UEFA give Hearts the all-clear over EPL conflict as Tony Bloom reveals his plan for this season at Tynecastle

Tony Bloom sits in a quiet room inside the Tynecastle Park Hotel poring over his plans for Heart of Midlothian. He discusses them openly with selected media after finalising a £9.86m investment deal with the Edinburgh club. Just hours before Hearts begin their 2025/26 Premiership campaign out on the pitch against Aberdeen, Bloom is setting out his expectations for the coming months.

He is confident Derek McInnes’ side have “a very good chance of at least being second” come next May. That would involve splitting Rangers and Celtic and upsetting the long-standing Glasgow duopoly of Scottish football. Bloom is unfazed. He sits and shrugs his shoulders. The long-term plan is to win the title and automatically take Hearts into the league phase of the Champions League. This is a man with bold ideas who is motivated to deliver on them, as he has done as chairman of Brighton and Hove Albion in England, and a minority shareholder at the Belgian champions Union Saint-Gilloise.

Bloom, 55, finalised a deal in June this year to obtain a 29 per cent shareholding in Hearts. He will attend his first match at Tynecastle this evening after declaring at a fan event on Sunday evening that the club can win the Scottish league title within 10 years. For his first season involved in Gorgie, he would be content with second place.

“It's a very long-term project,” explains Bloom. “I hope to be an investor in Hearts for a very long time. We all know what it's like in football, there's a lot of volatility even over a season. I genuinely believe that this current Hearts squad is very strong and every season it will develop and get stronger. So I think we can, even from this season, challenge for every tournament that we're in.

“I think Hearts will have an excellent season. I truly believe in the squad of players that has been assembled. I've got every faith in Derek's ability to get the best out of them and to improve them. I think we've got a very good chance of at least being second this season. I don't want to have too many expectations for any one season. Longer-term, I have high expectations of challenging for trophies year in and year out, continually improving as a club and as a squad of players, and I don't think Hearts should have a ceiling. I think it can be fairly unlimited.

From Brighton to Belgium - now Scotland with Hearts

“At Brighton, when I took over the club 16 years ago, we just avoided relegation to League Two. Now we're coming in - not hoping - but with a high expectation of finishing in the top 10, pushing for Europe every season. At Union Saint-Gilloise, I took over seven years ago. We just avoided relegation to the third division, which really is very amateur football, and within three years we got promoted to the top division.

“There's no great shakes in that because it's not that strong a division. Then, for the four seasons in the Belgian top division, we've been challenging for the title in each of those seasons. In each one of them, at some point in the season, we've been odds-on to win the league. For the first three seasons it didn't quite happen but brilliantly last season we managed to get the championship.

“I can only talk from a Hearts point of view. I want to make sure that we are in the talk to win the title at the start of each season and hopefully we won't just talk the talk but we walk the walk. Not being in the bubble, I think it's easier for me. I'm not just saying that as somebody who is coming along and putting some investment in. I've seen what we've done at Brighton, I've seen what we've done at Union Saint-Gilloise, hence the confidence in where I think Hearts can go.”

Inevitably, Bloom’s comments over the last 24 hours have prompted plenty derision around the Scottish football community. No club other than Celtic or Rangers have won the league since Aberdeen in 1985. “I'm totally fine,” replies Bloom when asked about sceptics. “I understand there will be a lot of Celtic Rangers fans who will be laughing and saying: ‘Well, I've heard it all before.’ Maybe Hibs and Aberdeen as well, and that's fine. I'm just saying it as I see it. I'm not saying it's going to be straight-line success, I'm not saying we're going to win trophies this season, that season, or next season - but I genuinely believe that we will be a significant factor in Scottish football right here, right now and for the long term.

Celtic and Rangers money dwarfs everything in the SPFL

“I do understand how difficult it is. I mean Celtic and Rangers' budgets are perhaps six or seven times those of Hearts, Hibs and Aberdeen. That is a big obstacle to overcome. The significant advantage Hearts now have is they have access to Jamestown Analytics, so that can massively help close the gap. I like a challenge and, as you've heard me, I am confident that Hearts will make a difference and it will be shown over the coming seasons on the pitch. Hopefully we can grow as a club because, if we get success on the pitch, the club grows in totality.”

He doesn’t expect the Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers to be overly intimidated just yet. “I don't think Brendan's going to be too concerned about what I'm saying,” smiles Bloom. “I'm not sure he's not going to be too concerned about Hearts right now. But hopefully, over the course of the season, it would be great. It would be great for Scottish football if he is worried about Hearts. As I said, I don't think he's going to be too concerned right now.”

The idea is that Hearts hold an advantage over other Scottish clubs because they get access to the world-renowned player data from Jamestown Analytics. Good players equal good teams, and good teams generally lead clubs to success. “It's all about recruitment,” says Bloom. “There are lots of things at a football club, you need really good people, community, fans, facilities - both training facilities and the stadium, which I know are superb here. If you haven't got the players I can talk to the cows come home but there's no chance of success. It may take some time but I think the players Graeme [Jones, sporting director], backed by the board and working with Derek, has got done over the last few months have been really strong. I think we'll all see that in games to come.”

