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It's my go-to for making my business stand out. From videos and social posts to flyers and logos. Search for Adobe Express to find out more and use it for free. The official Brighton & Hove Albion podcast. Fabian's first three games in the Premier League were tough. You'd certainly have settled for a 3-0 win at Everton, a home win over Man United and a draw at Arsenal when you appointed him when you were in the first month.
Which gives you more pleasure, paying less for a player than you were willing to pay or getting more for a player than you expected to get? They're both good and they're both tough to get. You've signed a lot of players over your time at the club. Any favourites? I'm not fishing by the way. The person who puts the ball in the net, the ones you remember most, that's why you've got so many fans, Glenn. I don't know about that.
Glenn Murray here with Paul Hayward back with another episode and it's the one we've been waiting for. Today on the podcast we speak to chairman and owner Tony Bloom. The man responsible for the incredible transformation of the club. Tony will give us the inside track on the biggest and best transfer window in the club's history.
His journey from a dedicated supporter to a pivotal figure for this football club is nothing short of remarkable. Under his guidance, the Albion have made impressive strides in the Premier League and we're here to delve into the vision and strategy that have fueled that success. Let's talk to Tony Bloom. The official Brighton & Hove Albion podcast. OK, well, Tony, it's been a dramatic...
Transfer window and an exciting one for Albion fans. A very large number of exciting young players coming into the squad. The emphasis in the market seems to have changed. You've moved up in price, purchase price, up into that £20-40 million sort of bracket. for several players. Can you just explain how the transfer policy has evolved this summer and why?
yeah it's always an evolving process and at the start of the window i wouldn't have been expecting to sign so many players so it's about circumstances and i don't look at it as one transfer window i always look at it multiple and over the last few years We've sold a lot of players and there hasn't always been the right time, the right players to bring players of a certain calibre in. And also circumstances whereby a lot of the Premier League clubs have got...
certain financial issues staying within the rules. So that comes into it. That certainly helped us when we purchased Yankubra at the end of June. And also I think a lot of big clubs on the continent. don't have the resources for some of the Premier League clubs in terms of competing with Brighton for certain players, so there's more availability for some of the players we've brought in. transfer windows gone we wouldn't have been able to get them so everything's aligned that we've obviously
spend a lot of money in transfer windows this particular season. I don't foresee that being the case over the next few transfer windows, particularly with the amount of young players we've got both within the squad and also... investment players we've bought and have gone out on loan really top top young players and on top of that we've got some great prospects in our academy some of them have now gone out on loan and so we're in a really good shape because ideally we don't have to spend
big money on transfer fees for players right now in the squad. But circumstances have been that this season it's all come together and we've all a lot. of expensive players who are into the first team squad straight away. Right, so this isn't the new normal, this is a distinct set of circumstances that's led you to spend in this way, is that right? Yeah, you've just got to be opportunistic and also, you know...
looking at the circumstances at the time and looking at it over a two or three year period when it doesn't look anything too far different. It's just all happened in one small transfer window. Has the process of bringing players into the club become easier? You must find that there's more of an appetite.
of people wanting to join the football club. Yeah, there's no doubt about that. We've had success in the Premier League. We've had success... qualifying for europe and having a good european campaign as well and just the facilities here at the training ground are superb the reputation we've got and um and fabian very young
head coach but again i think that when he's had conversation with prospective players are really bought into his ideas and that conversation's gone really well um there's no doubt about that and in terms of our processes of finding the right players for the football club, that continued improving those processes all the time, which makes the chance of any signings who come in to be a success, you know, in my view, our chance of...
those signings doing well is increasing year by year because of what we're doing internally yeah i mean i do feel that um especially at the highest level of the game in the Premier League, people expect to sign the finished product, but we don't. We actually give people minutes to get better, and I don't think many teams offer that in the Premier League.
Yeah, I think a lot of the players we do bring in, they may be young players, but they are at the level now. The great thing when they're young... is they've got room for improvements. We bring in a really top player and then they improve with their own environment, with Fabian's coaching, then you end up with a world-class player. That's what our aim is. You've talked in the past, Tony, about how...
poker, being a brilliant poker player, equipped you with decision-making skills and good football business skills. I wonder, do you enjoy the cut and thrust of transfer dealing? it's quite challenging at times and you're often looking to bring in players really top players from that particular club or that particular league and a lot of the time they're not
wanting to sell that player. Sometimes the club realizes they need to and then it's a negotiation on price but sometimes they really don't want to lose them. So it's tough and it's only getting tougher. You know, when a Premier League club, any club, comes in for a player, the price naturally seems to go up. And so we haven't always got the cards.
um the best cards to play sometimes we do some circumstances allow you know we've always got to be opportunistic for situations so yeah look we know how It all operates and we're very well attuned to it, but it can be tough. But what we always make sure is we never have... one player that we need to get at all costs. There's either a few different players we may go for, and if there's a particular position, although we want to improve, if we can't get one of the few players.
then we've always got within the building players who can play. So we never... Go after one player at all costs, and that's really important because otherwise you've got a bad poker hand. Right, okay. Well, which gives you more pleasure, paying less for a player than you were willing to pay or getting more for a player than you expected to get?
