngsters like Jensen Weir and Karamoko Dembele. I doubt that there is another owner or ownership group in League One that will make as large a financial contribution this season as the GBP5m that I will likely inject.

“But where’s the Critchley/Bowler/Yates money gone?” is the recent refrain. It’s certainly not been spent on wedding venues or woolly mammoths! These incoming transfer fee payments are staggered over time but the monies so far received have contributed to the spend on the playing squad. Player trading and reinvesting a majority of the income from player sales back into the playing squad is a vital part of our strategy and combined with my personal investment helps us to pay meaningful transfer fees, source high quality loan players and most importantly support a significantly higher wage bill than when we were last in this division. This has resulted in a transfer window and an assembled squad that the football professionals within the Club are more than happy with. I can also further assure you all that with David Downes in-situ we will use future windows as an opportunity to further improve the squad as we did every window when Neil was last with us.

When I first bought the Club I said that I ultimately wanted it to operate in a manner in which it was able to sustain itself. The owner-funded model of our community football clubs is a dangerous one. Using Saturday’s opponents Wigan as an example, they have had severe financial difficulties recently under two sets of overseas owners until finding what I hope for them will be long-term stability under their new local owner who I’m sure understands the value and importance of the Club to the town. Other local clubs such as Bury have not been so lucky as they had no benefactor step in to save them when they encountered financial difficulties. There is clearly a trade-off between sustainability and ambition and as custodian my aim is for the Club to survive and thrive over time. The amount of cash that I continue to inject into our Club clearly demonstrates though that I am funding us at the ambitious rather than the sustainable end of the spectrum. It is a shame that all of this is not better understood across the entirety of our fanbase.

I recognise that being the custodian of Blackpool Football Club is not just a financial responsibility. A lot of the big decisions roll up to me and I know that I will be judged on their outcomes. Unfortunately, outcomes cannot be guaranteed but I can say that all decisions are taken with the best interests of the football club at heart, although it is inevitable that mistakes will sometimes be made. I relish and embrace this responsibility that comes with being the owner of the Club and expect to be so for many years to come. In saying that, I only want what is best for the town and the Club. If there is anyone out there who has the means to fund the Club and believes that they are a more suitable custodian of Blackpool Football Club than I, then they should make themselves known and I will hear them out.

Finally, I hope that we can all agree that it’s time for us to put the disappointments of last season firmly behind us and to look forward. I hope that for the rest of the season we can all get behind the team and you can roar us to success as you did on Saturday. When on song, no fans top Blackpool fans and nowhere beats a packed Bloomfield Road.

On behalf of the Club, I thank you for your ongoing support.

UTMP

Simon
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Tbf the same people who are always saying there isn’t enough communication from the club are usually the ones who get the most wound up by these kind of statements. He can’t really win in that regard.
 
Nigel517 said:
Simon stated what the majority of supporters already believed. He genuinely is BFCs saviour. However maybe he might learn that a lack of communication between the club and the supporters gives a few the chance to write all sorts of stories as to what is going on.
An instance. On Saturday Andy Lyons wasn't in the team or the squad. All around me at the match I am hearing WTF is Critchley doing. That then starts a tirade of others questioning his decisions. A simple early explanation about his absence would have quelled all that. Regular injury updates, transfer dealings and attempts equally so. I don't for one minute think that we weren't trying like hell to get others in on deadline day. But silence starts the rumours and gives the few, so called supporters, the ammunition to write the crap they put on this and other sites.
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I can understand Simon tightening the leaks up from the club it was embarrassing..but I think the club have gone too far, they need to row back a bit…open up a little bit and keep fans in the loop more…It’ll shut most of the bullshit down that silence leads too….
 
SeasideKurt said:
I just think that didn't need to be a statement. And could have been more of an update.
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I think that’s maybe being a bit picky tbh…

Simon has come in for a lot of stick recently… And there’s a lot of bullshit that does the rounds.

Under the circumstances, the statement is measured and addressees the criticisms that have been very publicly levelled at our owner.
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
It is a wanky statement though
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Nah, I agree with a lot of what you post on here Phil, but I don't see this as wanky at all.

If I was a fan that bought the club off the shitehawks and ploughed quite a bit of dough into the project, had some success and made some mistakes, it's the sort of statement I could write myself, given some of the absolute bollocks posted on here.

He might be a bit thin skinned to feel the need to rise to it, but all in all, I think it does him more credit then looking "wanky".
 
It is very disappointing that a small minority of our fanbase have caused Simon Sadler to have to justify his commitment to the Club.