The British entrepreneur’s Tynecastle entrance was always going to be high-profile, even more so because of his comments on winning titles. He won’t be a regular at Hearts matches - Brighton remain his first love - but will closely monitor events here from the south of England. He won’t be doing too many press conferences or Q&As with fans, either.

“When I took over in Belgium, I had a one-off press conference and I was probably more guarded,” explains Bloom. “Seven years ago, things were a lot less proven so I wasn't as bullish. We were privately, but not so publicly confident about what we could do at Union. Here, I've just got a lot more confidence in what Hearts can do, where we are right now, compared to when I did a first press conference at Union seven years ago.”

Bloom has not ruled out investing in other clubs in future. He also owns a stake in the Australian side Melbourne Victory. In Europe, he is mindful of UEFA regulations on multi-club ownership. His attention to detail is such that he personally contacted UEFA officials to check rules before putting money into Hearts. His concern was whether Hearts and Brighton would be in conflict in UEFA’s eyes were the two clubs ever to qualify for the same European competition.

Bloom’s UEFA chat and why no more Hearts investment

“It's a one-off investment, I've got 29 per cent of the shares in Hearts,” says Bloom. “The main reason for that is because of the UEFA rules. They have made it quite clear in the last 12 months that if you own 30 per cent or more of two clubs, they can't play in the same European competition. That's clear. I've spoken directly to UEFA to absolutely 100 per cent clarify it, so that if Brighton and Hearts do get drawn in the same tournament then both clubs can play. That's the absolute priority, which is why there won't be any more investment from me, certainly while the UEFA rules stay as they are.”

You get the impression that UEFA business consumes a lot of Bloom’s thoughts. He wants Hearts to improve Scotland’s coefficient so that - whisper it - when Hearts win the league, they avoid qualifying rounds and qualify directly for the Champions League’s lucrative league phase. That is where the serious cash resides. Domestic prize money in Scotland is fractional by comparison.

“I'm aware that prize money is very low and obviously, coming from the Premier League, it is pitifully low,” acknowledges Bloom. “But that is the reality and I don't think we should be crying about it. We need to improve the situation. How do we improve it? We need the quality on the pitch. We need the tournament to be more competitive and I think that's what Hearts will bring to the table. I genuinely believe that this would be really good for Scottish football.

“The fact that the Scottish coefficient has reduced so much that the Champions have to win qualify for the group stage of the Champions League is a terrible situation for Scottish football. I'm very confident that will change because I can't speak for other clubs, but Hearts will be a force. When we get into Europe we'll be winning games and we will help lift that coefficient. It takes time, given the way the system works, but I think all of Scottish football and other clubs should be happy about that.

“For example, Celtic fans should be wanting the other teams [to win] in Europe. I know they're not exactly going to be cheering on Rangers, that's obvious, but certainly it's really good for Celtic if teams like Dundee United and Aberdeen do well in Europe. That lifts the coefficient and it's really not good that the top team, the champions of Scotland, have got a good chance of not playing in the group stage of the Champions League. As and when Hearts win the league, we want to go straight into the Champions League, we do not want to have [qualifying] games.”

Champions League games in Edinburgh

He is unequivocal about Tynecastle hosting Champions League football in the coming years. “Absolutely. I hope that, as and when Hearts do win the league, the coefficient is such that we go straight into the Champions League group stages,” he reiterates. “Just like Union Saint-Gilloise have. By winning the league, they've gone straight into this season's group stages of the Champions League.”

Bloom’s interest in Scottish football stems from his childhood in the 1970s and 80s. He reminisces about the halcyon days in Scotland and states categorically that the level of the SPFL Premiership is currently not good enough. “I do have an interest in Scottish football. I've been following Scottish football from a young age when I was growing up. Outside of England, the only other country that you could read about or was really in your face was Scottish football. It has changed now for the youngsters, obviously. That would not be the case now.

“On betting coupons, it's just the full English leagues and the Scottish teams. I used to know the 92 English clubs where they were. I can't say I knew that on Scottish football, but you knew the names. Because you've got Grandstand, it's just in your face, so I was interested in Scottish football. I used to bet on Scottish football when I was young. There's always been that interest. Not that I watched that much of it, but there's always been that interest.

“Looking from afar, looking at the success we've had with Union Saint-Gilloise, I just thought there was an opportunity here to shake things up in Scotland. Because for the level of turnover the clubs get, the level of interest, with the amount of obsession by the people of Scotland, Scottish football is not nearly good enough. I thought there was an opportunity and that's why I'm here. I won't talk about what the odds are. I would just like to say that if we have not won the league title in the next 10 years, I will be very disappointed.”

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