I appreciate that, I just think that it's easy to kind of airbrush over our History to suit our own agenda. I'm clearly no fan of Oyston, but I think it's important to at least be honest with ourselves and try to be consistent.
I do agree with you that Belokon acted differently and appeared more interested to develop the Football Club and push on than OO did, but I really don't think it's fair to adopt a "Belokon Invested where OO didn't" line, becaue it's not true. In fact not only is it not true, but the reality is that over time Oyston had invested far more of his own money into keeping the Club ticking over. Likewise, I don't think it unreasonable to acknowledge that the Belekon Investment alone could never have been enough to deliver a promotion to the Premier League... Let's face it, clubs have spent multiple times that sort of money over decades and still failed to get there...So Oystons, including Karl all had a hand in that success as of course, did Lady Luck... But you don't get that type of success 4-5 seasons based on Luck alone, so something was working (at least for a time) and Belokon was largely hands off.
I certainly think what happened after promotion, in particular our approach to the January Transfer Window was borderline criminal, though again trying to be balanced again I do think the Club spent a fair proportion of our income in the Championship and in order to regain promotion. So the accusation that they simply didn't invest in the squad at all was also not true.... As I say, much of that wouldn't have been necessary had Karl not been so out of his depth and actually managed to approach the January Window with a degree of professionalism and intent. Obviously, the significant withdrawal of funds from the Club by OO was managed terribly and whilst arguably it might have been merited (to some extent) based on past investment, it was a greedy and stupid thing to do and it really showed them up for what they are.
I do think VB would have preferred to push further, but I don't think his involvement or his investment in our club was completely atruistic and I'm sure he may well have gone along with a fair split of some revenue to himself and OO from the Prem spoils.
Whether or not he would have chosen to get involved in the running of the Club, had he not failed the F&P test is a moot point. I personally think it was 'convenient' for him as I really don't think he ever wanted a major role and the prospect of a combined investment with a local partner was probably unrealistic too.
Anyway, it's all pretty academic now.... whichever way you look at it, VB has probably come out with the Lions share of whatever was left in BFC from the PL adventure and he's done so with a smile on his face and the apparent blessing of the BFC faithful. On the plus side, we do have what seems to be a fantastic new owner, who is a Blackpool Supporter and he seems to be willing to invest for success... To that extent it has probably worked out for the best.