Episode 10 Late Kick Off North West

Good evening. Tonight we can live from BBC Broadcasting House. Brian

Horton response after the reports and reveals the real state of the

Coming up, Karl Oyston on that 11 million. And Blackpool's multi-

million-pound bonus scheme. Are they on the same if they go up

again? Yes, I've been the highest earner was just about �400,000. He

had played nearly all the games. How the Shakers are planning to

stop their slide. And is there light at the end of the relegation

tunnel for the struggling silk men? With me, the manner in Dickie

Macclesfield Town in the Football League, Brian Horton, and then

Oldham Athletic legend, Andy Ritchie. First, while Blackpool's

play-off push hasn't made many headlines, and �11 million payment

to the Oyston family certainly has. One newspaper has accused them of

banking money they should have put into the club. Karl Oyston invited

me to the family estate in Lancashire to on to the questions.

We took a stroll across his land before talking agent, bonuses and

first of all, those headlines. But papers have been having a field

day, talking about this �11 million payment. Has it been a rough few

months? I think it has been a rough time for my father and manager, who

should be above and beyond any criticism, the way they have

supported club and where Ian has taken the club. I don't look at

these things, but I think and just criticism or on the shin of fact is

always hard to take, like any injustice. A were you surprised by

the venom into of the report? some of the report? In any walk of

life, if we had made those profits, we would have been up for a

business award. It is the perverse nature of football, sadly. So this

11 million quid, is that there if the club needed? It is not being

spent? It is there if we needed, just like many has been there

during the 25 years of his ownership -- if we need it. He has

often funded the club at substantial cost to himself. Do you

know how much money your cup has put into Blackpool? I don't, no one

really cares how much we put in, although care about is that the

results on the pitch and our league status. It is easy to forget where

we have come from and how quickly we have gone where we have gone.

And how much stronger and solvent... There are very few clubs that own

their own ground without a mortgage, we are particularly strong, and

will remain strong, that is the main method of staying strong, for

me to do what I have always done, not take risks, not Gamble, to make

sensible, objective decisions. this 11 million quid part of the

scheme to avoid the tax bill? Does your dad see it as the best way

forward? It is not the scheme, it is effectively efficient tax

planning. The money has not gone to my father, it has gone to a company.

And that company has been the one that has lent the good baulk of

money over the years, this is a repayment -- lent the Football Club

money over the years. That money is available to me, the bigger

question that the dirt detractors should have his wife -- is why I

would spend the money on players and agents fees. I think the last

time I interviewed you have formally was when you were

preparing for your first Premier League season, and I were shocked

by what you found, the agents, how have you been affected by this?

effected particularly, surprised by the level to which agents sometimes

put their own interests ahead of their client's interests. I think

they should be illegal. What do they do? An agent would take a

player to a club when the player would be paid less than we would

pay him, saw the based on the fact that the agent was receiving more

money, -- solely based. Often, they don't represent the player's best

interests, and I think that is wrong. It would be acceptable in

any other branch, accountancy or law, say. They have to represent

your best interests. I am not saying you have set out to create

an image as the scourge of agents, is that the way forward for

football, to take them on? In my opinion, and we have done this

unilaterally, we have made our opinion stick. You don't have to

pay agent to have success in football. I can't understand why my

counterparts play vast sums, tens of millions, to agents, went there

is no need, there is no benefit, that money just go straight out of

the game, never to return. It does but for me. -- but for me. How do

you operate? Do you have stand-up rows? We very our tactics. -- we

very our tactics, we played good cop, bad cop. We make an offer,

which we stand or fall by, and sometimes we get the players, and

sometimes we don't, for different reasons. But we have got a very

good manager, and that really goes in our favour for attracting

players, he has really got a track record for bringing in players from

obscurity, or a bad patch in their career, and really taken them on to

greater things, giving them a platform. -- of Peking of them.

