"Tony Bloom is the smartest person I’ve met in my life."

An economics graduate, a university lecturer, and an expert on football finance, Kieran Maguire is used to rubbing shoulders with intellectuals in various fields. Yet, it took just five minutes of being in Bloom's company, listening, taking everything in, to realise the Brighton & Hove Albion owner "is so far ahead of the game in many instances that the guy is a genius," he explained to Hearts Standard.

Tony Bloom is most well known for his involvement, ownership, and transformation of Brighton. From League One in 2009 to an established Premier League club. The aim now is to become recognised as a top 10 side in the biggest league in the world.

But there is so much more to Bloom than Brighton. A poker phenom, a successful horseracing owner, businessman and a mathematics graduate.

And he could soon be involved at Heart of Midlothian.

A deal between Hearts and Bloom and his data specialist company Starlizard is progressing. One that could see player recruitment transformed at Tynecastle Park and, in time, Bloom become a minority shareholder at the club.

Hearts Standard sought to speak to people who have dealt with Bloom, seen up close the transformation at Brighton and Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, and have an understanding of how he and the recruitment at Brighton operates.

Brighton have been one of the stories of the summer in the English Premier League. After four games they sit sixth in the table and are unbeaten.

They replaced Roberto De Zerbi, the head coach who guided them to their highest-ever league finish and into Europe for the first time, with Fabian Hurzeler, a 31-year-old American-born former German youth international who had previously managed FC Pipinsried and St Pauli, guiding the latter via promotion to the Bundesliga.

Brighton spent nearly £200million on new players this summer. 

A far cry from the Withdean Stadium. Any fan who paid attention to the English Football League in the 2000s, perhaps the highlights show 'The Championship', will remember the beaten and battered-looking athletics stadium that was Brighton's 'home' for over a decade.

A few years on from nearly exiting the Football League in the mid-90s they were bobbing between tiers two and four of the English pyramid. Bloom had already been involved in the background when he took over the club in 2009.

"It has been an extraordinary transformation," Andy Naylor, who has covered the club for three decades, of The Athletic told Hearts Standard.

It has been a long-term transformation. One that is still ongoing.

"Brighton’s progress, it has not been a meteoric rise, it has been slow, step by step, imperceptible at times," Brian Owen of The Argus, told Hearts Standard.

"[His] vision and ambition is off the scale to what anyone else has got."

It is a vision that has evolved as Brighton have progressed.

That progress has included a new stadium which has had its capacity increased by around 10,000 since opening, a state-of-the-art training ground, and a training facility for the women's team with a new stadium for the Seagulls ladies planned.

Who is Tony Bloom?

A Brighton fan who has family connections with the club dating back to the 1970s. His grandfather and uncle were both involved at one point in the running of the club. He points to Peter Ward and Brian Horton as his heroes.

The wealth he has amassed during his professional career has allowed him to pump in upward of £400million into his boyhood club.

It was in poker and gambling that he made a name for himself having grown up with a passion for a punt. He went to university to study mathematics and graduated from Manchester University with a maths degree. That knowledge and expertise lent itself to success in gambling circles. While on the poker circuit, he earned the moniker 'The Lizard', owing to his ice-cold style and he was successful. 

Bloom would become instrumental in introducing Asian handicaps into UK betting and was essentially headhunted by Victor Chandler because of his expertise in the area.

“I was one of the first people outside of Asia to take a keen interest and an understanding of it. I worked in Thailand for seven months, then Gibraltar for three years,” he told the Argus in 2009.

(Image: PA)

Bloom would go on to set up his own firm while his business interests diversified into other areas, whether it be property or horseracing. His horse Energumene won the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase last year, for example.

One of his most successful ventures, however, has been Starlizard. The name Hearts fans will now be very familiar with.

It is a company that has prompted significant intrigue. It predicts outcomes of sporting events using highly sophisticated data. Employees, it has been reported, have to sign NDAs (Non-disclosure agreements). A way to protect what is viewed by some as the most advanced data on the market in the areas it operates.

