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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KoKo in disguise
 
SeasiderExile said:
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.
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Great post
 
I’m not sure about this statement, or that SS really gets it.
It’s blindingly obvious that the thing this club clearly needs is more woolly mammoths.
Up your game Sadler
 
voyeur said:
Now the scruffs are all arguing about a statement! Its liking throwing a bone to a pack of dogs!
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And detracting from the positivity that should be aimed at the players and the manager. It’s all about Sadler being proved right and being the great saviour.
 
foggy said:
Have you seen me criticise him elsewhere? I think he's a fine owner and he should rise above the attention seeking of people on social media, that was my point
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And a fair one too. But, "over the top defensiveness," "Oystonesque"? You could save that for another occasion. We wanted communication and we've got it. I think we communally deserved that spanking.
 
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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Thankyou for your continued support both financial and personal.
 
clappers said:
He gets away without another egg on his face statement that does more division amongst the fanbase. Go and re-read his Appleton one then compare with this. The tone is precisely the same.
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Why does that statement create more division amongst the fan base ?

The owner spelling out some facts after he’s read a load of rubbish can’t be wrong can’t it?
 
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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Not everyone reads financial statements and I have no problem whatsoever in him putting out this statement even though some will still Continue to moan and find fault.
 
Suddickbender said:
Thank You for the information Mr Sadler, BUT, one massive question is who does own the other 3.8% ?
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I know it used to about a 100 or so fans who had a few shares…Oyston changed the club rules to try and cut them out of any dividend when he was wanting to extract cash…I’m not sure of the situation now….
 
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 haven't been critical of Simon though, I've always been supportive. And yet I deem that to be a terrible statement. I have a balanced perspective in Simon's favour, so your post doesn't really hold any weight.

Maybe I'm just a better communicator than him, but his PR, the clubs PR and social media presence for years has been far far below the majority of other clubs.
 
BFC_BFC_BFC said:
I think all the remaining egg was used up for the faces of the premature eggjaculators, who were calling for Critchley’s head a few days ago. 😉
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There was no chance of Critchley being poached for his start to this season as he desperately scrambled for convincing results and performances. I just wonder why after every bad spell followed by a result or two we get one of these spikey statements and very little at all otherwise.
 
I’ve been pissed off with our player recruitment for the last 4 windows but that’s more down to identifying who and what we need.

I think the statement is fine, he’s not being arsey just factual and he’s backed it up unlike the previous twats, which he even jokes about.

I would say though he needs to not let it get to him, chipping at podcasts or posts on Avftt (remember him referencing the 6 pointer joke SATW did)…there’s no need to let that wind you up.

In any job you’re working with the public or a membership base there’s an element that love moaning and drowning in a sea of negativity, you can’t please them whatever you do. It’s even worse with a football club as there is raw emotion and almost a love involved. Aim to please most and just laugh at the rest.

Some people have absolutely slated Sadler, “bad as Oyston”… “he’s not got enough dough”… “he’s buying WWE”… “he’s skint”… you can’t moan if he’s give a little bit back surely 🤣🤷🏻‍♂️
 
Reasonable statement
I'm not sure if some enjoyed( or felt comfortable in)the misery of the Oyston years .Unfortunately some are just miserable fkrs who like to wallow in their own sewage,don't ask me why as I don't know and at 56 ,have past caring.

We are a league 1 club ,in a deprived corner of Lancashire and given them circumstances we are not doing too badly.Hopefully Critchley is finding his best starting lineups and Saturday was a nice change form the cold porridge served up in previous games .

I would say I agree with Blood and others that the board need to be less thin skinned and not react to the nonsense we all post on this obscure ,emotionally unstable forum.

Saying that I read this everyday and enjoy the insights and opinions of various posters ,even Paulco.

Anyway it's a cracking day out there .
 
Towerpower99 said:
I know it used to about a 100 or so fans who had a few shares…Oyston changed the club rules to try and cut them out of any dividend when he was wanting to extract cash…I’m not sure of the situation now….
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The ordinary shares were cancelled by resolution of the board prior to Sadler taking over as worthless in value so got paid nothing at all for their shares.
 
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As one of SS’s critics, I appreciate this communique. One of my main problems isn’t his investment into the Club but his repeated lack of transparency which doesn’t do him any favours.

Love the nod towards the Oystons… class
 
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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That's a good point. We have Steve Rowland as the fans' liaison but perhaps it's time for a fully paid Football PR, to liaise with the media and the fans in keeping communications flowing.
 
1966_and_all_that said:
And a fair one too. But, "over the top defensiveness," "Oystonesque"? You could save that for another occasion. We wanted communication and we've got it. I think we communally deserved that spanking.
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Yes personally I thought it was a bit reminiscent of some of Karl's statements, I don't know what other occasion I would save it for since this is the only time I have ever thought that, and that's where the comparison begins and ends. It's no big deal or anything, I just think it's odd. I didn't personally want or need this communication. Whatever anybody else moans about is up to them.
 
SeasideKurt said:
Honestly, that has to be one of the WORST pieces of communication I've seen from the club since he's taken over.

Why is it a statement? Why isn't it called an update?

What is he stating? Shut the fuck up talking about how I spend money?

Why does he have a wanky tone throughout? We won at the weekend, huge opportunity to bring some good PR about.

Why is it a statement not a video?

