Tony Bloom 10 million Investment and Access to Brighton's Recruitment Model.

[Zizou]

I think showcasing JA network of clubs is definitely part of his motives which is fine but I do think hearts are going to be heavily reliant on it going forward now. It’s the best in the world at what it does and just delivered the Belgian Patrick Thistle their premier league - it would be silly not to.

What's interesting about that is there are clubs who use JTA who you never hear about.

Ipswich used it for back to back promotions and had to get rid once they made it to the Premier League. Maybe it's common knowledge within football but that was barely reported. Como also using it in Italy and making progress.

Then you do get the more publicised ventures like ourselves and USG so I dunno.

The guy is a gambler at his core. Beating the house is what they thrive on and I think it might be as straightforward as that being what he gets out of all of this. Brighton is different because that's his club.

[Johnny]

Mind when Jackie Mac was Dundee United Manager and he was taking like 10, 20 or even higher % of their player sales revenue

Lucked in as he got their "golden generation" of players from the academy and they were selt under his watch, but like hardly any, if any at all, players he brought in were moved in for fees

[Johnny]

The guy is a gambler at his core.

Acey

Beating the house his wife is what he thrives on

[Shuto Makino]

The concept of Acey beating someone

[Johnny]

Aye, touch of the Ken Rosenberg about him

"I couldn't intimidate a child, believe me I've tried"

Wee Vice City reference for you

[Big Physical Acey]

Has it not occurred to you that Mrs Acey might be even weedier than I am?

[Sarkozabal]

i personally think his answer around whether he was in it for the money is (slightly) disingenuous.

we all talk about the JA model of identify under-the-radar players with high chance of success, fail quickly with duds by passing them on asap do all this whilst build squad value over time and hopefully win along the way... these are the means and not the ends.

...the ends here is to attain a shadow multi-club-ownership-like model that just keeps endless gettings returns a massive yield on £££ transfers between clubs (without all the other baggage and risk of owning the clubs). fifa/uefa have been trying to wrestle with multi-club ownership; simultaneously loving the moneybags they come with but having a hard time managing the optics of conflicting interests (e.g. palace/lyon fiasco). 

i think bloom primarily is working to get himself soft power across world football by having minority ownership of clubs (strategic influence) and having JA deeply embedded in their football operations. from there, jamestown operates as a major player in most/all major leagues long into the future, and they get their rewards primarily from player sales/bonuses. 

in short they operate by getting value between clubs, not owning them. all the revenue scale of multi-club ownership without the headaches.

"but he said all revenues from player sales go to the club" - right, but by technical definition this is probably true. i'm guessing that JA will get some financial benefit from player sales through other contractual means (bonuses, service fees, royalties?). these types of outgoings won't be counted as player trading revenues. so count that as maybe another disingenuous statement.

this all said, there's almost no downside for hearts here. i think as long as we don't become too dependent on jamestown for strategy over the long term and we are transparent about finances with jamestown re:transfers and their other services then this should all be fine.

I would assume the eventual financial endgame for Bloom and the other investors is to sell off Jamestown. That’s where USG and Hearts come in to prove it works wherever you take it, and to make a bit more of a song and dance about it than the clubs who used it behind the scenes. Don’t think that’s on the cards soon though and he does seem like the sort of obsessive gambler who will get as much out of being proven right as the money so it’s good news for us.

[Del-icious]

I would assume the eventual financial endgame for Bloom and the other investors is to sell off Jamestown. That’s where USG and Hearts come in to prove it works wherever you take it, and to make a bit more of a song and dance about it than the clubs who used it behind the scenes. Don’t think that’s on the cards soon though and he does seem like the sort of obsessive gambler who will get as much out of being proven right as the money so it’s good news for us.

Would it make sense to sell it though? I guess if you get offered something ridic for it you weigh it up but say JA ends up affiliating with a club in every european league and they have a constant stream of fees coming in, would it make sense to sell it when it's a cash cow?


Something i was thinking was i imagine JA is on borrowed time so to speak. Not short term but all these clubs will constantly be developing their own systems and especially with the advancement in AI the now I'd imagine the competitive edge they have will eventually be closed down across the board. It will probably eventually become the standard that majority of clubs have access to this ''golden'' data, JA were just one of the first to make use of it.

