Tony Bloom on ‘nonsense’ World Cup timing, gambling sponsorship and Brighton plans – The Athletic

Owner-chairman Tony Bloom is approaching Brighton & Hove Albion’s sixth season in succession in the Premier League with a mixture of anticipation and irritation.

Excitement stems from the continued progress of the team under head coach Graham Potter, the angst is with FIFA at both the timing and location of the World Cup in Qatar in November and December.

“It’s a nonsense to have it at that time of year and it shouldn’t be held in a country like Qatar,” Bloom says. “But it is as it is and there’s not a lot we can do about it.”

Bloom radiates calm authority during a wide-ranging interview with The Athletic at Brighton’s training complex in Lancing.

The 52-year-old mathematics graduate discusses issues affecting governance of the game domestically and globally — including the thorny subject of shirt sponsorship by gambling companies — his attitude towards the big clubs, Potter’s future, Dan Ashworth’s departure to Newcastle and whether there’s a ceiling to Brighton’s progress.

The World Cup is one aspect of Bloom’s strong views about the way football is run. The forthcoming Premier League season will be like no other, stopping for the World Cup after the 16th round of matches across the second week in November and recommencing on Boxing Day.

“It’s always been in the summer,” Bloom says. “Although it probably gives England a better chance of winning it, it completely disrupts the domestic seasons.

“So, it should go back to the summer and when they (Qatar) won (the bid), in inverted commas, they said they were going to hold it in the summer until they realised it was 55 degrees at that time of year.

“Perhaps they could have realised it beforehand, or perhaps the executive of FIFA could have realised it.

“It makes no sense to me that they are building new stadia in a place like Qatar which isn’t going to be playing very much football there in the future.

“The way the bids were done, the human rights, it’s not a good image for football. It shouldn’t be happening.”

UEFA does not escape Bloom’s wrath either when asked, if he had the power to make one change in the game, what it would be.

“Not a lot irritates me in football,” he says. “Maybe the governing bodies of FIFA and UEFA, who both regulate the game but also run tournaments. There’s a big conflict there.

“They are always trying to get a bigger slice of the pie versus the domestic league, so although we all love the World Cup and the Euros, some of the decisions they make are not necessarily in the best interests at all of the professional clubs who pay the players.

“Changing it is difficult, but it would be good if they don’t try to take more of the football calendar away from the domestic leagues. That means the players will end up playing too many games and get injuries, which is just no good for the players, the clubs or for football as a whole.”

Plenty of people will consider it a bit rich of a Premier League chairman to complain about self-interest, considering how regularly that accusation is directed towards the 20 top-flight clubs, but Bloom doesn’t shy away from addressing awkward topics.

Shirt sponsorship by gambling firms is especially delicate for him, given that a large slice of his personal wealth has been accumulated from a sports betting empire.

The Premier League wants clubs to support phasing out shirt sponsorship by gambling companies to avoid a ban imposed by government.

A vote by clubs on the matter has been delayed by the League until later this month due to the government crisis. Gambling minister Chris Philp was among the raft of resignations preceding the resignation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Bloom, a father of two, is in favour of a ban. He explains: “From a personal point of view, it’s really important to be aware of children seeing gambling or betting advertising on the shirt in particular, because they buy shirts.

“We are aware of that. We’re not against gambling or betting at all, but the advertising certainly when it comes to children we’re aware of.

“Although we do have some gambling advertising around, we are careful where we place it, so we are probably a bit more cautious than some other clubs.

“I don’t think having gambling sponsorship on shirts is good, but I understand that for some clubs, particularly clubs down the leagues with much less revenue, the gambling companies pay the best so it’s a difficult decision to turn them down.

“Although there is gambling advertising all around, I just think on the shirts it’s the most obvious, so that would give me the most concern.”

Under Bloom, Brighton have been cautious about aligning themselves to the cryptocurrency markets, which have crashed around the world.

An investigation by The Athletic’s Joey D’Urso revealed Brighton are the only Premier League club to have steered clear of cryptocurrency sponsorship.

Bloom says: “As much as we can, when it comes to sponsors we take our responsibility seriously in terms of who we get, knowing that we are shown to huge amounts of viewers and our name is linked to those sponsors.

“There are different levels of sponsorship. Cryptocurrency is a new area — a very different type, so I’m not an expert at all — but we are careful about who we have.”

Although not an authority on cryptocurrency, Bloom knows all about the value of his players. He didn’t budge from a £50 million asking price when Ben White was sold to Arsenal last summer.

Now it’s Manchester City who are expected to make a move for Marc Cucurella. Bloom stated on Friday that no bids have been received for the left-sided Spanish defender.

For the second summer transfer window running, one of the Big Six clubs involved 15 months ago in swiftly aborted plans for a breakaway Super League with other European giants are interested in a Brighton player, which is an intriguing dynamic.

Business is business and Bloom is a pragmatist. He will drive a hard bargain, as he always does, if City really want Cucurella and are prepared to pay accordingly.

Speaking about the Super League six clubs in general, not just City specifically, Bloom says: “They were trying to kill off football clubs like ourselves, but life moves on — you can’t not talk to these people.