They're both good and they're both tough to get. I wanted to ask, obviously, we've made a lot of signings over this transfer window, but at what financial level do you step in? When it comes to the transfer window and players in and players out, I'm very involved in discussions with David and Mike Cave. And is that at all levels down to the 23 level?
Yeah, obviously the lower levels you go down, I'm aware of it and there's conversations, but I'm much less involved, you know, when it's academy level and certain levels when it comes to sort of, yeah. Under 18s, under 16s, I'm not really involved there. But certainly under 21 level, I am involved. They keep me informed of the situation. We have discussions. But less so, much more obviously when it's first team level or big transfer fees.
These figures you see for transfer spending, they don't take into account how much you've brought in, do they, very often? Nevertheless, only Chelsea spent more in this transfer window. I mean, it would be fair to say that it took people by surprise, didn't it, to see Brighton so active in this window. Nobody really saw that coming, did they?
Yeah, I would imagine. So I don't, you know, I'm not in other people's minds, but we just don't worry. We don't focus on that at all. We always think of our processes. What's right? for Brighton and have Albion Football Club at any moment in time. And then we do what we need to do. We're always trying to improve. We've always got ambitions to be better than we already are. It won't always be the case. We can't.
And certainly when everyone looks at the finishing position at the end of the season as that's what that year's been, we can't... always get better and better but at the start of any season we always try and improve and be better we always want to do well and we we hope at the start of any season that winning a domestic cup competition is possible and we always look forward to those a lot. It sends a really strong message doesn't it because
You know, people outside the club might have started to say, well, unfortunately, Brighton do have to sell their top players every now and again to keep the business rolling. And because those players have ambitions and big clubs come in for them. By doing this in this transfer window, you've really made a statement about the strength of the business and the strength of the club, haven't you?
Yeah, I think over the last few years, things have changed somewhat and we have got a lot stronger financially. And so our ambitions continue to rise. But I think literally like any club in the world, apart from maybe one or two.
your best players are vulnerable to leave. And we don't have a problem with that. It's not like we want them to leave, but if they want to leave and we get the right offer, we will not stand in their way. And then we've obviously got young players coming through. We can invest in other players. We sometimes bring in...
as you've seen this transfer window, a player straight into the first team. Did we get everyone we were after in the transfer window? We didn't get absolutely everyone we were after. We got almost everyone we were after, which is a pretty...
good hit rate so i'm absolutely delighted with the transfer business we've done the players we've brought in um what i've seen so far it's still early days they're fitted into the group the environment i know we haven't seen some of the players uh play and and obviously
you know, hugely disappointed with that horror challenge to see only Matt O'Reilly for a few minutes, but he had his operation say that it's been successful. So really looking forward to seeing him back at some point latter part of the year. You know, I think it's really important to bring the right players and not just top quality players, that goes without saying, but the right players with the right personality fit for our football club. And from what I've seen, from what I've heard...
Everyone has fitted in and it's really new for some of the players we've just signed last week. But it looks really positive from where I'm seeing things at the moment. How big is that when you go to sign a player? Everyone can identify a player and their skill set on the field, but how important is their personality when it comes to bringing someone to the football club?
Yeah, we look at that in a good amount of detail. That is really important. So lots of things have to be right to bring any football player into our club. And obviously the ability, how... the head coach sees them fitting in. And it's obviously, you know, the transfer has to be right. The player salary obviously has to be right. They've got to want to come. We've got to deal with the agent. But their fit, their personality, this is really important.
they're going to fit into our environment how they're going to get on with our players and what they're going to bring to the club not just in terms of on the pitch which is really important but off the pitch as well and after what has been probably the most exciting transfer window in the club's history. Now the work begins, doesn't it, for the next one and the second and the third one. Is it true that there's an ever-evolving list of players that we keep an eye on throughout the years?
