The Political Economy of Football V2

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 ...

“Everything about the Premier League becomes more difficult every year,” Brighton & Hove Albion owner and chairman Tony Bloom tells  The Athletic , speaking at the club’s training ground. There can be no denying Brighton’s incredible progress since Bloom first took over the club in 2009. They had just finished 16th in League One — English football’s third tier — when Bloom arrived in the boardroom, but in the eight years that followed, they won two promotions and a place in the Premier League, and moved into both a state-of-the-art training facility and their now-famous Amex Stadium. The hallmark of Brighton’s spell in the Premier League has been innovative thinking — be that in the transfer market or when appointing new managers. This vision has helped keep the club punching above their weight and regularly overcoming opponents with far bigger budgets, and has also secured Bloom’s status as one of the most respected minds in the game. “It’s getting to that point where th...

Brighton and Hove Albion fan and football finance guru Kieran Maguire reviews the club's finances:  http://priceoffootball.com/brighton-2019-20-reel-around-the-fountain/ He notes that getting to the Premier League can be costly, but so can staying there.   This is even more important given the uncertainties arising from Covid-19. He concludes: ' Brighton are fortunate to have an owner in Tony Bloom who has a strategy for the club and as such is unlikely to indulge in some of the madcap short term schemes that have left many in the EFL looking very vulnerable.' Kieran Maguire has noted that Brighton's losses in 2019/20 take them to 12th in the table of all time losses since the Premier League was established in 1992 (Chelsea are top and Manchester City second).   One note of caution: not all clubs have yet published their 2020 accounts. Despite the £67.2m loss, around £25m of it down to Covid-19, Bloom is still considering further investment.  But what will ...