Hearts get far more than £10m from Tony Bloom: Transfer fees and the EPL no-brainer fans can't reject

Nineteen days from now, when voting closes for Hearts fans to approve or reject Tony Bloom’s £9.86m investment proposal, a sliding doors moment will arrive in Gorgie. Either a majority of Foundation of Hearts’ 8,000-plus members will agree to hand 29 per cent of their club’s shareholding to the multi-millionaire businessman with access to unrivalled footballing expertise, or they will send him packing in an act of utter madness. There is no second chance.

Hearts are already in partnership with Jamestown Analytics, the cutting-edge data analysis firm which is an offspring of Bloom’s Starlizard sports gambling company. In addition to that arrangement, having the 55-year-old as a minority shareholder at Tynecastle is simply a no-brainer which most supporters seem to recognise. It would be a huge surprise if the FoH majority required [more than 50 per cent] to approve Bloom’s investment was not granted.

For anyone swithering, it is worth analysing the other clubs where Bloom is involved. He is a gambler to trade, nicknamed “The Lizard”, and knows a sure thing when it emerges. Hence a reported fortune exceeding £700m. He considers Hearts untapped potential - a club capable of challenging Scottish football’s Glasgow duopoly with the appropriate resources, insight and guidance. This deal is worth so much more than £9.86m. It is an opportunity for Heart of Midlothian FC to potentially grow beyond anyone’s expectations.

Bloom’s impact at other clubs, aided by Jamestown’s recruitment software, highlights his capability to do what he does best: Identify an underperforming entity, take a calculated risk, invest, restructure where necessary, recruit players and then sell them for profit to reinvest. And so the wheel keeps turning, inevitably leading to on-field progress. He is a man who seemingly breeds success wherever he goes. See English Premier League side Brighton and Hove Albion, Union Saint-Gilloise of Belgium [probably the club closest to Hearts in stature, see below], Como in Italy’s Serie A, and Spanish side Castellon. Not forgetting another EPL club, Ipswich Town.

The evidence below can lead Hearts supporters and FoH members to only one conclusion when it comes to Anthony Grant Bloom MBE: As far as Jambos are concerned, the MBE stands for Maybe Best Endorse.

BRIGHTON and HOVE ALBION

A Brighton supporter, Bloom became chairman there in 2009. He invested £93m to rebuild their ground and they were promoted from League One to the English Championship in 2011. Six years later, they reached the promised land of the Premier League.

More than £200m was spent during last summer’s transfer window, including six all-time record signings. Brighton generated more than £300m in player sales in recent years, including some vast fees. They bought Moises Caicedo from the Ecuadorian side Independiente del Valle for £4m in January 2021 and sold him to Chelsea for £100m in 2023.

Alexis Mac Allister joined Brighton for £6.9m from Argentinos Juniors in 2019 and was transferred to Liverpool in 2023 when they triggered the £35m release clause in his contract. The Premier League side also made huge profits selling Marc Cucurella to Chelsea for £56m, Ben White to Arsenal for £50m, Yves Bissouma to Tottenham Hotspur for £25m and Leandro Trossard to Arsenal for £21m.

Obviously, Hearts are not dealing in the same numbers since the Scottish football transfer market operates at a lower financial level than England's. However, the approach is similar: Sign, develop and then sell players for profit on a long-term basis.

UNION SAINT-GILLOISE

The Belgians are more comparable to Hearts in terms of finances and standing than Brighton. Bloom completed a takeover there in 2018 with the club in the second tier. Within three years, they were promoted to the top flight. When they qualified for European competition in 2023, Bloom had to reduce his majority stake to a minority shareholding to comply with UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules. USG finished second in the Belgian First Division last season and are currently top of the table by a point with three games remaining.

When Brighton identified Japanese winger Kaoru Mitoma through Jamestown in 2021, they paid £3m to sign him from Kawasaki Frontale and instantly loaned him to USG. He developed in Belgium and adapted to European football before returning to England’s south coast to flourish. Brighton received a reported £55m offer for Mitoma from Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr in January.

USG picked up Deniz Undav on a free transfer from German side SV Meppen in summer 2020. They sold him to Brighton for £6m just 18 months later. He was then transferred on to German club Stuggart last August, becoming their most expensive player ever in a £25m deal. Teddy Teuma arrived at USG in 2019 from French side Red Star FC for under £300,000 and was sold to Stade Reims for £3.5m in 2023.

COMO and CASTELLON

Bloom is not officially involved with these clubs in Italy and Spain respectively, but Jamestown’s work is evident. Within months of partnering with the highly-secretive north London-based sports recruitment firm, both clubs were celebrating promotion. Como returned to Serie A for the first time since 2003 and Castellon reached Spain’s Segunda Division.

IPSWICH TOWN

Again, Ipswich used Jamestown rather than specifically Bloom during their back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League. However, the arrangement reportedly ended once they became Brighton’s EPL rivals.

Bloom also gained a 19.1 stake in the Australian side Melbourne Victory in March this year, so his magic has yet to properly take effect there. One to keep an eye on.

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