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Tony Bloom - How Have Brighton Done It?
Mendonca In Asdas
Posts: 22,650
I can, a few years ago admittedly remember going to watch Charlton play Brighton at the Withdean stadium, it was a midweek match, lashing down with rain , and thinking what a dump, how did it get this bad?
Now they are selling players for 100 million plus, and entertaining European football this season, good luck to them.
I can also remember them giving us a good stuffing (4-0?) at the Valley as they breezed past us, out of this division on their pursuit of the Premier League.
I asked a Brighton fan, how they had done so well, he said it mainly down to Tony Bloom, a gambler who used a successful algorithm, which he had tweaked, and applied to football, hence their recruiting up and coming talent cheaply, and churning in a short space of time to make a vast profit, rinse and repeat time and time again.
Now eventually in the future their luck will run out on recruitment and it will start a downward spiral, so you have to enjoy the good times whilst they are there, and appreciate it at the time, and not take it for granted.
Bur how can they get it so right, and we have got it so wrong?
Now they are selling players for 100 million plus, and entertaining European football this season, good luck to them.
I can also remember them giving us a good stuffing (4-0?) at the Valley as they breezed past us, out of this division on their pursuit of the Premier League.
I asked a Brighton fan, how they had done so well, he said it mainly down to Tony Bloom, a gambler who used a successful algorithm, which he had tweaked, and applied to football, hence their recruiting up and coming talent cheaply, and churning in a short space of time to make a vast profit, rinse and repeat time and time again.
Now eventually in the future their luck will run out on recruitment and it will start a downward spiral, so you have to enjoy the good times whilst they are there, and appreciate it at the time, and not take it for granted.
Bur how can they get it so right, and we have got it so wrong?
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Comments
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I think you have answered your own question.
Brighton had Tony Bloom.
Charlton had Roland, esi1, esi2,and Sandgaard12 -
Shades of Moneyball?1
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From what I understand, Tony Bloom gambled and if the promotions hadn’t happened when they did then the situation for Brighton could have been so different.4
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But all of football is a gamble in some respects, but some gambles and gamblers are better than others.
We gambled on Mendonca and Ajose...you can't win 'em all but Brighton are on a good winning streak2 -
Do think this season will be a huge test for them with the added European football and losing Mac Alister and Caicedo.1
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Making hay while the sun shines good luck to them, a club well run and clearly have the recruitment down to a fine art..🙄1
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Absolutely.Stuart_the_Red said:Shades of Moneyball?
If you're going to have an owner using those sorts of systems and looking for an edge, then have the bloke who's made his millions from using those type of system and looking for an edge.
Helps he's a fan and so his motivation isn't anything beyond making Brighton better.
Great owner.2 -
They'll probably follow the Southampton route.MarcusH26 said:Do think this season will be a huge test for them with the added European football and losing Mac Alister and Caicedo.
Same with Brentford, both are doing fine at the moment, as they're able to replace their outgoings.
But I don't think its possible to last forever.4 -
Paid about £7m for MacAllister & £4.5m for Caicedo and likely to have received over £170m for the pair once Caicedo moves. For what he has delivered, Tony Bloom deserves all the luck in the world.Perhaps he could extend the train platforms at Falmer with some of the profits 😉5
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Brighton were at the forefront of using player stats in their recruitment process, along with a large network of “casual” scouts. They had bumps in the road along the way (play-off defeat, Hyppia/Houghton etc), but the success has come from player recruitment.A lot of their successful names were low profile before going there, and they have an excellent Chief Exec too.3
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ForeverAddickted said:
They'll probably follow the Southampton route.MarcusH26 said:Do think this season will be a huge test for them with the added European football and losing Mac Alister and Caicedo.
Same with Brentford, both are doing fine at the moment, as they're able to replace their outgoings.
But I don't think its possible to last forever.
Eventually it's going to run out , they've just got to make hay whilst the sun shines , if they do well again this season I wonder if they keep De Zerbi1 -
Isnt just de Zerbi they have to worry about... Its the people in the background finding the playersMarcusH26 said:ForeverAddickted said:
They'll probably follow the Southampton route.MarcusH26 said:Do think this season will be a huge test for them with the added European football and losing Mac Alister and Caicedo.
Same with Brentford, both are doing fine at the moment, as they're able to replace their outgoings.
But I don't think its possible to last forever.
Eventually it's going to run out , they've just got to make hay whilst the sun shines , if they do well again this season I wonder if they keep De Zerbi1 -
Imagine signing a player for £4.5m and then selling him 18 months later for £111m. Then add £55m for MacAllister, £60m for Cucurella, £25m for Sanchez, £21m for Trossard, £50m for White and £25m for Bissouma. How many of those does a club need to do to survive in the Premier League?
Tony Bloom has three things going for him - he has money, he is a mathematical genius who knows more about that probability of an outcome than just about anybody and he is Brighton born and educated but most of all he is a Brighton fan. If only we had a Tony Bloom.11 -
To be fair supporters of other teams would have looked at us in the 00s and thought the same, homeless and nearly going under in the 80s to mid table prem security, a solid squad and a re-built 27k stadium.
