A fresh wave of optimism has washed through Melbourne Victory following last week’s announcement that Brighton & Hove Albion chairman and majority owner Tony Bloom has purchased a 19.1% stake in the club.
Barely a week on from officially parting company with the besieged 777 Partners, who had bought a minority stake in the club in October 2022 with provisions to grow their ownership up to 70% – only to collapse in October 2024 – Victory now appear at safe harbour with Bloom, one of the more respected owners in world football.
‘One of the ways Brighton are very fortunate in terms of their owner, is Tony is a lifelong fan with deep pockets. They’re getting the best of both worlds in a sense; with ongoing long-running financial investment, but he’s also got the club so close to his heart’, The Athletic’s Brighton reporter Andy Naylor told Box2Box.
‘His late granddad was vice-chairman, his uncle, Ray Bloom, has been a long-serving director on the board. Since taking over the club in 2009, when they were playing in the third tier at a converted athletic stadium that held about 8,000 supporters, the club has just taken off again.’
Victory joins a small list of clubs in which Bloom now holds an interest, which includes a 25% (formerly 50%) share of Belgian side Union St-Gilloise, and strengthening ties with Scotland’s Heart of Midlothian.
But separate to the empirical threat the City Group, Red Bull and even 777 Partners have posed to diversity in modern football in recent years, Naylor believes Bloom’s acquisitions retain a humble, personal touch. His wife Linda hails from Melbourne, while his interest in horse racing also sees him spend considerable time in the city. In 2020, his horse Stratum Albion ran ninth in the Melbourne Cup.
Victory also look set to benefit from Bloom’s personal algorithm that has helped Brighton identify, develop and sell players with an efficiency that is the envy of the football world; Moisés Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister have been sold for enormous profit, Kaoru Mitoma and Simon Adingra presently pushing the club towards the Champions League.
‘I don’t think it’s a case of Tony seeking world domination, but this is a further addition to his widening portfolio. Last year, Hearts did a deal for Tony’s beta expert company, Jamestown Analytics, to help with recruitment and opposition analysis. There are ongoing talks of an investment that could be worth up to 10 million pounds.
‘His background is in mathematics, and sports betting. He’s very good at data and numbers. It’s his own algorithm, nobody knows exactly what the elements of it are, it’s very secretive. What it means in practice is Brighton have a consistent record of identifying players from right around the globe, buying them at relatively cheap costs in Premier League terms, and developing them.
‘They then either progress to the first team – the ideal scenario – or they might not make it that far, but are still sold for a profit. And as we’ve seen with Mac Allister and Caicedo, they won’t stand in the way of a player who wants to join a really elite club, but the price and circumstance must be right for them.’