When I first became aware of football in the early 1950s Hearts appeared to be one of the top Scottish sides and I liked the idea that they were known as ‘jam tarts’. A famed fund manager and one of the UK’s best-known sports gamblers are backing a data-driven bid to break Glasgow’s hold over Scottish football and deliver the first league title for a team outside the city in four decades. Heart of Midlothian sit top of the Scottish Premiership with just a third of the season left, as they seek to achieve what no club has done since Sir Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen side in 1985 and end the dominance of Celtic and Rangers. The fortunes of Edinburgh-based Hearts, whose last title was in 1960, have been transformed under a new approach, with fresh investment and expertise, that has also outsourced key elements of player recruitment to computer algorithms. Central to Hearts’ rejuvenation has been the arrival of Tony Bloom, a high-stakes poker player and chair of Premier League Brighton ...
The New York Times has taken a look at the financial implications of relegation from the top flight, although it hasn’t bothered to look at the bottom two clubs. I don’t think that Spurs are really in danger and Crystal Palacewill surely finish lower mid-table. More likely than not, either West Ham or Nottingham Forest will occupy the third relegation spot. West Ham United A return to the second division would bring huge ramifications. Broadcast revenues — money awarded from the Premier League — amounted to 57 per cent of their income last season. There was £131million ($178.5m) of TV money banked courtesy of finishing 14th in May, but parachute payments for a first year back in the Championship would be in the region of £49m, with EFL TV money then bumping that up to roughly £55m. That drop-off is, obviously, enormous and would likely ensure West Ham’s revenues were almost halved as a second-tier club again, once you allow for the inevitable reductions in com...