Blackpool Supporters' Trust want to buy out Oyston family

Blackpool rejected a takeover approach in May from an unnamed bidder

Blackpool Supporters' Trust (BST) have launched a £16m bid to buy the League One club from the Oyston family.

Owner Owen Oyston has been in charge of the Tangerines since 1987 and son Karl is the chairman at Bloomfield Road.

The pair have had a fractious relationship with fans over how they run the club, with numerous protests over the past two years.

Blackpool, who were in the Premier League in 2010-11, finished bottom of the Championship last season.

"BST has prepared what it deems a fair and reasonable bid, which in the current climate deserves serious consideration," said a statement.

"There is a range of serious challenges currently facing the club and a change in ownership is a logical step to help resolve the issues for all parties.

"BST believes that, under the current ownership, the club cannot return to its former glories and that a more likely scenario is ongoing poor performance on the football pitch, leading to knock-on impact on financial performance."

Valeri Belokon, the Latvian club president who has owned a 20% share since 2006, has previously called for Karl to resign after he sent abusive texts to a fan - something which saw him banned from all football activity for six weeks and fined £40,000.

The club was the subject of a takeover approach two months ago, but without the support of all directors the offer was rejected.

Former West Ham assistant Neil McDonald was appointed as the new manager replacing Lee Clark following their relegation to the third tier.