[Albion] The Story of Britain's Most Successful Gambler (Tony Bloom)

[Triggaaar]

Put paid to any conspiracy over our own goals too:

(Bloom's syndicate and Starlizard don't place any bets on Brighton, given Bloom and other directors' roles at the club.)

Not really. The number one conspiracy rule is:
Blindly ignore all of the facts.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Computers know everything

Let's just hope computer doesn't say no.

 

[beorhthelm]

Put paid to any conspiracy over our own goals too:

(Bloom's syndicate and Starlizard don't place any bets on Brighton, given Bloom and other directors' roles at the club.)

well, they would say that, wouldn't they? conspiracy rule no.2: denial means proof.

 

[Stat Brother]

So Tony Bloom is just the front man for some really rich people, got it.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

The one single thing that convinced me that Tony Bloom would never ever do the dirty on us, over and above the overwhelmingly glowing reports of his mingling with fans on away trips, is when he sponsored, and his horse happened to win, the Harry Bloom Memorial Trophy race up the Racehill a couple of years back. It was a random low-level nothing day up the hill, the prize money was something like £2K, but his obvious sheer delight in winning that race and proudly gathering his family and connections around him for the official photo totally convinced me that he was one of our all-time good guys. Top bloke basically

 

[hans kraay fan club]

What an excellent read, cheers to [MENTION=588]8ace[/MENTION] for posting. Fascinating stuff, including the bit about one of TB's great business rivals being Matthew Benham, the owner of Brentford FC - which must have made last week's 3-0 to 'Brighton FC' all the sweeter!

I remember when Poyet was manager, Bloom asked him if he could talk to the team just before we played at Brentford. He said it was the only time he had gone into the dressing room. We won that game.

Rumour has it that TB and MB had a LARGE private wager on the outcome of that game.

We won 1-0 thanks to a comical own goal from Karleigh Osborne. Probably not on Benham's Christmas card list!

 

[W.C.]

I remember when Poyet was manager, Bloom asked him if he could talk to the team just before we played at Brentford. He said it was the only time he had gone into the dressing room. We won that game.

I definitely remember something about that game too. Meant a lot to TB to win it.

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

This. And it is crucial to all of our continued enjoyment of Brighton FC.

He plays poker "only for fun" and yet was quite happy to bet 500,000 dollars on a one off match against a pro that he could not have been at all sure about beating.

I have always been a firm believer that someone with 200m+ in ready cash to use on a hobby must be worth at least one billion and probably more. Happy days.

THE WHOLE THING SOUNDS OBSCENE.......... . is he going to pay your bills
regards
DR

 

[LlcoolJ]

The Sunday Times rich list is mainly put together by interns and people on work experience who know nothing. And TB was very happy when he didn't appear on it at all ...

There are also people who lobby aggressively to get on to the STRL who aren't anyway near as rich as they say they are. I met a British / Sri Lankan businessman about 15 years ago who ran two "IT companies", won lots of awards for business growth and so on and successfully got himself on the ST "young rich list" with an estimated personal fortune of over £20m (he was tied with Beckham).

Turned out he was a total crook without a pot to piss in who ripped off banks, companies and HMRC for about a million quid before running away back to Sri Lanka.

 

[Official Old Man]

Interesting article.
Things that interest me though are-
If Starlizard are so well known, who would take a bet from them?
And has Tony got the boys to crunch the numbers for an Albion promotion?

 

[GingerBeerMan]

Interesting article.
Things that interest me though are-
If Starlizard are so well known, who would take a bet from them?
And has Tony got the boys to crunch the numbers for an Albion promotion?

It states in the article the Asian market takes large bets from syndicates regularly. As for te second question, I'm sure a level of statistics is used on the albion. Most obviously would be Burke's appoinent and approach to signings, more recently I'd say the splashing of big cash is a calculated risk as to how much that player increases our chance of promotion.

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

Anyone else think that with a few tweaks to his story he'd make a great Bond villain?

 

[Simster]

Anyone else think that with a few tweaks to his story he'd make a great Bond villain?

Yes. If anyone can keep secret his plans to build a nuclear powered underwater city with 3 pet great white sharks to whom he feeds any underperforming minions, it's our Tony Bloom.

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

Yes. If anyone can keep secret his plans to build a nuclear powered underwater city with 3 pet great white sharks to whom he feeds any underperforming minions, it's our Tony Bloom.

Presumably this Amex 'hotel' business is just a front for his Spectre-esque boardroom and H.Q.

 

[Stat Brother]

Yes. If anyone can keep secret his plans to build a nuclear powered underwater city with 3 pet great white sharks to whom he feeds any underperforming minions, it's our Tony Bloom.

Why does Mr Bloom need another nuclear powered underwater city with 3 pet great white sharks to whom he feeds any underperforming minions?

 

[warmleyseagull]

Great spot and good article. Slight inconsistency in mentioning Trebcca and St Minver early as if they were what set TB up, only later mentioning Premier Bet which is what I understood made him £00s of millions. I recall (think it was in We Want Falmer) that TB admitted that the stadium delay was something of a blessing in disguise as he would not have been able to invest as much had it been built earlier in noughties.

Like all businesses, the seeds of failure are within the kernel of success and there is clear evidence of copycat; there is no USP, just doing what they are good at better than everyone else. To a degree that is a zero sum game so I hope (and believe) his mindset is already on post Starlizard and how he can continue to pump £20+k a week into a hobby.

 

[El Presidente]

Interesting article.
Things that interest me though are-
If Starlizard are so well known, who would take a bet from them?
And has Tony got the boys to crunch the numbers for an Albion promotion?

Were they the boys who crunched that Chris O'Grady was a SNIP at £500,000 from Barnsley?

 

[El Presidente]

Great spot and good article. Slight inconsistency in mentioning Trebcca and St Minver early as if they were what set TB up, only later mentioning Premier Bet which is what I understood made him £00s of millions. I recall (think it was in We Want Falmer) that TB admitted that the stadium delay was something of a blessing in disguise as he would not have been able to invest as much had it been built earlier in noughties.

Like all businesses, the seeds of failure are within the kernel of success and there is clear evidence of copycat; there is no USP, just doing what they are good at better than everyone else. To a degree that is a zero sum game so I hope (and believe) his mindset is already on post Starlizard and how he can continue to pump £20+k a week into a hobby.

I think you will find the Albion have cost him £200,000 a week minimum for the last three years, and that's ignoring the cost of the stadium and Lancing.

 

[warmleyseagull]

I think you will find the Albion have cost him £200,000 a week minimum for the last three years, and that's ignoring the cost of the stadium and Lancing.

Indeed - missed a zero in my £20+k a week!

 

[Gwylan]

....his plans to build a nuclear powered underwater city with 3 pet great white sharks to whom he feeds any underperforming minions ...

Has anyone seen Chicksen lately?