Gambler Tony Bloom places £10m stake on Hearts with leading role in manager hunt as EPL rival eyes SPFL move

Despite a late Ally McCoist goal, Hearts held on to lift their first major trophy for 36 years.

A few weeks later in Paris, two thumping headers from Zinedine Zidane helped France secure their status as World champions. Aside from the nationality of Rousset and Adam, most asked to consider what else connects these two events might well be left looking stumped.  

In a way, it’s a trick question. The connection has been made only retrospectively. Only in the last few weeks, in fact, with reports emerging that Tony Bloom, the sports betting entrepreneur, is on the verge of investing in Hearts and will have a say in identifying the Tynecastle club’s next manager.

One of the reasons he has the financial means to do so is because of what happened on an emotional night in Paris over 26 years ago, with France in ferment.

At the time Bloom was a hot young trader at Victor Chandler, where he was recruited to set up their international betting operation. He principally focused on the Asian betting markets. As noted by Business Insider eight years ago, in an expansive piece chronicling the “inside story of Britain’s most successful gambler”, everything changed for Bloom during the 1998 World Cup. 

He had become convinced that the market was underestimating the odds of a French victory against a slightly out-of-sorts Brazil side. He somehow persuaded Victor Chandler’s management to bet everything it had won so far from the tournament on France beating Brazil in the final. The hosts duly won 3-0 and the Champs-Elysees hosted a party to end all parties. Just as Zidane was hailed by all of France, Bloom was the toast of Victor Chandler.

Given a choice of which status they might prefer, even those immune to sporting romance would surely opt for the former. Now, of course, billionaire Bloom could probably employ Zidane, providing the analytics stacked up Algorithms are now being used to rate managers as well as players, with Bloom at the forefront of this statistical revolution.

After making a name for himself with Victor Chandler, now known as BetVictor, Bloom went on to set up Premier Bet in 2002, which he then sold three years later for £1.2 million. 

Involvement in the burgeoning world of online poker sites proved even more lucrative for Bloom, who was dubbed 'The Lizard" for his cold-eyed demeanour on the poker circuit. He even placed a toy lizard mascot in front of him on the table.

Hence Starlizard, a company offering proprietary odds analysis to rich clients looking to make large bets that Bloom set up in 2006. It has helped change the face of football in this current 'analytics era'.

Starlizard uses sophisticated data and information models to predict the outcome of sporting events. For a company where information is key, their website is somewhat sparing in detail. However, there is an HQ address listed – in Camden, London - and in a ‘What we do’ section, they claim to take “analysis of sport into a different league”. 

Included among the sample questions listed is, "what impact do fans in stadiums really have?" Well, they can certainly have significant impact if they are singing negative songs about an incumbent manager, as Steven Naismith has discovered to his cost following Saturday’s 2-1 defeat against St Mirren. As many pointed out at the time, there was only one option for the Hearts board after the supporters turned so vehemently and publicly on Naismith following an eighth successive defeat. On-going negotiations with Bloom perhaps meant it was already a matter of time before someone else was brought in.

It was perhaps also simply a matter of time before Scottish football was identified as a suitable arena for those who have made their millions from football data. Bloom is a major shareholder at historic Belgian club Royal Union Saint-Gilloise, whose fortunes are now very much on the up after almost half a century spent in the shadows.

Brentford owner Matthew Benham, meanwhile, was also owner of progressive Danish club Midtjylland until last year. He and his former business partner Bloom had an epic fall out in the early 2000s. According to journalist Alex Duff, author of a book about Brentford titled "Smart Money", the source of this split was a "dispute over the use of a proprietary betting model".

It is understood that, like his nemesis, Benham could be looking to invest in Scottish football, which would undoubtedly shake things up even more while possibly giving Rangers and Celtic something to think about.

"It will be for the same reasons as Tony," someone with knowledge of both men's football activities told The Scotsman. 

It’s not just a question of Bloom giving Hearts the algorithm and letting the Tynecastle club to get on with it. If he’s investing £10 million, as reports claim, he will be all over it. As much as it is a drop in the ocean for him financially, he will want a major say. For professional gamblers, it’s all about risk management - and trying to seize as much control as possible. Proof of the system working is not the player trading model, which allowed Brighton to announce the biggest profits in Premier League history earlier this year, but the fact they have lost key staff, such as technical director Dan Ashworth, now at Manchester United, and still the machine keeps rolling forward.

David Weir is now in that role. The former defender played for Hearts in that Scottish Cup final in 1998, which is another connection linking Bloom, Brighton and the Tynecastle club. However, it’s now not so much about the bonds that tie. More the data that demonstrates.