Sky Original looks at Blackpool FC’s rise to the Premier League and subsequent battle between its owners and fans

Don't F With Fans Sky

Sky has revealed an original documentary, Don’t F*** With Fans, covering the recent history of Blackpool FC. 

The film begins with the self-made Oyston family taking control of the club while it was in the lower reaches of the football league, and it subsequent rise to the Premier League under manager Ian Holloway. This landed the club a £90 million payout, but when questions emerged over how these riches were being used, relations between the Oystons and the supporters began to fracture, setting the stage for a brutal conflict over the future of Blackpool FC. 

As the club slipped back down the football pyramid, fans and owners clashed over the running of the team. This eventually resulted in the Oystons selling the club. 

South Shore produces the one-off 60-minute documentary, which includes interviews with former chairman Karl Oyston and his father, businessman Owen Oyston, former manager Ian Holloway, former players, and supporters involved in the campaign. It is directed by three-time BAFTA award winning James Newton (Grenfell: The Untold Story, Gun No 6) and executive produced by Andrew Mackenzie-Betty and Kevin Sutcliffe.

Don’t F*** With Fans was commissioned by Phil Edgar-Jones, executive director, unscripted originals at Sky for Cécile Frot-Coutaz, chief advertising and content officer, CEO Sky Studios. The head of documentary commissioning is Hayley Reynolds and the commissioning editor for Sky is Jo Hughes. 

The film will debut on Sky Documentaries and Now on 21 November. 

Reynolds said: “We’re thrilled to be working with director James Newton and the team at South Shore to bring this brilliantly British story to Sky. It’s one that goes far beyond football, bringing together family drama, community spirit and a very public battle over club ownership that feels as relevant today as ever. With candid testimony from people on all sides of the dispute, the film allows those at the heart of it to tell their side of an extraordinary chapter in Blackpool’s history.”