The Journal.ie describes Starlizard as "a company that treats gambling the way hedge funds treat stocks". 

"Officially, it describes itself as a betting consultancy that uses complex statistical models to generate football odds that are sharper than those offered by professional bookmakers," it reported. "These are then sold to clients to help them beat the market. The company thus acts more like a betting adviser than a bookmaker — it doesn’t actually take bets."

The 'algorithm'

As well as helping clients beat the market, Starlizard helps recruit players effectively owing to the data it collects and, more importantly, how it is then used.

Fans may well have seen it referred to as the 'algorithm'. It is one that's been described as Brighton's 'golden ticket'.

That algorithm is updated regularly to ensure it is the most robust around. Hearts, it is understood, won't just simply be handed it to identify players. They will be guided by Bloom and his team. After all, it is hugely valuable, the envy of the world's biggest clubs and therefore a closely guarded secret.

Maguire noted that Starlizard is a consultancy and has charged Brighton £3million a year for the advice.

"He is a Brighton fan but he still looks at things through a commercial perspective," he said.

Such a deal wouldn't be the first of its kind in British football.

While not identical, sports data advisory firm Ludonautics, owned by Ian Graham, a former director of research at Liverpool, have a deal with Bolton Wanderers to improve their recruitment.

Tim Keech, co-founder of MRKT Insights which provides football analytics, recruitment, and strategic advice to clubs worldwide, explained to Hearts Standard how Brighton go beyond the data that all clubs can access via the likes of Wyscout, StatsBomb, or Opta.

"What Brighton do more than anyone else is they believe in the quality of data they have," he said.

"Starlizard basically operates as the data gatherers that Tony uses in his day job. They are doing this work anyway to set better odds for football matches or find value in the football market. What they have that is different from everyone else is unique data.

"Brighton have Starlizard gathering data and at the point of gathering it, they are adding in extra information no one else has.

"Most data is: did he pass, where did he pass from, was it a successful pass? They might have a quality indicator on top of that. They are doing what the scouts' job is at the time of gathering data.

"That enables them to scout more widely than other clubs because they are gathering that straight away and to move quicker because as soon as they start gathering data on players they can say, ‘In our model, this player is flagging up as being really good’.

"Over the last couple of years, they have moved on players with less than 1000 minutes played. They really trust the quality of their data which is great and allowed them to be more confident in signing players than other clubs. That ability to move quickly is probably the biggest advantage."

He added: "All the players they sign look good in normal data sets. [Their data] enables you to act faster and with more confidence.

"If you look at football like Tony Bloom or [Brentford owner] Matthew Benham does, they see they have a competitive advantage, they go all in, they are professional gamblers, that’s what they do."

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Brighton's recruitment during Bloom's time owning the club has not been perfect – there have been missteps along the way, whether it was during Sami Hyypia's short reign as boss or the signings of Jurgen Locadia and Alireza Jahanbakhsh.

But no football club's recruitment is perfect. There is no foolproof way to get all signings right. There are too many factors and variables at play. But what Brighton have done is minimise the risk. And it is a constant process that is refined and improved with more data and more expertise.

"If you look at the Brighton squad, they mainly, mainly, recruit young players from all over the world, relatively low cost with high potential to develop and high potential resale values," Naylor said.

"You also have got the opposite end of the scale, they are very keen on a core group of senior players who are regarded as good role models for those young players and set the standards if you like."

Those senior players include or have included, James Milner, Danny Welbeck, Lewis Dunk, Adam Lallana, and Pascal Gross.

Then you look at what they have done at the other end. 

Since the 2021/22 season, €78.80million, €138.40million, €190.20million, and €48.29million – figures according to Transfermarkt – have been brought into the club in transfer fees. 

The Moises Caicedo example is the most popular, sold to Chelsea for more than £100million. But there are a variety of examples of impressive player trading.

