Fans pleased as football club’s owners lose court battle

BLACKPOOL FC’S owners the Oyston family have lost a bitter multimillion-pound court battle with a Latvian investor in the troubled club.

Owen and Karl Oyston, owner and chairman of the Lancashire club, were in dispute with businessman Valeri Belekon, who provided £4.75m in July 2008 for development of the club’s South Stand.

Dispute then arose between them in respect of the share due to Mr Belokon of any income and profits generated following the development of the South Stand, and the deduction of legitimate expenditure, including a lossmaking hotel, from what Mr Belekon believed he was owed under the commercial agreement.

The case brought by JSC Baltic International Bank, owned by Mr Belekon, against Segesta Limited, the holding company for the football club’s assets, first went before the Mercantile Court sitting in Manchester last December.

Lawyers for Mr Belekon and the Bank argued a narrow range of expenditure is to be deducted from income in order to calculate his profit share. Segesta’s lawyers in turn asked for a broader range.

Today, Judge Jane Moulder delivered her judgment in favour of Mr Belekon.

Around 15 Blackpool football fans sat in court, some in the club’s tangerine colours, responding with a muted “Yes” in the hushed courtroom as the judge ruled against the club.

Thousands of fans have been boycotting their home games in protest at the ownership and running of the club by the Oyston family. The team has plunged down the football league to the fourth tier just six years after being in the Premier League.

The exact amount the club’s owners will have to pay Mr Belekon will have to be worked out by a forensic accountant at a later date. It is thought to be in the region of £1m to £2m.

Fraser Campbell, acting for Mr Belekon, applied for a £978,000 interim payment and for Segesta to also pay court costs of £900,000.

Judge Moulder agreed to make an interim order of costs in the sum of £425,000 however declined to order an interim payment against the amount due in respect of the account immediately and rather adjourned that application to be heard later this year in the week commencing March 27.

Eric Shannon, representing the club, applied for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal, but his application was refused by the judge.