Brighton's Tony Bloom remains the 'Lionel Messi of chairman' despite modest transfer window

By Scott McCarthy, wearebrighton.com
Brighton and Hove Albion chairman Tony BloomBrighton and Hove Albion chairman Tony Bloom
Brighton and Hove Albion chairman Tony Bloom

Whether it was a lucky coincidence or deliberate timing, Brighton & Hove Albion released their accounts for the 2019-20 season with one week of the January transfer window left.

www.wearebrighton.comA shrewd move to silence all those Seagulls fans who were questioning why the club were not spending £30 million on a new centre forward.

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There were three main takeaways from the latest figures, showing that the Albion have made a £67 million loss. The first was that nobody could question the lack of activity on the transfer front in the past two windows, especially when it comes to attacking reinforcements.

Brighton have spent ‘only’ £15 million or this season. The majority of that went on Jakub Moder and Michal Karbownik, two promising young Polish internationals. £5 million was lavished in the final throes of the January window on Moises Caicedo, Joel Veltman cost a bargain £900,000 in the summer and Adam Lallana and Danny Welbeck were free transfers.

Yes, the Albion need a more clinical centre forward to put away the copious chances they create. Those sorts of players however cost a lot of money and when you have just recorded a £67 million loss, chucking another big fee on a striker who could turn out to be another Jurgen Locadia or Alireza Jahanbakhsh is a risk not worth taking.

The second takeaway is that, perhaps, the Premier League is not the land of milk and honey we all thought it would be. Those massive broadcast contracts, the prize money, the exposure… the way people talked about it when we were in the Championship, it was as if promotion meant winning the lottery.

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And yet Brighton have made money just once as a top flight club. An £11.3 million profit was posted in 2017-18 followed by a £21.2 million loss in 2018-19. That season’s figures were largely down to spending an eyewatering £80.9 million on new signings, only two of whom – Yves Bissouma and Alexis Mac Allister – are first team regulars two years on.

There is of course the Covid-19 element to consider. Brighton have lost out on significant matchday revenue due to not playing to a full capacity Amex since last February, and the value of the 2019-20 broadcast contracts was reduced because of fines due for not completing the season by the end of June. The final six matches of the 2019-20 season also took place after June 30th, which means that the revenue they brought in will instead show on the 2020-21 accounts.

It is estimated that the pandemic cost the Albion £28 million. You do not need to be Rachel Riley to work out that if coronavirus had never happened and we could still hug our grandparents or go to a pub without having to order a scotch egg, Brighton would have still lost nearly £40 million. Ouch.

A lot of focus was put on that figure and rightly so as it is very big. But the most interesting part of the accounts comes in the bit which might as well be named the ‘Thank God for Tony Bloom’ section.

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It details how much money the Chairman has pumped in during his near 12-year ownership of the club. Mr Bloom lent Brighton the sum of £32 million over the 2019-20 season. His total investment now stands at £394 million, £90 million of which is shares and £304 million in loans.

Mr Bloom hides his wealth incredibly well and nobody knows exactly how rich he is – even so, £394 million is not the sort of money you find down the back of the sofa with an old yo-yo and a pen from Argos.

That investment built the Amex. It paid for the training ground in Lancing. It allowed Russell Slade, Gus Poyet, Oscar Garcia, Chris Hughton and Graham Potter to put together squads that have taken the club from League One relegation candidates to competing in the Premier League. The less said about Sami Hyypia obviously, the better.

Without Mr Bloom and his money, nothing that Brighton have achieved in the past decade would have been possible. And it is why, however concerning a £67 million loss is, Brighton are still in a far better position than many other top flight clubs to deal with such numbers, whose owners may balk at having to pump in cash to keep their club alive.

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Mr Bloom is not in this to make a profit, compared to say the Glazers at Manchester United or Mike Ashley at Newcastle United. Only this week it has been suggested that Burnley’s new owners – who were supposed to be arriving to fund the Clarets into becoming an established top 10 club – have already loaded the club with debt used to finance their takeover.

From the Premier League to the Conference, football is awash with tales of bad ownership which has driven clubsclose to the wall – or in Bury’s case, through it. We of course have been here ourselves with Bill Archer, David Bellotti and Greg Stanley, who sold the Goldstone and tried to drive the Albion out of business to pocket the profits, banning anyone who they felt besmirched their name by highlighting what was really going on.

It is all a far cry from what we have now. A genuine supporter at the helm with deep pockets who is willing to pour his money and his heart into Brighton & Hove Albion. Having Mr Bloom at the helm is better than any £30 million, £60 million or £90 million striker. He is the Lionel Messi of chairman, the best in England, and as those 2019-20 accounts show, the Albion are lucky to have him.