Many of the big-ticket examples are players who were familiar to clubs around Europe. But going back to a point made by Keech. Brighton trust the data and act quickly. That way they are signing players at a lower price. They are willing to go into markets other clubs are possibly unsure or hesitant about. Players have arrived from Ecuador and Paraguay, Japan and South Africa. As well as all around Europe, from the continent's elite leagues to Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, Poland and Czechia.

And in some cases, like Alexis Mac Allister, who is now at Liverpool, they don't immediately come into the team and make an impact.

Admittedly, this summer was different.

Due to a few factors, Brighton and Bloom spotted an opportunity to be aggressive in the market. Not only did they have the money from transfer sales but Profit and Sustainability Rules that impacted other Premier League clubs such as Newcastle United allowed Brighton to take advantage. They brought in Yankuba Minteh from the Magpies. While they also took advantage of a clause in Georginio Rutter's deal at Leeds United, exercising it in the minutes before it expired.

The average age of their nine recruits was 21. Some, like Amario Cozier-Duberry, were with the future in mind. They won't have to be as aggressive in 12 months' time.

Long-term strategy and alignment

“Everything fits in with the masterplan," Maguire, a Brighton fan, said. "It’s long-term strategy”

One important factor for fans to consider, understand, and appreciate is that recruitment is just one part of the success.

"What Brighton have done very well, they have an aligned set up," Keech said. "They’ve got the owner from the very top insisting this is used, he hires people who believe in it and want to work in that way and hires coaches who want to work that way.

"Without that part, it is just numbers and there is not a lot of advantage. As part of a wider project, it would be very successful."

That alignment from Bloom down is hugely important to Brighton's success.

He has people who share his vision and people he trusts in key positions. One of the most important figures at the club is Paul Barber, the deputy chairman and chief executive. He has a deal that runs until 2030.

"The best decision he ever made was recruiting Paul Barber his chief executive," Maguire said. "You need someone who shares your vision and having utmost faith in someone who can deliver his vision of the club."

(Image: Gareth Fuller)

In recent years, the club have seen key staff depart, including Paul Winstanley, Dan Ashworth, and Sam Jewell. But they don't falter.

"Lots of supporters outside the club look at Brighton and say, ‘Oh, it is just another Southampton or Leicester, it will all fall apart eventually because they keep selling players’," Naylor said.

"But they don’t. What they haven’t grasped is that those clubs didn’t have Tony Bloom."

He added: "Tony is essentially quite a private guy. He is quite a modest and unassuming guy. He doesn’t go out of his way to get publicity but he's very smart – very, very smart.

"He is always forward planning. He doesn’t wait for things to happen, they have got something in line for when it happens. They are always looking ahead. That thinking comes from him."

Former Hearts defender David Weir, who joined the club in 2019 and worked as loans manager, is now technical director. He understands the club and the ethos. Mike Cave was brought in from Fulham as head of recruitment because he understood the vision.

"They have swapped out like for like," Keech noted. "They hire people who want to work in that environment."

This brings us to another important factor. The head coach. Note, not 'manager'.

"Our role — Mike (Cave, head of recruitment) was at the forefront of it — is deciding which players to go for between myself and David (Weir, the technical director) and Mike and going to get them," Bloom explained earlier this year.

"Fabian is really helpful at the latter stage when we need players to come and show them the potential of Brighton. He is a big part in explaining their role.

"Fabian is more of a head coach. He is aware of players, but the model at St Pauli was that the recruitment is done more by the sporting director and the head of recruitment. In terms of shortlists and players to go for, that comes very much from the data, the recruitment team, and the scouting."

He added: "It’s not a situation, the way we work, that the head coach says, ‘I like this player and that player’, and that’s what we do (in terms of signings). If a head coach has some ideas, that comes in as part of the process, but a head coach really liking a player has got to fit many characteristics, it has got to fit with the data analysis we do."