Do we have a PR expert or a media team? Because frankly the way that has come across is absolutely awful.

I'm not against him or against Neil, the last 4 results were horrendous viewing. And we ARE short up front and short of quality. Of which we all expected 2-3 players to come in.
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Blimey Kurt! You must have some real gremlins preying on you to believe the statement was anything other than sincere.
 
mropinion said:
Keep up the good work SS , as above this message board is not representative of the general fan base. I spoke to a fair few people on Saturday who were shocked at the abuse that he gets on here. And anyone comparing him to the Oystons is a grade A nob head.
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I think the board can be fairly representative, it's the biggest sample we've got. You've got a range of views and ages, although definitely more of the older fans.

If you go on other social media, with younger ages, you hear much the same or far worse moans at times.

There's always an element of that on any social media, a few wins and everyone is happy and we're going up, a few losses and we're shit and the manager needs to go. Or the owner isn't rich enough and the signings people were previously quite happy with when they arrived, are now shit with a few bad games.

As always it can only take small numbers of noisy unhappy people to make it seem like most are unhappy.

I'm sure if there was a poll the vast majority are behind SS, although there's always things we can improve and look to do better at.
 
voyeur said:
You saying he's not the Messiah?
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I’d have preferred hm to just put a personal article online about how hard everyone is working and that the Wigan game is something we should all celebrate as evidence of that and he is delighted and Relieved for the coach and the players who he believes in 100%. And he hopes to see more fans at the club backing us to go forwards and get back where we belong. We are all in it together.

It’s really not that difficult.

A lot of this statement is pointless self serving pointscoring that could prove counter productive if things do happen to go south from here.
 
Adams Kebab said:
I’ve been pissed off with our player recruitment for the last 4 windows but that’s more down to identifying who and what we need.

I think the statement is fine, he’s not being arsey just factual and he’s backed it up unlike the previous twats, which he even jokes about.

I would say though he needs to not let it get to him, chipping at podcasts or posts on Avftt (remember him referencing the 6 pointer joke SATW did)…there’s no need to let that wind you up.

In any job you’re working with the public or a membership base there’s an element that love moaning and drowning in a sea of negativity, you can’t please them whatever you do. It’s even worse with a football club as there is raw emotion and almost a love involved. Aim to please most and just laugh at the rest.

Some people have absolutely slated Sadler, “bad as Oyston”… “he’s not got enough dough”… “he’s buying WWE”… “he’s skint”… you can’t moan if he’s give a little bit back surely 🤣🤷🏻‍♂️
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I was deadly serious with THAT post...

You're bang on the money though. I love this statement because it's a right 2 fingers to some of the bigger moaners. Just like NC's second actions after triple-fisting the North on Saturday. And it's achieved its targets too; that's why Pip's getting all defensive and Hertford Pete is saying 'I always quite liked him actually'.

But it's also depressing that he feels he needs to converse with supporters in this manner. I'd suggest he spends a few games in the stands (heavily disguised of course) and observes the level of intellect on display. A lot of our fans wouldn't know you can breath through your nose if it wasn't for sneezing and if you took any notice of their lunatic suggestions and ideas, we'd have Matt Williams serving chips and pyrotechnics on the concourse at half-time, free season tickets for everyone apart from BSA members and a management duo of Andy Morrison and Banvo Anderson.
 
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1966_and_all_that said:
Blimey Kurt! You must have some real gremlins preying on you to believe the statement was anything other than sincere.
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Nah, the tone is utterly shite. And smacks of someone who's clearly been a director for a long time. He can do far better than that.

The social media and general output from our media team this summer has been lacklustre.
 
Tanger said:
A real shame he has to write this.. Love this line “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!
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The real question is why not? Why does he dismiss this revenue stream out of hand?

Clever trading in woolly mammoths, if done right, could allow us to reinvest that money back into the team. FFS Simon.

Someone needs to take his to tusk over this.
 
clappers said:
I’d have preferred hm to just put a personal article online about how hard everyone is working and that the Wigan game is something we should all celebrate as evidence of that and he is delighted and Relieved for the coach and the players who he believes in 100%. And he hopes to see more fans at the club backing us to go forwards and get back where we belong. We are all in it together.

It’s really not that difficult.

A lot of this statement is pointless self serving pointscoring that could prove counter productive if things do happen to go south from here.
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It's just a statement. I don't really give a toss either way tbh. Everything gets dissected into tiny pieces.
 
Murciaseasider said:
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. 😁
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Two instances of an aberrant comma preceding co-ordinating conjunctions. That would be two mistakes in one post.

Here to help.
 
clappers said:
He gets away without another egg on his face statement that does more division amongst the fanbase. Go and re-read his Appleton one then compare with this. The tone is precisely the same.
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Tone is a genuine problem when reading as people tend to read it in the tone they want to read it in 👍

More meaning is in actual tone than the words when people communicate.

It’s about 80% tone and 20% words on a phone call, so when you take tone away it’s very hard to communicate exactly what you mean and how you feel.

Give the guy a break!
 
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A half decent marketing / comms department would avoid ALL of this. An extra £80k a year. Whoever’s responsible for it all now is doing a really poor job. Their fingers aren’t on the pulse and instead of having to put out reactionary statements more consistent messages should be going out regularly therefore shutting down the idiots on here and elsewhere before they even begin.
 
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