Latest news with #TonyBloom
Scotsman
21 hours ago
- Business
- Scotsman
Hearts name the date for EGM to approve Tony Bloom's £10m investment deal
Tynecastle will host a vote on the Brighton and Hove Albion chairman's plans Sign up to our Hearts newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Hearts have named the date for an Extra Ordinary General Meeting of shareholders to vote on Tony Bloom's proposed £9.86m investment. The club will stage the meeting in Tynecastle Park's Gorgie Suite at 5pm on Wednesday, 18 June, after Foundation of Hearts members voted 98.5 per cent in favour of Bloom's plan. The Foundation held a consultation and a vote last month and 6,208 of their 8,000-plus subscribers responded. Of those, 6,112 backed Bloom getting involved in Hearts, with 96 voting against. The Brighton and Hove Albion chairman stands to gain a 29 per cent stake in the Edinburgh club, which would involve the alloting of new shares. Importantly, Bloom's shares would not carry voting rights. Hearts will now hold an EGM for shareholders to officially approve the investment. More to follow....
New York Times
a day ago
- Business
- New York Times
Brighton Transfer DealSheet: Summer window latest, key targets and the likely exits
Brighton & Hove Albion will not be as active over the next few months as they were in the 2024 summer window, when they splashed out nearly £200million on nine new players. There will, however, still be plenty of ins and outs — whether permanently or on loan — to refresh and revamp a large and mainly young squad. The recruitment tactic of looking one or two windows ahead means some additions to head coach Fabian Hurzeler's pool of players are already in place. Brighton have sold key figures for significant fees in recent summers and the possibility of that happening again this time cannot be ruled out… Assistant technical director Mike Cave leads on recruitment, chief executive Paul Barber concentrates on sales and technical director David Weir on dealing with agents and internal communications, including contract renewals. Hurzeler has an input regarding the ins and outs and while owner-chairman Tony Bloom does not get involved in any negotiations, the final verdicts rest with him. He considers recommendations and whether the numbers stack up. Ultimately, it is Bloom who decides whether or not a deal gets done. Defence stands out as an ageing department in need of attention, both centrally and at full-back. Ferdi Kadiolgu was the only defender among those nine signings last summer, and then the Turkey international full-back did not feature after November because of a toe injury that required surgery. Centre-back Eiran Cashin then arrived from Championship side Derby County for £9million in the winter window but only made two substitute appearances for a combined 19 minutes. Concentrating on the centre of defence first, Lewis Dunk will be 34 in November. Brighton's long-serving captain suffered more injury problems than ever before last season. Adam Webster, 30, had similar issues. Cashin, 23, is a year younger than the club's official player of the season Jan Paul van Hecke. The Dutchman stood alone as a stabilising influence. More competition and cover is desirable for regular left-back Pervis Estupinan. On the right side of defence, Van Hecke's compatriot Joel Veltman also turns 34 in the middle of next season, and Tariq Lamptey is out of contract this summer and could leave. Central midfielders Jack Hinshelwood and Mats Wieffer filled in at right-back for periods during this past season. It helps to have adaptable players, but the squad is light on specialist full-backs with long futures at the top level ahead of them. Hurzeler wants more physicality in the squad. His first season in the Premier League has highlighted the importance of intensity and athleticism. The current group is brimming with technically-gifted talents, but Brighton looked brittle and lightweight on occasion last season. He does not like a lot of change, preferring stability for an essentially young group to grow together. Advertisement The centre-back situation is set to be addressed on July 1 with the signing of left-footed Olivier Boscagli, once his contract with back-to-back Dutch champions PSV expires. An agreement has been reached with the 27-year-old Frenchman. Boscagli has been a target for some time, as reported by The Athletic last November. The Athletic's David Ornstein also revealed in mid-May that Brighton hold an interest in versatile Brazilian Cuiabano of Rio de Janeiro-based Copa Libertadores holders Botafogo. Offers with add-ons worth a total of £5.88million ($8m) and £6.72m were turned down for the 22-year-old, who can play on the left side as a winger, full-back or midfielder. As reported by The Athletic last month, Brighton are pursuing 18-year-old Olympiacos striker Charalampos Kostoulas. They have offered the Greek champions in the region of £30million, plus