TONY BLOOM is a self- made billionaire with a background in poker.
But it’s Hearts who could be holding all the aces in Scottish football in the coming years if they play their cards right.
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Graeme Souness triggered a revolution at Rangers.
Fergus McCann brought Celtic back from the brink.
But if Bloom goes into Hearts it could be an even bigger moment in Scottish football than those two success stories.
In my eyes, the news this week that the Brighton owner wants to invest in the Tynecastle club is just sensational.
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If I was in charge of Rangers or Celtic right now I’d be extremely worried about his plans and ambitions for the Jambos.
This is a guy who doesn’t ever do things on a whim.
He’s a serious businessman with an analytics firm that knows EXACTLY how to identify up and coming talent.
He buys and sells players for a profit. But crucially he does while making football clubs successful along the way.
This may sound crazy, but I’m convinced if Bloom gets involved in Hearts then they could be challenging for the Premiership title in the coming years. I know that’s far-fetched to some folk.
Especially Celtic supporters who will believe their club is in a different stratosphere to everyone else in Scotland right now, both on the park and off it.
But Bloom is someone who doesn’t do things by half measures and if his Starlizard group have identified Hearts as a club with genuine potential then I’m prepared to believe there will be good reason for that.
He took over Brighton when we were down the bottom of League One in England and struggling.
Now they’re an established Premiership team with a state-of-the-art stadium with scope to build on that if they want.
They’ve got an incredible training ground as well.
But more than anything they have a structure in place that allows the club to flourish.
Managers can come and go and nothing fundamental changes.
You don’t become a billionaire and run businesses the way that Bloom does if you allow yourself to be dictated to by managers.
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Bloom has also done it without borrowing any money from anyone. It’s been entirely his cash that’s transformed the club.
But it’s not just Brighton.
In fact, they’re not the main reason I’d say Hearts are onto a winner with Bloom if his plans go through.
It’s the story at Union St Gilloise that’s more pertinent.
The Belgian club have been completely revolutionised by Bloom and his lieutenant Alex Muzio.
They’ve taken a club with a 10,000 stadium, that wasn’t fit for purpose.
They were promoted to the top-flight having been a club on its knees and last season played in the Uefa Conference League, having reached the quarter-finals of the Europa League the season before That’s been possible because of the players they’ve signed and sold through their analytics programme.
Striker Victor Boniface cost €6million from Norwegian side Bodo Glimt but they sold him to German champions Bayer Leverkusen for a bumper €21.70m.
Cameron Puertas cost €1.16m from Lausanne and joined James Bisgrove’s club Al-Qadsiah for €15m. Mohamed Amoura has just moved to Wolfsburg for a loan fee of €3m.
That’s the kind of business that Hearts should be excited about because that’s a model that clearly works.
It’s not like Union St Gilloise have just been a trading club, either.
They’ve been successful along the way.
Hearts should bite Bloom’s hand off and I suspect that’s what will happen in the months ahead. By all accounts, he had an interest in Hibs at one stage but, typically, the Easter Road club weren’t interested in relinquishing any power.
That could now be a blessing in disguise for their Edinburgh rivals.
I think it’s been in the pipeline for a number of months now.
Chances are, an agreement could be in place within the next few months once everything is finalised. But it’s exciting times for the Jambos in my eyes.
It may not seem that way right now given their results lately, and today’s Premiership clash with St Mirren in Paisley is a big one for Steven Naismith.
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The club’s supporters are already on his back and another day of disappointment is the last thing he needs.
But looking beyond that, the future could be thrilling for the Tynecastle club when this deal is rubber-stamped.
And I genuinely think Rangers and Celtic should be worried.
One of our biggest clubs could be about to be turned on its head by someone with a proven track record. Not only could that be great for Hearts but it could revitalise Scottish football.
It could see other clubs look at things differently and then suddenly it’s a whole different ball-game.
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Old Firm rivals Rangers and Celtic have set the bar for Scottish football forever.
But this is one bar which isn’t high enough that Broom and his Starlizard group couldn’t clear it.
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