There was a huge bonus pot to get them to the Premier League, was

that your idea? It was a joint idea. We implemented that bone structure,

it worked very, very well for us. - - that bonus structure. We have

always tried to incentive buys it for results, always, on every basis,

appearance money, pro rata, at the bonuses are pro rata. Everything is

finely tuned to watch what they actually do and what they achieve.

There are far too many passengers in football, people who pick the

money up and don't care. Our players and our manager do care.

Not just because they have a vested interest, but it would be

disingenuous to say that about them, we have players who have been with

us for a long time, and it seems to work for them, this system, they

are rewarded for their efforts. What was the bonus pot when you

went up? About 5 million. I think the highest earner last time was

about �400,000, the bonus to himself, because he played nearly

all the games. So players who haven't played don't get anything

unless the other players and Botham the bonus.

That was just a portion of the conversation between me and Karl

Oyston, you can hear all of it on BBC Radio Lancashire tomorrow night.

It was a poor day on the pitch for Blackpool on Saturday. Ian Holloway

slammed his team's defending. His side slumped to a 3-1 defeat at

promotion rivals Reading. Lomana Lua Lua's goal was the one bright

spot. It is Southampton next for Blackpool. Burnley manager Eddie

Howe says he will be looking into why his side keep losing leads

after a 2-2 draw at home to West Ham. Burnley couldn't hold on to a

2-0 lead, as West Ham got more into the game after the break, and turn

things around with two goals in two 2012, and not a single win, it is

hardly a vintage year for Macclesfield Town. That dismal form

left Gary Simpson out of the job last week. In his place, Karl

Oyston, who would previously led them to safety in 2004 under

similar circumstances. Can history lot for Macclesfield fans to talk

about. It has been a tense week here. Gary Simpson's departure has

not been easy for the club. Brian Horton takes charge of his first

home game tonight. Everyone is working he can work his magic for a

He just knows how to dig them out, when they are in trouble. Hopefully

he can do it! Do you think he can? Yes! What do you make of Gary

Simpson leading? I think it was inevitable, unfortunately. Every

respect for the guy, but something had to be done, we have got to try

and respect -- save the season. have to keep everything crossed and

hope it all works out, type of thing! Do you think Brian can do

it? He has done it before. You always say you should never come

back, but only time will tell. Speaking to the chairman before the

game, he was keen to point out that the club and Gary Simpson parted on

good terms. I phoned him and said I was going to try to Sheffield to

have a chat with him, so he clearly knew. The sun was shining, and we

had a really pleasant 45 minutes chat in the sunshine about why when

we were where we were. I think he would accept that he did everything

he could, I haven't lost the support of the players and the

board. Do you believe the club can stay in League football? Of course

I do. As Gary said to me, he said, you are not in the bottom two.

happens if time runs out? We will get on with life. It is not a

future that I want to contemplate, but it is a future we are having to

consider, and it is not the first chance to move away from the

relegation zone. Matt Smith went close early on, but the home side

had the better of the first half, but they could not find a winner.

They took a point, but crept into the bottom two. Only seven games

left for them to find some form to keep them in the league for the

I found that spirits were not low. Going in on the Monday morning when

I told Gary on Sunday afternoon that he was leaving, we spoke later

on that evening and made it so that I could go to training on Monday

morning. I needed to do that. Lynne Chamberlain, Gary's number two, had

to pick his brains about the team. It started off great. A new manager

comes in and tends to live people, a different voice. Hit the post,

started well, their first attack, they scored and that has been going

that way. I changed the system for the Friday 9th game against bonnet.

-- Friday night game. Went for a bit more strength and resilience

and that worked. We have to be better at attacking. What about the

mental challenge? Yacht in the bottom two now. Funnily enough,

after that game, after the Rotherham game and one of the

players said, we have not then dropped into the bottom two. I said,

maybe it will be a wake-up call and that is right. Now they know we

have to win games. They are not above it. You have to do it

yourselves. Dagenham are going to win, Hereford will win. We had an

Ronnie Moore in here last week and he was talking about his deal with

Tranmere, keeping them up. Is there something that you're looking at?