fellow forward Abdallah Sima (who has never played an official match for Brighton, spending his four years on their books out on a series of season-long loans, most recently to Brest in France's Ligue 1), for a teenager who is regarded as one of the hottest young talents in Europe. Backup goalkeeper Carl Rushworth wants to leave unless his chances of game time improve. That is unlikely, with Bart Verbruggen and Jason Steele blocking the path of the highly-rated 23-year-old, who is under contract until 2027. There is certain to be plenty of Championship, and possibly even Premier League, interest in Rushworth. Valentin Barco's loan move to Strasbourg in the winter window included an obligation to buy. The 20-year-old left-back's form at the Ligue 1 club under English manager Liam Rosenior has earned him a place in the Argentina squad for World Cup qualifiers this month against Chile and Colombia. Advertisement Brighton never look to sell any of their biggest assets, but not standing in the way of players if an opportunity arises to further their career elsewhere is part of the recruitment model — as long as the price and the circumstances are suitable. The most obvious candidates for attracting attention this summer, in no particular order, are Joao Pedro, Carlos Baleba and Kaoru Mitoma. Definitely, and a high number, too. As Brighton have developed as a club, so too has the size of the squad and the number of players that are farmed out elsewhere each season. That has become part of the model. Some players go out on loan once, twice or multiple times with a view to either breaking through back aboard the mothership or enhancing their resale values. A new trend last season was Brighton having the confidence to lend players to Premier League rivals, as was the case with Facundo Buonanotte (Leicester), Evan Ferguson (West Ham) and Julio Enciso (Ipswich). One prime candidate to make a step up in level, in terms of where he goes out on loan next, is Kamari Doyle. The 19-year-old attacking midfielder thrived in the second half of the campaign just gone with neighbours Crawley, even though they were relegated from League One, English football's third tier. A trio of youngsters whose transfers are already done and dusted will link up with the club this summer. Brighton landed Greek striker Stefanos Tzimas from Nurnberg at the end of the winter window for more than £20million, then loaned the 19-year-old back to the German second-tier club for the remainder of their season, only for him to miss its final two months through injury. Two more signings were then announced in March: 18-year-old South Korean winger Yun Do-young from Daejeon Hana Citizen for an undisclosed fee, and fellow wide man Tommy Watson, now 19, from Sunderland for £10million. Advertisement Yun will be loaned out, Tzimas and Watson, who scored the late winner in the play-off final last month to get Sunderland promoted back to the Premier League, will be assessed in pre-season to determine their next steps. Brighton made a combined profit of nearly £200million across the past two seasons (a Premier League record of £122.8m in 2022-23, then £73.3m). Spending nearly £200million on those nine signings in the summer 2024 transfer window will have a negative impact when the 2024-25 accounts are published next year, but there are no PSR (profit and sustainability rules) worries, with lifelong fan and sports betting entrepreneur Bloom as committed to the club now as he has been since taking charge 16 years ago. Brighton are bottom-half wage payers in the Premier League and last summer's big spend was a one-off after major sales in the previous two summer windows, but the purchase within that outlay of Georginio Rutter from Leeds United for a club-record £40million illustrated a steady increase in the sums they have been prepared to pay to improve the squad as they look forward to a ninth straight season in the top flight. (Top photos: Cuiabano, left, and Boscagli; Getty Images)
Scotsman
2 days ago
- Sport
- Scotsman
Scottish Premiership title odds: Hearts handed huge backing as Hibs and Aberdeen tied
There's no time like the present and already punters are casting their eye to who will finish where in the 25/26 Premiership season. For Hearts, a new era is dawning with Derek McInnes installed as head coach and Jamestown Analytics aiding recruitment. Amid proposed investment by Tony Bloom, they will have designs on reclaiming third place that Hibs won in the term past. Head coach David Gray battled through a shaky start to life in the dugout to inspire a terrific run of form that secured best of the rest status plus Europa League qualifiers. Ladbrokes have already ranked each side's probability of title glory, with Celtic and Rangers the obvious favourites. But while Aberdeen and Hibs share the same odds, Hearts have been given major backing by the bookmaker to pull off a huge shock. Here's how the odds look from bottom to top.