Simon, please don't listen to, or be concerned about, some of the complete rubbish posted on here.
The genuine fans of the club, absolutely support what you are doing, the progress you are making and recognise that it takes time.
 
foggy said:
Said it before and will say it again, whether it's him or people who report to him, they need to spend less time reading avftt, it's not representative of the fanbase at large and these weird annual statements I find completely bizarre. Just get on with it and stop stressing about what drunk people say about you on a Saturday night on a message board. Between the over the top defensiveness and references to other clubs who have spent and got themselves into danger this was Oystonesque communication.
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Agree that the views on here range from very good to abysmal, but why shouldn't he read what's on here? A man in his position will be able to sift out the dross.

This for me was an impressive statement, but periodic communications from the owner is a prerequisite for keeping the fans informed, however deranged some of their views might be, and yes it might actually keep most of the fans onside.

There has never been any doubt in my mind that he has the Club's best interests at heart and yes he has made some mistakes. That said there isn't a person on this planet that hasn't made a mistake at some point.

Me excepted of course. 😁
 
Matesrates said:
It’s a shame you’ve had to make this statement Simon, I personally don’t think it was necessary. I’m certain the vast majority of fans are grateful for what you’ve done for the club and are planning to do. I look forward to your continued sensible custodianship of our wonderful club.
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I hold a very similar view. It's a pity that he feels the need to make a statement like this. I'd be happier that he felt he could just update more on the good work I firmly believe that he is doing without feeling the need to defend himself.
 
Anyone who questions SS financial commitment must be unhinged.
Anyone who doesn’t question the decisions made over the last 18+ months must be unhinged.
i think he needs to either get better advice or listen to it more, else he’ll just waste more time getting even more annoyed and not focusing on getting the best outcome from the club from his big spend
 
foggy said:
I'm not jumping on him or really holding this against him, he just really doesn't need to do this. I have no idea why people think a PR statement is "transparency". We publish financial accounts every year. The Oystons were actually quite transparent. We knew they spent 3.5m on transfer fees in the Premier League season and we knew Owen paid himself 11m. We also knew 30 odd million or so also went to his other companies in unsecured, interest free loans and those companies were named in black and white, and their own accounts were publicly available. Likewise we can see in the accounts the 20m or so Sadler has put directly into BFC. That's all I need, at least when it comes to assessing financial support. Not a 500 word statement.
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I don't disagree with the gist of this, but he's responded in a measured way to unwarranted criticism. For once, we have an owner who actually cares personally about the club, and it shows with his commitment. He's not some faceless, corporate pen pusher only interested in spreadsheet figures. He's invested himself, his time, and a considerable amount of his own money in the people of this town as represented by their football club and for that I applaud him. Unfortunately those who lambast him on social media after they've had a few too many are the last ones to be interested in perusing the financial accounts. So, like you, I wish he didn't feel it necessary to put his point of view over, but I certainly understand where he's coming from. He's human, he, and possibly family members, have been hurt by unjust abuse from a handful of people. I'd be livid if it was me. Wouldn't you be?
 
Love the fact he mentioned O'Donnell to justify his investment.

In all seriousness, Sadler's commitment should never be questioned. The cost of running football clubs in the lower leagues must be significant considering the explosion of player power and wages in the top leagues.

The anger was directed at the team and tactics and will never understand why there were posts questioning Sadler.
 
tangible said:
I don't disagree with the gist of this, but he's responded in a measured way to unwarranted criticism. For once, we have an owner who actually cares personally about the club, and it shows with his commitment. He's not some faceless, corporate pen pusher only interested in spreadsheet figures. He's invested himself, his time, and a considerable amount of his own money in the people of this town as represented by their football club and for that I applaud him. Unfortunately those who lambast him on social media after they've had a few too many are the last ones to be interested in perusing the financial accounts. So, like you, I wish he didn't feel it necessary to put his point of view over, but I certainly understand where he's coming from. He's human, he, and possibly family members, have been hurt by unjust abuse from a handful of people. I'd be livid if it was me. Wouldn't you be?
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Tend to agree with this. It’s normal for the criticism to hurt. Especially when you are trying to do your best and give so much of what belongs to you to a cause.

It’s also extremely important to allow someone their voice to be heard. Especially when others think it’s ok to throw their own voices at him.
 
I am one of his biggest critics, as far as the footballing side of the club goes and when I saw he had made a statement I was dreading reading it, but I don’t think that’s a defensive statement at all. I think he clearly reads this board and the rest of the social media (I do t so have absolutely no idea what they say) I thnk he is responding to the criticism, which he didn’t have to do, and it comes across as a passionate statement and certainly not having a pop at supporters.

I applaud him for that and I feel a lot more confident after reading it. He admits he makes mistakes, we all do, let’s hope NC can galvanise this squad so we can play like we did on Saturday.