Exactly the cent -- the same. It was nine games, go in, hopefully we

will stay up. As a neutral observer, we know Brian's skills as a manager,

is it easy to turn a team around in this position? If anybody can,

Brian cant. I have known him for donkey's years and we go back a

long way. I know that he can get the best out of players. He has a

difficult start and he is away at Gillingham at the weekend. That is

not an easy place to go to, but if he gets the players buying into the

system that he wants to play and they feel they are stronger, I'm

sure he can do it. Thank you very much before coming in. More later

NEWLINE Starting with events at the top, where Crewe's unbeaten run now

stands at nine after victory at BBC Radio Stoke's Graham McGarry.

Sets it up for Murphy, Murphy goal! What a super skill. Went around the

goalkeeper and he is home, his 6th goal of PCs and. While that result

did Macclesfield a big favour, this one didn't. Accrington led against

another of the Silkmen's relegation rivals thanks to this fine effort

from Bobby Grant. Will Hatfield missed a great chance to double the

visitors lead on the hour and should have done better from inside

the box. It was a costly miss when Brian Woodall headed the Daggers

level soon after. Had Stanley held on for just a few minutes more,

Dagenham would have been in the bottom two now and not Macc but

unfortunately they didn't. Aristote Nsiala was sent off for violent

conduct giving the home side a late free kick which found the head of

Scott Doe to secure an injury time win for them and a miserable trip

Well, if we look at the League Two table, it shows that Crewe's nine-

match unbeaten run has put them right on the fringes of the play-

off places. Both Oxford and Gillingham play their games in hand

tomorrow night, Oxford are at Stanley while Gillingham are at

Burton. The bottom half is dominated for us by Macc's slide

into the bottom two and the relegation places.

In January Bury were sitting pretty just outside of the play-offs but a

horrendous run since which coincided with a spate of injuries

and suspensions has left them hovering above the drop zone. So

going into Saturday's derby against Preston at Deepdale Shakers' boss

Richie Barker knew the pressure was Football fans suffer from

collective amnesia, they are prone to forget the good times and quick

to focus on the back. Things recently have been pretty bad.

have been difficult games, but we have pressed ourselves with a

couple of mistakes that have cost us. The couple of sendings-off have

cost us as well, but the positive aspect is that we have had our

sticky spell and hopefully we can come through that and we are still

outside the relegation zone. weather has certainly taken a turn

for the better, but will bury's fortunes? The last time they lost

three games on the bounce was took Swindon Town in 1932. We need a

result all we are sliding towards the trapdoor. We have had to take

players out on loan at so as soon as we get a few injuries, we

struggle. The players stuck together last season and that is

what they have to do in the next few games.

As a player Richie Barker was a striker so his trade was scoring

goals - it's no coincidence that since goal machine Ryan Lowe left

Gigg Lane Bury have struggled. will always be difficult against

the bigger clubs and that is why we have to try and manage the players

in terms of injuries and suspensions to make sure that it

does not affect us as bad as it has been forced up -- as it has been.

At Deepdale in the spring sunshine, Bury shaded the first half forcing

a succession of corners. Again there was no end product despite

there was no end product despite David Amoo seeing a lot of the ball

out wide. Bury deserved to be ahead forcing a series of fine saves from

ice cream, anything but the game. It looked odds on for a 0-0 until.

Chuks Aneke, on loan from Arsenal, hit a speculative shot - it took a

deflection and PNE were heading for three points. Shakers' fans were

ready to hit the bottle, and I don't mean the after-sun, but in

the dying moments substitute Lateef Alford Alliyu tapped home after

That is 13 without a win for Bury, but this feels like a win. Maybe it

could be a point that helps keep them in League One. After half-time,

we increased the urgency and tempo and played decent stuff and make

good chances. We could easily have gone further ahead, because there

were good moments. How are you bearing up? I am hanging in there

and doing the best I can. I will give it my best and work as hard as

I can sell I expect my players to work hard as well. I will keep

putting all my hard work in. We talked about the run recently,

Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Carlisle, it would test

any team. It is difficult, but I had a game against Exeter for Radio

Manchester and we spoke with one of the directors that morning and he

said all they want to do is survive in the heat. If they of believing

what they say, I think they can do that and they will push on that,

but when you lose players who score goals, and the bishop has had a lot

of injuries as well, it is difficult for the site to keep that

said a form. The young manager has worked tirelessly in. I think that

he should be given more backing next season. That might be able to

help him depending on what happens. We must talk about Preston as well.