The Sun
7 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
Willie Mullins plotting ‘big surprise' worth £60,000 for King Charles at Royal Ascot with historic runner Reaching High
WILLIE MULLINS says it was a 'big surprise' to be given a historic Royal horse to train - and he wants to repay King Charles with Ascot glory. Reaching High, who was bred by the late Queen Elizabeth II, is the first horse to be trained in Ireland by a reigning monarch. 1 Jumps legend Mullins is making more and more of a splash in Flat racing these days. And he could break all sorts of new ground should Reaching High really give the King something to smile about on day one of racing's biggest Flat festival. Formerly trained by Sir Michael Stoute, Reaching High was denied a debut win under Mullins at Leopardstown earlier this month. The four-year-old gelding went down in a head-bobber having finished like a train. Mullins has since told the Racing Post that the Ascot Stakes looks like being his next race. The 2m5½f contest is worth just shy of £60,000 to the winner. Mullins knows what it takes to land it having been victorious with Brighton boss Tony Bloom's Stratum in 2021 and 2022. And Ireland have a stranglehold on the race, with Joseph O'Brien claiming it the past two years with Dawn Rising and Uxmal. Mullins, who will look to keep his country's grip on the Class 2 handicap going, said: "It's an honour and a big surprise to be asked (to train a Royal horse). "It's nice to have a horse in that position and it's very exciting. "I'm probably looking at the two-and-a-half-mile race (Ascot Stakes) but we'll look at both staying races on the first day. "When you look at his pedigree, it's all stamina. He seems to stay very well." King Charles actually rode at Cheltenham Festival, where Mullins dominates, but the Royal runners have tended to focus on the Flat. King Charles sends Willie Mullins 'impressive' horse with amazing pedigree in historic deal - as they target Royal Ascot Of them, Gold Cup hero Estimate was by far the best but the King and Queen did have big success in 2023 with Desert Hero. Alsy by Sea The Stars and bred by the late Queen, he was a thrilling 18-1 Royal Ascot winner, reducing the King to tears. He then won the Group 3 Gordon Stakes at Glorious Goodwood before finishing third in the St Leger - the final Classic of the season - at Doncaster. There had been fears King Charles would drastically cut back the multi-million pound Royal racing operation after he inherited it. But Queen Camilla remains a huge supporter of the sport and the couple still have a lot of horses in training with the likes of Nicky Henderson over jumps and William Haggas, Ralph Beckett and John and Thady Gosden on the Flat. Commercial content notice: Taking one of the offers featured in this article may result in a payment to The Sun. You should be aware brands pay fees to appear in the highest placements on the page. 18+. T&Cs apply. Remember to gamble responsibly A responsible gambler is someone who:
Scotsman
27-05-2025
- Sport
- Scotsman
Every SPFL team next season confirmed as top 42 decided
For Hibs, they finished third in the Premiership and are looking forward to Europa League qualifiers in the summer. Hearts will look to regroup after a bottom six finish, backed by new manager Derek McInnes with an investment proposal by Tony Bloom on the table. It's set to be a fresh looking top flight with two clubs in and out of the division following the conclusion of the play-offs. It's the same in the Championship while League One looks totally different to this campaign, three out the 10 teams changing. Then, in League Two, a new side has entered the division and replaces club 42, Bonnyrigg Rose, in the top four tiers. Here is how the SPFL looks ahead of the new campaign.