“The Premier League is what it is because those six clubs bring in a lot of the revenues, they bring in a lot of the viewers and we get huge broadcasting deals because of them, so there’s no point not speaking to them. We just need to work with them.

“There are difficult discussions sometimes but, the way the Premier League is set up, quite rightly in my opinion each of the 20 clubs has one vote. So, there’s only so much they can do.”

They could not do much about Potter’s emerging team last season with the exception of City, who were 4-1 victors at the Amex Stadium and won the return meeting 3-0 at the Etihad.

Bloom needed no extra motivation to be “extremely satisfied” by thrashing Manchester United 4-0 at home, wins back-to-back away to Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, two draws against Chelsea and a 2-2 draw from 2-0 down against Liverpool at Anfield.

Yves Bissouma has gone to Tottenham for around £30 million. Brighton had prepared themselves for the departure of the Mali international defensive midfielder, as he was entering the final year of his contract and showed no inclination to sign a new deal.

Approximately half of the money for Bissouma has been spent on versatile forward Julio Enciso from Libertad — a Paraguay international at the age of 18 — and Simon Adingra from Danish side Nordsjaelland.

The Japan winger Kaoru Mitoma was also introduced to European football last season on loan to RUSG after signing last summer from Kawasaki Frontale.

Mitoma is among nine Brighton players on course for the World Cup now that Tariq Lamptey has switched from England to Ghana — an indication of the club’s progress.

They have Robert Sanchez (Spain), Leandro Trossard (Belgium), Alexis Mac Allister (Argentina), Andi Zeqiri (Switzerland), Moises Caicedo and Jeremy Sarmiento (Ecuador) and Kacper Kozlowski (Poland).

It would have been 10 players, but Kozlowski’s compatriot Jakub Moder is sidelined after cruciate knee ligament surgery.

Bloom regards the squad as Brighton’s strongest ever, even without Bissouma. “We’ve brought in players and players that have been on loan,” he says.

“Julio has gone into the first-team squad and we had quite a few players in the squad last season under the age of 24 that are a year older and more experienced.

“Obviously we’ve lost Yves, who has been a tremendous player for us, but I’m comfortable with the position we’re in.”

Brighton absorbed the loss last season of technical director Ashworth, who resigned in February and was placed on gardening leave for four months before joining Newcastle once compensation had been agreed.

They finished ninth (their highest top-flight finish) with 51 points (10 points more than their previous best Premier League tally).

Former Rangers, Everton and Scotland defender David Weir has been promoted from loans manager to technical director, ensuring a smooth transition.

The Ashworth era accelerated Brighton’s recruitment model of developing young players signed at relatively low cost, utilising data from Bloom’s betting companies.

“It was certainly disappointing that he (Ashworth) left,” Bloom says. “You’re not surprised about anything in football. I’m certainly not surprised that another club wanted his services. Dan is exceptionally good at what he does.

“I wasn’t expecting it just then, because we had such a good relationship and he was such a good fit for the club, but things move on.

“David’s come in and started really, really well, and so that’s just the way of football and life. There’s evolution.”

Bloom still has Potter and chief executive of 10 years Paul Barber, who runs the club day to day on the chairman’s behalf.

The trio were back together over dinner last week after the summer break to discuss the state of play.

Bloom is aware of Potter’s reputation as one of the brightest minds in the game. The 47-year-old has been linked with Tottenham, Everton and Manchester United during his three seasons in charge. He is regarded by many as a natural successor to Gareth Southgate as England head coach.

“Absolutely I can see why,” Bloom says. “He’s a top manager in the Premier League, he’s English and the media will regularly want to talk about replacements, the next possible England manager or future England manager.

“Amongst a few other ones who manage in the Premier League, he’s going to get mentioned. It makes total sense.”

Potter is halfway through a six-year contract, extended by Bloom within 13 games of his appointment in May 2019 in succession to Chris Hughton.

How far can they climb? Bloom, pausing to contemplate his answer, says:  “If we can match or better last season’s ninth, that would be amazing. We know that will be very tough, because ninth the way the Premier League is was a superb result and you’ve got so many really good teams and a lot of teams with much higher budgets than us.

“I don’t want to put an actual position on it. We just want to perform well, play to how we can and I’ll be very happy. We could end up in a good place.

“I know one of our previous managers (Gus Poyet) did like to put a ceiling on it, which I never agreed with, but we do accept the fact that Man City and Liverpool at the moment are so unbelievably good.

“It will change. In history, you can stay on top for five years, 10 years. At some point, something will change: players will go, the head coach will go; it won’t be the same. Particularly in the Premier League, where it’s so competitive.”

For the time being, Brighton have entered the next phase of their development, with players good enough to attract big sales to big clubs.

Bloom says: “It is a positive sign. We’re in a position where our best players, if they do get sold, will get sold to the top six clubs. As long as we’re prepared for that and we invest in our academy and we invest in other young players, so that when these things happen we are prepared, it’s got to be a good thing.

“It’s not always good at the moment it happens. We’d prefer them not to be sold but, as a general rule, that’s a sign that we are doing a lot of things right — when the biggest clubs in the world are interested in our players.”