[Mikey]

There must be serious cash planned on going in, with him talking about 'when we get into the Champions League', you would think.

I'm not convinced we'll win the league, tbh but to finish second and have a squad that could have a real shot of qualifying for the groups would be

[Del-icious]

I think there’s basically 0 chance of us splitting the old firm this season tbh.

I am buzzing for the bloom revolution but I think people are going to be sorely disappointed if they’re expecting results right away. I think 3rd will probably be competitive with us and hibs this season with both being a fair bit off second.

Probably pessimistic but it’s a big enough challenge just getting hearts back to where they should be after last season, a lot of work needing done to get the squad sorted (which we’ve done well so far) but splitting the old firm seems a bit fantasy for this season imo.

[CritchSmile]

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I think there’s basically 0 chance of us splitting the old firm this season tbh.

I am buzzing for the bloom revolution but I think people are going to be sorely disappointed if they’re expecting results right away.  I think 3rd will probably be competitive with us and hibs this season with both being a fair bit off second.

Probably pessimistic but it’s a big enough challenge just getting hearts back to where they should be after last season, a lot of work needing done to get the squad sorted (which we’ve done well so far) but splitting the old firm seems a bit fantasy for this season imo.

Rangers are humpty tho

[Lane]

Something i was thinking was i imagine JA is on borrowed time so to speak.  Not short term but all these clubs will constantly be developing their own systems and especially with the advancement in AI the now I'd imagine the competitive edge they have will eventually be closed down across the board.  It will probably eventually become the standard that majority of clubs have access to this ''golden'' data, JA were just one of the first to make use of it.

exactly. after proving the sauce works at brighton, rusg and some of the other clubs....i think this is what is going to force a lot of movement for bloom and JA now.

many analytics companies are becoming more advanced with advanced models. you think they are measuring on xg, pass % etc. but it's much more sophisticated than that now with physical tracking data. it can even just be captured via broadcast (no need to go to some small town in peru and have the whole team wearing body trackers). 

i think JA's secret sauce is all this plus access to starlizards internal models. something that no one will have. but that can change.

[Charlie Kelly]

Think us not being in Europe and hitting the ground running already is massive. I think 3rd is where we will finish but I'm all for us aiming for 2nd and putting in a proper fight for it. 

Rangers are gash and are there for the taking if we can actually put up a decent fight against them and Celtic when we play them.

[Floyd]

I’m happy that we’re aiming for as high a finish as we can, but realistically I’d be happy being well clear in third and closing the gap on second come the end of the season.

Winning a cup would be superb, as would finishing second, but I’m not pinning my hopes on that just yet. It’s a marathon not a sprint.

[Big Physical Acey]

Nobody’s going to be sad at being the best of the rest this season, if that happens. I’m prepared to be patient and allow our glorious ascension to the title to happen next season.

[Zizou]

If we get within 15 points of them this season, go deep in the cups and some of these players attract interest then that’s a great season and we are on the right path.

[Drederick Shanktum]

I’d like us just to put a decent run of games together:

Everything else will fall in to place if that happens

[BoJack Horseman]

I’m trying hard not to get too carried away and am trying to focus on the game at the weekend

That alone is great to be able to do with a sense of optimism and excitement considering the jobbers we have had in recent years and cretins in the dugout and board overseeing whatever muck was served up.

[King Kebab]

If Kabore, Kerjora and Magnusson hit the ground running, all we're really needing is a central playmaker and maybe a RB.

With no European games to deal with, who knows what could happen.

[Rory Breaker]

I’m trying hard not to get too carried away and am trying to focus on the game at the weekend

That alone is great to be able to do with a sense of optimism and excitement considering the jobbers we have had in recent years and cretins in the dugout and board overseeing whatever muck was served up.

It’s the most I’ve looked forward to watching hearts since Robbie’s 2014-15 championship winners, pretty much hated everything from the “money spinner” onwards.

In the same breath, if the sheep had a better finisher we would all be sitting here rueing missed chances and terrible refereeing. Definitely optimistic and enjoying watching Hearts which is nice!