Simon Sadler (born 18 October 1969) is a British businessman, founder of Segantii Capital Management and the current owner of Blackpool Football Club. He acquired the club out of receivership in 2019, purchasing a 96.2% share in the club, ending the Oyston family's 32-year ownership in the process. In his second full season as Blackpool's owner, the club won promotion to the second tier of English football after an absence of six years.

Career

Sadler has worked in investment banking in London, Moscow and Hong Kong for large multinationals, including

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

, until eventually founding his own capital firm, Segantii Capital, in 2007. (''Segantii'' is the name of pre-Roman tribe from the Blackpool area.) As of 2022, Segantii had a portfolio worth £3.5 billion. He has been described as a "tough but fair character" in the business world.

Blackpool F.C.

In 2014, Sadler bought

Stanley Matthews Sir Stanley Matthews (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English Association football, footballer who played as an Forward (association football)#Outside forward, outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the Br ...

' FA Cup winners' medal from 1953 for £220,000. Five years later, he purchased

Blackpool F.C. Blackpool Football Club is a professional association football club based in the seaside resort of Blackpool, Lancashire, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1887, the ...

for around £10 million. Blackpool won promotion to the

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

, England's second tier of professional football, in Sadler's first full season of ownership. After the promotion, Sadler explained that he alone cannot fund the investment needed by the club, that it is supported by season-ticket purchases. Towards the end of May 2024, Sadler told investors that Sengatii will be closing its hedge fund. This came a few weeks after Hong Kong authorities charged the firm with

insider trading Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider informati ...

. Clients had asked to withdraw almost US$ 1 billion from the fund. In January 2025, it was revealed that Sadler was looking to sell the club as he faces accusations of insider trading with Segantii. In the five years between 2019 and 2024, Sadler has appointed six full-time managers of Blackpool:

Simon Grayson Simon Nicholas Grayson (born 16 December 1969) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who is head coach of National League (division), National League club Hartlepool ...

(2019–2020),

Neil Critchley Neil Critchley (born 18 October 1978) is an English football coach who was most recently the head coach of Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian F.C., Heart of Midlothian. A former association football, footballer, he previously played ...

(2020–2022 and 2023–2024),

Michael Appleton Michael Antony Appleton (born 4 December 1975) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of EFL League Two club Shrewsbury Town. As a player, he operated as a midfielder, in a nine-year career that ...

(2022–2023),

Mick McCarthy Michael Joseph McCarthy (born 7 February 1959) is a professional Manager (association football), football manager, pundit and former Association football, footballer. He was most recently the head coach of Blackpool F.C., Blackpool. McCarthy b ...

(2023) and

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(2024–).

Personal life

Sadler grew up on Bispham Road in

Bispham, Blackpool Bispham is a village on the Fylde coast in the Borough of Blackpool in Lancashire, England. Geography and administration The village is part of the borough of Blackpool, and to the south of Bispham is Warbreck, North Shore, Blackpool, North ...

."Simon Sadler: Two Years On"
– Blackpool F.C., 13 June 2021 He once had a summer job renting out deckchairs. He attended Moor Park Primary School, Warbreck School and Blackpool and the Fylde College. He completed a Business Science undergraduate degree at

UMIST The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) was a university based in the centre of the city of Manchester in England. It specialised in technical and scientific subjects and was a major centre for Research univer ...

. He owns a

pug The Pug is a breed of dog with the physically distinctive features of a wrinkly, short-muzzled face, and curled tail. An ancient breed, with roots dating back to 400 B.C., they have a fine, glossy coat that comes in a variety of colors, most ...

, which he named Kenny, after Kenny Dougall, who scored both of Blackpool's goals in their 2021 EFL League One play-off final victory over Lincoln City. Sadler is married to Gillian and has two children."Heartfelt tributes to Blackpool FC academy manager who died after cancer battle"
– LancsLive, 20 November 2020 During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the Sadlers relocated from Hong Kong to London, partly because he has become less involved with Segantii's main base in Hong Kong and partly to focus on running the football club.

References

1969 births Living people People from Bispham, Blackpool British football chairmen and investors Blackpool F.C. non-playing staff Alumni of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology {{HongKong-business-bio-stub