I still think he’s generally crap at choosing managers though! 😂😂
 
I think every club has to tolerate nonsense on the internet, along with many other people in public life. Unfortunately. He's far from alone! It shoukdnt happen but it does and it won't stop so I guess you deal with it or you get out. Football fans are a particular breed, it's a competitive sport and when you are failing you will get criticism and some people will go overboard and get ridiculous, often through a lack of understanding. But also through taking it too seriously. Sadler needs to handle PR better, and also recruit better. He's on a learning curve, he's not a football person and has made mistakes, as he acknowledges. For me he needs a thicker skin, better PR and better recruitment. But there's fault on both sides, he shouldn't have to put up with abuse, from people who know what a genuine bad owner looks like.
 
Interested to hear that Joseph was probably the highest fee of any player bought in our division. He must have been £1m+ then. Put to bed the £750k value that the Swansea journalist was saying.
 
WIZARD OF TANGERINE said:
I think that social media is so important today it can't be avoided , and it maybe and probably is the reason why this statement was made . Now it has been ,the storm has now subsided . Till next time.
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I do think some of this stems from relatively poor comms over the summer months, in particular deadline day. To have our manager say we are very busy and active to end up weaker than when we started the day, being one such example. I know it's about managing expectations but the tone and timing of these messages is what I don't like, it is great to have communications but it could have been handled a little better in my opinion.
 
That’s an excellent statement .

SS commitment to the club should not be questioned (look at the accounts) yet it has been over the last few weeks . The stuff on social media has been way OTT .

He’s the best owner we could have hoped for

Criticise his decision making we all have a right to our opinions but his commitment to the club both financially and in terms of his effort are beyond reproach imo.

As for the chumps who keep comparing him to the Oystons on social media .

Just f**k off you clowns 🤡
 
voyeur said:
I think every club has to tolerate nonsense on the internet, along with many other people in public life. Unfortunately. He's far from alone! It shoukdnt happen but it does and it won't stop so I guess you deal with it or you get out. Football fans are a particular breed, it's a competitive sport and when you are failing you will get criticism and some people will go overboard and get ridiculous, often through a lack of understanding. But also through taking it too seriously. Sadler needs to handle PR better, and also recruit better. He's on a learning curve, he's not a football person and has made mistakes, as he acknowledges. For me he needs a thicker skin, better PR and better recruitment. But there's fault on both sides, he shouldn't have to put up with abuse, from people who know what a genuine bad owner looks like.
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Football is unlike any other business in the world. There's so much passion and feelings involved that people get carried away with it. I know I'm one of them for sure. It's hard to take a step back and be rational at times. That's why you never see me on here after a loss, I know I will say something I really shouldn't and will regret the next day.
 
Lala said:
Well said Mt Sadler.

No doubt some of those who ask for communication will be critical of the communication. Because there are a small entitled number of our fanbase that you can never please. So my advice is, don’t try.

I for one appreciate your financial investment and personal sacrifices, and I know of no-one else who is willing or able to do more ⚽️
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Agreed the vast majority are fully behind the owner while of course being free to disagree with some decisions. Spend less time on avftt Simon.
 
mad-link said:
Phil, that statements reflects poorly on you and nobody else. Can you not just take the statement on face value and move on without the negativity?
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Nope

It's an awful statement designed to silence his critics after a truly awful 18 months of his stewardship

Reminding fans of how much he spent sounds just like the type of nonsense Owen Oyston used to spout

Anybody who can read company accounts knows full well that he puts money in

All owners do, football clubs cost money and we don't need reminding every time the owner faces criticism

In the last 12 months we have had 4 different managers and have suffered a relegation due to a complete lack of investment in the playing squad and a clusterfuck of a transfer policy with little or no planning

Every time that is any criticism towards Sadler we get a statement like this

We had one last season as well telling us all how good Callum Connolly is as a right back because he scored against Reading

This time our back up keeper has a name check like he's some sort of Gordon Banks

It's a god awful statement
 
AngelBFC said:
That’s an excellent statement .

SS commitment to the club should not be questioned (look at the accounts) yet it has been over the last few weeks . The stuff on social media has been way OTT .

He’s the best owner we could have hoped for

Criticise his decision making we all have a right to our opinions but his commitment to the club both financially and in terms of his effort are beyond reproach imo.

As for the chumps who keep comparing him to the Oystons on social media .

Just f**k off you clowns 🤡
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Angel if I was Simon I would have just released your last 3 lines…job done.
 
BFC_BFC_BFC said:
I think that’s maybe being a bit picky tbh…

Simon has come in for a lot of stick recently… And there’s a lot of bullshit that does the rounds.

Under the circumstances, the statement is measured and addressees the criticisms that have been very publicly levelled at our owner.
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It's just about being good at PR and sending the right message out, of which this was terrible PR and actually you can 100% see similarities between that statement and something the Oystons would have put out.

