Expensive Hobbies

Blackpool Chairman Karl Oyston has discontinued libel action against a supporter, surprising many with the late move in what is a long running bitter battle between his family and supporters over the club.

‘We shouldn’t have sued Jeremy Smith.’ said Karl Oyston, chairman of the club, who had already twice successfully sued supporters over comments and claims made as the club tumbled from the Premier League to League Two. One was ordered to pay a total of £40,000 to both Karl and father Owen for comments that had “gone well beyond vigorous criticism” according to a judge. Another was left with a £30,000 damages bill after accusations on an online forum that the younger Oyston had threatened him with a shotgun. Both supporters were left with significant legal bills.

The latest action against Smith, which is reported to have cost £100,000 in legal fees before reaching Court, and would have seen a £250,000 bill at the conclusion of the case, a bill that would have ultimately sat with the loser of the case, in addition to the claim for damages of another £250,000.

Libel action is expensive. The average person, with an average job, kids, and a mortgage, would see themselves bankrupt and their family homeless on the back of such action. Yet the talk that gets ordinary supporters into trouble is cheap and very easy to do.

The Oystons are deeply unpopular with Blackpool supporters, with average attendances plummeting at Bloomfield Road over the past two years from an average of 11,000 in 15/16 to the current 3,500 on the back of successive relegations. The quantity of comments against their ownership has increased dramatically, as have the ones that have gone beyond the pale. A football club Chairman thesedays could fund the gap in the club's balance sheet by taking supporters to court that made comments that are false and libelous after every bad result on the pitch.

With the ability to post comments on the internet in most peoples pockets, individuals no longer seem to be willing to accept the consequences of their actions. Go to a game, drink a couple of pints, team loses, six more pints, smartphone comes out and the comments get nasty.

The Oyston's don't have a lot of other recourse at the moment. A fairly successful fan boycott sees many of the supporters under threat of action not actually attending matches to have a stadium ban, the common - and often only - action enforceable by the club. The boycott, which has seen the Blackpool Supporters Trust take donations to assist FA Cup opponents Kidderminster - who face losing out on their share of the gate. The reasoning behind it, that Kidderminster are fan-owned, is odd seeing as the majority owner is ex-agent Colin Gordon.

It does appear that an unusually large amount of the online abuse comes from people that don't actually attend matches. That they will spend hours each week on forums berating a club they don't actively support is an odd pastime.

And an expensive one.