Such a set-up was part of the reason De Zerbi left this past summer.

Barber said: "What we don't want to do is to build a squad for this coach and this coach leaves, and then you have to build an entirely different squad for the next coach."

There is a similar process with the coach as there is with players. Even though the club have only appointed Hurzeler there will already be coaches they are keeping an eye on with the future in mind. Long-term planning.

The coach is given an environment to coach, to work with the players, to improve them.

For the players, there is an environment to develop. 

Naylor said: "Part of their selling point is they can say to players, ‘You can come to this club and if you are good enough you will get an opportunity, your age doesn’t matter’."

Sometimes that development involves a loan spell or two. Sometimes it is in the Brighton first team. Overall, there is a focus on the development of players.

Such a philosophy is one of the reasons why the club's recruitment is so successful.

Belgian case study

In 2018, Bloom became the majority shareholder of Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise.

The Brussels club were the "Old Lady" of Belgian football, journalist Stephane Lecaillon told Hearts Standard. Their 11 national titles came before the Second World War and they were in the second division losing €7million a year when Bloom arrived, alongside chairman Alex Muzio.

Six years later and USG are title challengers in the top flight, have won their first Belgian Cup in 110 years, and have competed in Europe for three seasons running, including the Champions League qualifiers twice.

"If you told me in 2018 that in three years USG would challenge for the title three seasons in a row I would have called you a crazy guy," Lecaillon said.

"I’ve never heard anything negative.

"People were waiting to see what was going to happen and quite soon positive things happened, promoted in the second year. It became clear the people managing the club were doing it very well and respected the DNA of the club, the history, the work in the community."

While he has attended big games, including an away Europa League clash with Malmo, Bloom is not seen as hands-on. Lecaillon noted that what is "really important is the people" he put in place at the club "are very competent".

Due to the USG and Brighton's involvement in Europe in the same year, Bloom reduced his shareholding to a minority stake with Muzio becoming the majority shareholder. 

But why USG?

"Muzio explained they wanted a country where it was possible to be champion," Lecaillon explained. "They wanted somewhere where it was an easy connection from England and Brussels is easy.

"Union were a club that was available. They saw potential and could bring back more people to the stadium."

Bloom's involvement has not escaped criticism in Belgium. The Club Brugge chairman said his side were not champions against USG but Brighton B.

Since 2018, USG have taken just seven players on loan from the Seagulls, including former Hearts star Alex Cochrane, as well as Deniz Undav and Kaoru Mitoma. But none have arrived in the last couple of seasons.

There has been one sale between USG and Brighton, that being the transfer of Undav, but Lecaillon said there is always the option for USG to say no and players are not sold below the market value.

What does it mean for Hearts? 

Hearts won't become a feeder club. In simple terms a link-up with one of the smartest owners in world football. Plus the knowledge, expertise, and guidance of one of the most respected and sought-after recruitment tools in world football.

Keech noted that player trading in "Scottish football" outside the Old Firm is a "disgrace" but that Hearts "could not be set up better to be a player trading club. One that is signing players, adding value to them and selling them on".

"Scotland is becoming much more appealing to investors than it has been in the last couple of years," he said. "Valuations of clubs in Scandinavia are much more expensive.

"Scottish football isn’t stupid financially. There is a better work permit environment for foreign signing. I think that is where people are seeing potential growth in Scottish football."

What is also important to consider is Bloom's past as a Brighton fan and the work at USG. They have respected to identity of the Belgian club, while Owen suggested he would "appreciate" Hearts' position as being fan-owned.

"He would appreciate that as well I think because the fans here did massive amounts to save the club when they were turfed out of the old Goldstone Ground and potentially out of the league and out of business," he said. 

"It’s something he would not be dismissive of if you like."

Brighton have not been successful by being bigger. "In order to be successful," Maguire said, "they have to be smarter and that’s what they’ve done."

Hearts could be set to benefit from that intelligence. From one of the smartest operators in football.