He is a director, leads with red energy and has thrown that statement out with little thought about it's perception. It's really poor and he needs those around him to advise him better. He's been let down on this occasion.
 
I think the statement is fine. He's entitled to give his view, and he accepts mistakes have been made.
After all - he who pays the piper calls the tune!
If there is a communication issue it's with NC and the fans.
Why can't he, or one of his team, put something out occasionally that explains some of his weird selections and setups?
It's so easy to do - either written or by video - obviously not divulging too much to help our opponents.
That's what we're interested in, and maybe if we had the background, we'd be more inclined to be patient.
 
tangysider said:
Putting 5 million gbp in this year is a statement of intent, maybe you would rather it be 20 million, but that is a pipedream.
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I never said 20 did I 🤷, it’s a fine line isn’t it in success and to keep a club stable
maybe my expectations were to high in wanting pool to go straight back up , it’s still might happen thou 🧡🧡
 
My feelings are of sadness and disappointment that Simon has to make such a statement. Without his massive investment there was every chance that the club would go under like Bury, or plummet through the leagues like Oldham, Yeovil etc. There is no more illogical investment than in a football club. Tens of millions given without any hope of reimbursement. Yet still nothing but abuse received.

I have the utmost respect for Mr Sadler and like most I fully appreciate the sacrifices he has made for the club. I have never had a shred of doubt that everything he has done is for the benefit of the club and of the fans. It must be so frustrating for him to have to listen to the rubbish spoken and posted from a small minority of fans. He doesn't choose the players to buy or pick the team. He just pays for everything. I hope the supporters will get behind him and pull together for the benefit of the team, the owners and all of us.
 
Alot of this could be solved if the club didn't give the undisclosed fee like all the time. Dont get me wrong, I understand why that's done, but if the had just come out and said we spent £1m or £1.5m or what ever the fee was, on Joseph then alot of fans would be more cautious when screaming about us not spending any money.
 
Jke92 said:
Passive aggressive drivel. Owners will be judged on the decisions they make, which so far have us in the same position as when he took over, not defensive statements citing woolly mammoths. Stop reading message boards and start putting in place a proper recruitment strategy.
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Why don't u p#ss off and support the "last team stop"
 
SeasideKurt said:
It's just about being good at PR and sending the right message out, of which this was terrible PR and actually you can 100% see similarities between that statement and something the Oystons would have put out.

He is a director, leads with red energy and has thrown that statement out with little thought about it's perception. It's really poor and he needs those around him to advise him better. He's been let down on this occasion.
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I think it’s the kind of statement any local (fan) type of owner would put out to be honest.

I think those who have been critical will tend to perceive the statement through they’re typically critical lens, because it serves them to do so.

It’s a perfectly balanced statement if you read it with a balanced perspective.

It’s good to know that many of the expert tacticians, expert recruiters and expert football owners are now also experts in PR though..

😂
 
BFC_BFC_BFC said:
I think it’s the kind of statement any local (fan) type of owner would put out to be honest.

I think those who have been critical will tend to perceive the statement through they’re typically critical lens, because it serves them to do so.

It’s a perfectly balanced statement if you read it with a balanced perspective.

It’s good to know that many of the expert tacticians, expert recruiters and expert football owners are now also experts in PR though..

😂
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I’m 3 days away from my expertly made cheesecake…not counting the days or anything….
 
I bleed Tangerine said:
Alot of this could be solved if the club didn't give the undisclosed fee like all the time. Dont get me wrong, I understand why that's done, but if the had just come out and said we spent £1m or £1.5m or what ever the fee was, on Joseph then alot of fans would be more cautious when screaming about us not spending any money.
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Fees being ‘undisclosed’ is commonplace and is often agreed by both parties.

The problem would be solved if fans stopped being fixated on fees and just focused on the players that come in. You’d have thought we’d have learned that lesson by now….
 
I agree that anyone comparing Simon to the Oystons needs to give their heads a wobble. I think those who think they are similar are either on a wind up and/ or simply chasing reactions to their posts. Anybody who experienced that regime cannot, hand on heart, can argue otherwise and remain credible.
 
A great statement and in my 60 plus years of supporting BFC probably the most honest summary of where my Beloved club is !@
I agree that probably most of the "dogs abuse" probably is on Twitter,X,Instagram etc and if I,d invested 1 tenth of the amount S.S has I,d be livid .
As a rookie he s had his trousers taken down a few times. Grayson ,Appleton some of his expert advisors ,etc and we had a bad season last year as a result.
As I originally stated ,a great statement,
Imagine getting one like his from some of our previous owners.
UTMP!!@S.S is leading from the front
 
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