By Paul Nicholson
May 18 – English Football League club Blackpool who had a brief and colourful season in the Premier League in 2010-11 but have since dropped to third tier League 1, could have new owners in the shape of a Singaporean consortium – vSport – that has Wesley Sneijder on it board.
The club is valued somewhere between £30-40 million and owner 84-year-old Owen Osyton is motivated to sell after a court froze his assets to repay a £25 million debt to former club vice president Valeri Belokon. Belkon, a Latvian, is said to be interested in taking the club as part of that debt repayment.
The dispute with Belokon goes back to Blackpool’s Premier League season when he became involved with the club. Following that season the Oyston family were ordered to buy out Belokon for £31.27 million after it was found they had illegally stripped the club of cash following promotion to the Premier League in 2010.
Now Oyston needs to sell the club to avoid a fire sale of all his assets – more than 40 companies and properties – that have been frozen by the court to settle the Belokon debt.
vSport was founded by Qiang Bai and Sneijder and introduced to Oyston by Alexander Jarvis of Blackridge Cross Borders.
Bai is looking to buy a Football League club using vSport, a cryptocurrency platform backed by blockchain technology. Sneijder, currently playing in Qatar, is likely to become involved with any club acquired once he finishes his playing career.
The deal to buy Blackpool would likely include the Bloomfield Road stadium, Squires Gate training ground and the Travelodge hotel.
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