It can come unstuck very easily for medium sized clubs, Ive said before you only need one bad season, a change of owner or manager and you're back in the EFL spending your way into massive debts to get back up again. Look at West Brom right now. Be interesting to see if Brighton can stay at that level for the next 10-20-30 years...7 -
All football ownership is a gamble but I think Bloom and Brighton really went about this in the right way. They put together a really decent championship side. They didn't go up straight away but got themselves strong enough to get themselves in a position that when they did go up they'd stay up. And that's what happened. It doesn't to many.Hex said:From what I understand, Tony Bloom gambled and if the promotions hadn’t happened when they did then the situation for Brighton could have been so different.1 -
I remember reading somewhere a while back that he's the salaries at the sports betting firm were really good, basically recognising the risk of people going elsewhere with that knowledge.ForeverAddickted said:
Isnt just de Zerbi they have to worry about... Its the people in the background finding the playersMarcusH26 said:ForeverAddickted said:
They'll probably follow the Southampton route.MarcusH26 said:Do think this season will be a huge test for them with the added European football and losing Mac Alister and Caicedo.
Same with Brentford, both are doing fine at the moment, as they're able to replace their outgoings.
But I don't think its possible to last forever.
Eventually it's going to run out , they've just got to make hay whilst the sun shines , if they do well again this season I wonder if they keep De Zerbi
Plus they sign all sorts of NDAs etc, Bloom sued Matthew Benham for loads when he left to set up a rival company.
May well be the same within Brighton.2 -
Good luck to them, even more so if it winds Palace up.4
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Didn't they lose their head of recruitment to Chelsea? Paul Winstanley I think his name is.2
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You can't keep selling your best players and manage to replace them with skilled players.
Tony Bloom is a gambler and a successful one at that but in the history of football if you continue to sell your best couple of players every season you will drop down the table eventually.
Young Ferguson will be the next one to go probably at the end of this season.
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It’s gonna turn into one of those situations where people say “they can’t keep doing it” but they will and everyone will continue saying “just wait a couple more years it’s coming” and before you’ll know it they’re a top half Prem team for 10 years.
Brentford will be the same way.
https://theathletic.com/3029279/2023/03/30/cold-war-brighton-tony-bloom-matthew-benham-brentford/?amp=1
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I wonder what it might take for TB to share that cheeky little algorithm ?
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Bring back Mark Hulyer.Addick Addict said:Imagine signing a player for £4.5m and then selling him 18 months later for £111m. Then add £55m for MacAllister, £60m for Cucurella, £25m for Sanchez, £21m for Trossard, £50m for White and £25m for Bissouma. How many of those does a club need to do to survive in the Premier League?
Tony Bloom has three things going for him - he has money, he is a mathematical genius who knows more about that probability of an outcome than just about anybody and he is Brighton born and educated but most of all he is a Brighton fan. If only we had a Tony Bloom.0 -
Tony Bloom's boatload of rubber arrived at the docks and Hulyer's didn't.3
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Watched Brighton vs Luton yesterday, the difference in levels between either of them and us is night and day. Did think Luton played well however. As people have said Tony Bloom is the mastermind behind it, definitely helps him being Brighton. Paul Barber their CEO certainly knows his stuff too. Brighton are the club that many should be modeling up too.0
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Incredibly intelligent and kind man with a strategy that you support for the benefit for everyone. Brilliant successful business model.I worked for him, whilst the Amex was being built and his vision for where Brighton will and should be, was his dream, which he has achieved and exceeded. Not surprising though. Fully believed he would make it happen.11
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I know a bloke called Dick Knight who is currently life president at Brighton. Whilst I appreciate what Bloom has done, no discussion about the success of Brighton can take place without Dick being mentioned. There is a ‘Dicks Bar’ as the Amex. Without Dick there would be no Brighton Football Club. Perhaps even Steve Gritt can claim a bit of the plaudits. Bloom took them on to bigger and better things , but there would have been nothing to take on without Dick Knight.11
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Perfect case scenario. Rich fan happy to learn how to run a football club and get the right people in, rather expect the industry to skip to his tune, à la RD and TS.
Dream that a Charlton owner can emulate what's gone on down there8 -
How depressing.blackpool72 said:I think you have answered your own question.
Brighton had Tony Bloom.
Charlton had Roland, esi1, esi2,and Sandgaard0 -
It probably can't continue longer term though because as they get better, expectations will be higher and they will need a greater quality of player to come in and replace the outgoings. It's ok replacing players with random south americans when expectations are lower, but they're now in Europe and chasing top 6 and everyone is raving about them, so new players will need to hit the ground running and be at a top 6 level immediately.Callumcafc said:It’s gonna turn into one of those situations where people say “they can’t keep doing it” but they will and everyone will continue saying “just wait a couple more years it’s coming” and before you’ll know it they’re a top half Prem team for 10 years.
Brentford will be the same way.
https://theathletic.com/3029279/2023/03/30/cold-war-brighton-tony-bloom-matthew-benham-brentford/?amp=1
What is great though is that there always seems to be a plan and they never panic. Trossard goes, Mitoma comes in. Cucurella goes, Estupinan comes in. Bissouma goes, Caicedo comes in. Macallister goes, now they have Enciso. Maupay went, and they've unearthed Evan Ferguson who i think will be their next big departure if he continues as he is.
People forget they also sold the likes of Ben White and Dan Burn and no one even noticed. The only transfer mistake i think they've made in recent years was selling Gyokeres to Coventry for about a million. 2 good seasons there and he's now at Sporting Lisbon.1 -
To find that "hidden" talent you need normally tens of thousands of well paid qualified scouts all round the world. Even then the reports are quite subjective and difficult to compare objectively.
Basically, Bloom and his betting company use low paid "scouts" who simply fill in forms with facts about what actually happened in thousands of games round the world.
A computer analyses all the data and identifies teams or players that are actually better (or worse) than suggested by the usual methods (such as league position, passes completed etc).
Bloom is very good at asking the right questions and tweeking the algorithms.
May is obviously a reasonable bet but he's hardly a 'secret' player that we have plucked from obscurity. We had to pay accordingly.0