Brian, you're former club. They are desperate for wins at the moment.

Before we left, we lost our front very, so we were trying to learn

people out. The players are coming back now, just about. They all good

players. We were five points of the play-off, which is crazy for me, so

he has brought his own players in. I know someone who went to the game

and said that they were outstanding. They have good players, but he is

changing it completely so it is his They might just have enough to be

good. The keeper is outstanding. He just brought in in before we left.

We had had him pre-season, but he was an outstanding goalkeeper.

briefly, Preston and Bury, can they both stay up? Definitely false stop

that was brief! Well, rounding up the rest of the

weekend's League One action, here's relegation zone, Rochdale are still

firmly in it after a disappointing result and performance at Brentford.

It's best explained by manager John Coleman's post-match comments to

BBC Radio Manchester. There is no disguising the fact that we played

for the fans. Tranmere continue to march on under

Ronnie Moore, it's now 14 points from 18 since he took charge from

Les Parry. Joss Labadie gave them a second half lead against lowly

Exeter with a crisply struck effort from outside the box. The only real

surprise was that it took Rovers until injury time to make the game

safe, Jake Cassidy with another neat finish that helped his side

back into the top half of the table. The only thing keeping Oldham out

of it is goal difference after their deserved home win over

Bournemouth. Chris Taylor got the only goal, converting Kieran Lee's

well-placed pass from close range as The Latics made it back-to-back

Well, as Bill mentioned in his round up, there's something for us

to celebrate in League One tonight, we've got a team back in the top

half of the table! Tranmere are going great guns under Ronnie Moore

and they go to Bury next Saturday in a key game for The Shakers. Dale

will be looking for reaction to that Brentford defeat in a real

six-pointer at home to Walsall. In life, we all pick up knowledge

every single day. Every twist and turn teaches us something different

or new. So how much does a footballer, during a 16- year

playing career that has taken in no less than nine clubs, pick up in

that time? Well, let's find out as that very player, Blackpool's Brett

Ormerod, takes on team mate Neil Eardley in this week's One on One.

Posing the questions, Dianne What is the capital city of Brazil?

Procedure. Getting! What does Tarik stand for? The only way is Essex.

Who played their home international matches at Livy the stadium? Where

do the winners from Take Me Out go on a date? Island of Fernando us.

It is all trash TV, what chance have I got? You are currently in

third place in a razor. What place we be in if you pass the person in

second place? Second. First. Second, thank you, why are you laughing?!

Put my knowledge to the test. Dumb and Dumber, this lot. What is 72

divided by 12? You haven't a clue? Is it well? 72 divided by 12?

Six, Yes! This question is the tie- breaker. Which country does Ludo

Sylvester come from? France. He is French! You have to be specific. Is

he French or not? Technically, I'm right. Half a point. I know what it

Give me a double you. Nice. A country? Guadeloupe. Yes! Are in a

subway down as well now. What kind of a place is that?!

It was like Inspector Crusoe trying to read a road map.

With the Easter weekend and two games approaching, there's not much

action for our teams this midweek. Oldham host Orient and it's

Preston-Brentford in League One while Stanley could do Crewe a

favour with a win over their play- off rivals Oxford. All the action

and all the news from your club every day on your BBC local radio

station. I don't fancy bred on the Who wants

To Be A Millionaire, he would have Chris Tarrant by the throat. I

think we are done now. Well, that's it for tonight. Thanks

very much to Brian and to Andy, and good luck, Brian, for the remainder