Fans' vote sends emphatic message on Bloom's investment at Hearts
Hearts supporters have voted overwhelmingly in favour of accepting Albion owner Tony Bloom's investment proposal.
It was announced earlier this month that the Albion chairman intended to plough £9.86million into the Edinburgh club in return for a 29% stake in the Jambos via non-voting shares.
Bloom would also be entitled to one seat on the board, although he is expected to appoint someone on his behalf.
The transaction had to be approved by members of Foundation of Hearts, the supporters' group who count as the club's majority shareholder, with a simple majority of more than 50 per cent of votes cast required in order to confirm the deal goes ahead.
Following a consultation period that ran until Monday, the FoH announced that 98.5% have given the green light for Bloom to come on board.
By happy coincidence, the news comes with Union St Gillosie, the Belgian club in which Bloom has a minority stake, still celebrating winning the title for the first time in 90 years.
Verbruggen targets more progress for next season - including penalties
How Hurzeler's points tally measures up - and is it a fair comparison?
'Foundation members have voted to accept the proposed investment in the club by Tony Bloom,' read a statement on Monday evening. 'A total of 6208 votes were cast, with 6112 voting in favour and 96 voting against. In percentage terms, this resulted in 98.5% voting in favour of the proposal.'
An extraordinary general meeting of the club's shareholders will now be called in order to formally approve a transaction which Foundation of Hearts chairman Gerry Mallon said at the start of the consultation period could 'really help shake up the Scottish football establishment'.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
TechCrunch
20 minutes ago
- TechCrunch
Clean energy investment hits new highs and shows no sign of slowing
The world is set to invest nearly twice as much in clean energy as fossil fuels this year, according to a new International Energy Agency report. While fossil fuel outlays are still significant — about $1.15 trillion this year — they'll be dwarfed by clean energy, which is expected to receive $2.15 trillion in 2025. But the real takeaway is that the energy transition doesn't show signs of slowing. Plotting the two investments trends is revealing. Over the last decade, fossil fuel investment has been relatively steady, if declining slightly. There has been an uptick since a drop that coincided with the pandemic, but even that shows signs of softening this year. But clean energy investment follows a different path, a far more aggressively positive trend: The curve is up and to the right. Global clean energy investment has outpaced fossil fuel outlays for the last decade. Image Credits:Tim De Chant/TechCrunch For data nerds: A second-order polynomial fit to the fossil fuel investment does a reasonable job of explaining the variance (R2 = 0.74), suggesting the world might be extracting a bit more oil, coal, and gas in the near future. But the same type of equation applied to clean energy figures fits the data far better (R2 = 0.94). Unless the world takes a U-turn — something that hasn't happened in the 10 years the IEA has collected this data, pandemic included — expect bigger clean energy numbers next year. The big question is whether it'll be too little, too late. Techcrunch event Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Boston, MA | REGISTER NOW To hit net zero by 2050, the world has to invest an average of $4.5 trillion annually, according to a report from the World Economic Foundation. That's double this year's investment, which sounds like a lot. But analysts have previously issued overly cautious clean energy investment forecasts. The trend in the new IEA data suggests that the goal is within reach. Clean energy's exponential growth won't last forever; the trend is likely to taper off in the coming years, just like it did in the mid-2010s. But as I've written before, these sorts of fits and starts are not unusual, and adoption of new technologies is never continuous. Instead, it's influenced by global economic trends and the learning curve that companies face when incorporating them into their businesses. Ultimately, by 2050, I suspect average annual investment will probably meet or exceed the $4.5 trillion annual rate that the World Economic Forum calls for. Clean energy technologies are cheaper by the year, which makes them more accessible. Indeed, 85% of electricity demand growth in the next two years is going to come from developing and emerging economies, and while cheap coal has driven the narrative in many of those, solar and wind shouldn't be counted out. The wildcard, of course, is data centers. In the U.S., at least, utilities are confronting demand forecasts with enormous error bars. Those forecasts may fall short, but utilities tend to err on the side of caution, which means finding more power. Some will turn to gas turbines, others will bet on nuclear. But in the next few years — and likely over the long term — renewables paired with energy storage will have the upper hand. They're probable winners not just because they're getting cheaper, but because they're modular. They can be deployed at a range of scales and prices. It's easy for them to be everywhere, and that's something investors love to see.
