GLASGOW, Scotland: Blackpool Football Club Limited, have appointed Hilco Global, a leading independent international financial services company, to assist in the sale and marketing of the club and related football assets.
No time frame has been given for the sale process by the joint receivers of the club – Paul Cooper and David Rubin – but local media reported that there have been 59 expressions of interest for the club, which has two entities – Blackpool Football Club Ltd and Blackpool Football Club Properties Ltd, which owns their Bloomfield Road stadium – available for purchase.
Blackpool FC was founded in 1887 in the seaside resort of Blackpool, Lancashire, and is one of England’s longest-standing professional association football clubs. The club is enjoying a relatively successful season in the EFL League One, featuring in 8th place in the league table, having won 56 points from the club’s first 39 games.
The club, now managed by Terry McPhillips, is hoping to end its 2018/19 season strongly while it looks for a buyer to help write a new chapter in Blackpool FC’s eventful history.
Hilco Global’s Nat Baldwin commented: “Blackpool FC is a magnificent football club with an incredibly loyal following. We are well aware of the passion and emotions shown by the fans this season, and are delighted to be able to assist with finding a buyer that can lead the Club forward over the coming years.”
Cooper noted that there had already been “a significant level of interest” from potential buyers in the month since his appointment, and Hilco Global and the joint receivers will be building upon this foundation as part of the sale and marketing exercise going forward.
Fans of the League One club have been bitterly protesting against the Oyston family’s running of the club and thousands have heeded the Blackpool Supporters’ Trust’s call to boycott matches.
They reached the Premier League in 2010 before plummeting into League Two six years later. Blackpool are 12th in League One, having won six of their 15 matches.
As per an official release, Hilco Global has completed billions of dollars of transactions around the world. The US firm has previously been involved with Blockbuster, HMV and Chrysler.
