Football
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Blackpool friendly abandoned after protests

Blackpool's preseason friendly at Lancaster was abandoned after a number of fans invaded the pitch.

In scenes reminiscent of Pool's final game of last season, social media pictures showed supporters entering the field at Lancaster's Giant Axe.

Blackpool's game with Huddersfield on May 2 was unable to be completed after protests against chairman Karl Oyston spilled over onto the Bloomfield Road pitch.

A tumultuous summer on the back of relegation to League One has done little to quell the anger of Pool's fans and on Saturday they continued their protests.

"The match has been halted as a small group of Blackpool fans have invaded the pitch to protest," Lancaster City tweeted.

They added: "Our friendly match with Blackpool has been abandoned by the referee following a pitch invasion by a small group of supporters."

The game, which the visitors were winning 3-1, was abandoned shortly after with 75 minutes having been played, with Blackpool Gazette reporter William Watt tweeting: "Blackpool's friendly against Lancaster City has been postponed after a pitch invasion in protest against chairman Karl Oyston."

Fans have protested loudly at the way the club has been run for the last two years and relations between them and both Owen Oyston and his son Karl, the club chairman, reached rock bottom at the end of last season.

Karl Oyston was last month banned from football for six weeks and fined £40,000 by the Football Association for sending offensive messages during a text-message exchange last November.

The chairman was also involved in a public fall-out with club president Valerie Belokon at the start of last season and has issued legal proceedings against several fans for defamatory comments made about him and the club.

The club prompted fury among supporters ahead of last season's final game against Huddersfield by removing the statue of 1953 FA Cup final hero Stan Mortensen from outside of the ground ahead of a proposed fans' protest.

No explanation was offered by Blackpool but Lancashire Police later revealed the club took the steps themselves to remove the statue, which was returned the following week.

The Football League elected not to replay the game but charges were brought against the club by both the League and the FA, while the incident proved to be final straw for manager Lee Clark, who quit shortly afterwards.

Neil McDonald, former assistant manager at West Ham, has since been appointed as Clark's successor.

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