Associated Press
21 minutes ago
- Associated Press
A British TV art expert who sold works to a suspected Hezbollah financier is sentenced to prison
LONDON (AP) — An art expert who appeared on the BBC's Bargain Hunt show was sentenced Friday to two and a half years in prison for failing to report his sale of pricey works to a suspected financier of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group. Oghenochuko Ojiri, 53, pleaded guilty to eight offenses under the Terrorism Act 2000. The art sales took place between October 2020 and December 2021. Ojiri, who also appeared on the BBC's Antiques Road Trip, faced a possible sentence of five years in prison in the hearing at London's Central Criminal Court, which is better known as the Old Bailey. In addition to the prison term, Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said Ojiri faces an additional year on license. Ojiri sold about 140,000 pounds ($185,000) worth of artworks to Nazem Ahmad, a diamond and art dealer sanctioned by the U.K. and U.S. as a Hezbollah financier. The sanctions were designed to prevent anyone in the U.K. or U.S. from trading with Ahmad or his businesses. 'This prosecution, using specific Terrorism Act legislation, is the first of its kind and should act as a warning to all art dealers that we can, and will, pursue those who knowingly do business with people identified as funders of terrorist groups,' said Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command. The Met's investigation into Ojiri was carried out alongside Homeland Security in the U.S., which is conducting a wider investigation into alleged money laundering by Ahmad using shell companies. Ahmad was sanctioned in 2019 by the U.S. Treasury, which said he was a prominent Lebanon-based money launderer involved in smuggling blood diamonds, which are mined in conflict zones and sold to finance violence. Two years ago, the U.K. Treasury froze Ahmad's assets because he financed Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite militant organization that has been designated an international terrorist group. Following Ojiri's arrest in April 2023, the Met obtained a warrant to seize a number of artworks, including a Picasso and Andy Warhol paintings, belonging to Ahmad and held in two warehouses in the U.K. The collection, valued at almost 1 million pounds, is due to be sold with the funds to be reinvested back into the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Home Office.
CNN
30 minutes ago
- CNN
Former soccer player sentenced to four years in prison after orchestrating the smuggling of around $800,000 worth of cannabis
Former soccer player Jay Emmanuel-Thomas has been sentenced to four years in prison for his role in orchestrating the smuggling of over 132 pounds (60 kilograms) of cannabis worth around $800,000, according to both the Chelmsford Crown Court and the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA). Emmanuel-Thomas – whose former clubs include Premier League side Arsenal and recently relegated Ipswich Town – recruited two women to collect the cannabis from Thailand and transport it back to the UK, the NCA said in a statement. The two women involved were stopped by authorities in September after landing at Stansted Airport having flown from Bangkok and were originally charged with smuggling cannabis. However, the pair believed that they were transporting gold in two suitcases each, according to the NCA, and their charges were dropped. The NCA said Emmanuel-Thomas admitted last month to orchestrating the plot and 'was the intermediary between suppliers in Thailand and drug pushers in the UK.' Appearing in court on Thursday, Emmanuel-Thomas was sentenced to four years in prison, the NCA confirmed. According to Reuters, Judge Alexander Mills told Emmanuel-Thomas as he sat in the dock: 'Your transition from professional footballer to criminal represents a substantial fall from grace, one that effectively ends the only career path that you have ever known.' According to the BBC, the former soccer player had handwritten a letter which was read out in court, saying that the past year has been 'the most harmful and eye-opening of my life' and 'unbearable' at times. Emmanuel-Thomas' attorney, Alex Rose, said that his client turned to crime after encountering 'significant financial hard times' while out of contract during his career, the BBC reported. CNN has reached out to Emmanuel-Thomas and has made attempts to reach out to his attorney for comment on the sentencing. NCA's senior investigating officer David Philips said in a statement, 'We urge anyone asked to bring something into the UK that they're unsure of to simply say no.' 'Organised criminals like Thomas are invariably very persuasive with promises of payments and other enticements to couriers. But the risk of getting caught is very high and it simply isn't worth the risk.' The 34-year-old forward was playing for Scottish side Greenock Morton around the time of his arrest in September last year. The club subsequently terminated his contract with immediate effect. He had started his career at Arsenal's academy and went on to play for other British clubs including Bristol City, Queens Park Rangers and Cardiff City. He also represented England's youth teams and played in both India and Thailand at the back end of his career. CNN's George Ramsay and Ben Morse contributed reporting.