Yeah, we're always looking for many future transfer windows. There's a lot of players that we're consistently looking at, and that doesn't stop. That's all year round. As I said before, we've done a lot of business this transfer window, so I'm not expecting that much in the next two or three transfer windows, even if one or two of our key players go, because we have such strength coming through.
It's a challenge to a new manager, any manager to manage this at the high level of integration, isn't it? And new people coming in and keeping them all happy and developing them all.
When you chose Fabian Herzler, did you see those qualities in him as sort of ability to work with players and manage people's expectations and integrate players, you know, new players? Yeah, that is one significant element of... of the head coach it's one which we weren't so sure about because we hadn't seen too much but when we chatted with him he was very calm um it doesn't get too emotionally high too emotionally low which i think is a positive i mean it is good to show emotions
And sometimes when goals happen, last minute winners, everyone's going to be very exuberant. But generally in his day-to-day business, he's calm, which is really important. It's a really tough start. He's come in. to a new country, you know, a new league, a new club, and it's the best league in the world. The fact that he speaks really good English is a big advantage, but it's still very tough. And then we've got...
Lots of transfer activity, lots of new players coming in, lots of discussions about that. We try for him not to get too involved. His main role is just with the players he's got, with the coaching, with the tactics. But obviously, naturally, he's going to be involved. With the players we've got coming in, you know, he needs to be aware of them. He needs to speak to them. And that has gone...
a lot better than I could ever have envisaged. His demeanour, his ability to communicate with everyone, with his players, with his staff and with the media, that's all gone. better than I could have hoped for. You'd certainly have settled for a 3-0 win at Everton, a home win over Man United and a draw at Arsenal when you were appointed in, when you were in the first month. Yeah, the first three games we thought were...
were tough. We're always confident in any game we go to, but we know how tough the Premier League is and that group of three games for Fabian's first three games in the Premier League were very tough. We would be fine if they hadn't gone so well, but it's a real big bonus.
for Fabian and for the whole club that we've started the season so well. Because you just know what external pressures can bring. Internally, we can handle those things. We know the Premier League is always pressure. We like to think as a club, there's less pressure on us than there are. on other clubs, but we know there's pressure. So the fact that we've started the season so well, you know, I'm really delighted for Fabian and everyone at the club.
You've obviously appointed and worked with a lot of managers now. Does Fabian remind you, has he got any attributes of a former manager? Just because when you described him there, you said he never gets too high, never gets too low. And that really reminds me of Chris Hewton. He was very much... on that even keel. No matter how many won, how many lost, he was always going to be the same.
Yeah, I mean, Chris was very stable emotionally, you know, in those things, which I think is really good. And Graham was to some extent as well. Roberto had other qualities, but he certainly had his emotional highs and lows and everyone's different. that can have benefits as well. But certainly, yeah, in that regard, he's more similar to Chris and Graham as well.
Just going back to the transfer trading, we ought to mention Paul Barber and David Weir because people wouldn't see the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes. And Paul Barber's contract's been extended to 2030. How kind of invaluable is it to have a chief executive, a guy in a chief executive role who can work that well and that consistently at that level? It's a great benefit to you, isn't it? Yeah, as I've said many times in the past.
I personally, and us as a club, are extremely fortunate to have Paul Barber as our chief executive. The fact that he and I get along so well is a huge bonus on top of that. But I can rest easy knowing that he's on top of all the details of everything at our football club. And there's a lot of detail. There's a lot of things going on all the time. And because...
with Premier League club or even any football club, it's in the public domain. So if anything goes slightly wrong or anything is there, you know, the media get to find out about it often. And so he's, you know, he's exceptional in so many ways. And on top of that, a really safe pair of hands to run our football club. And in terms of the transfer window, it's been a really busy window. It's a huge credit to obviously David Weir, Mike Cave, who used to come in when Sam Jewell went to Chelsea.
He's running the recruitment for the men's teams overseeing the women's team. He's still assistant technical director to David for lots of other roles as well. So he's worked. phenomenally well and hard over the last three months and there's so many other people all the scouting team people who do a lot of research and also our legal and finance teams many, many different deals happening. It's transfers in, it's transfer deals, it's player terms, you've got to deal with the agents.
Everything has to be done right. And our club secretary as well has been really busy. So there's many people who... I have to personally thank and we as a club have to thank for allowing the transfer window to go so successfully. And that's on the men's side and the women's side. It's been... almost as busy. We've got 10 new players coming in. And that team with Dario, our new head coach, that's really exciting as well.
And all the people that you mention behind the scenes, obviously they don't get quite the plaudits that the first team do, but it's so important to have that foundation for the likes of Fabian. Because I always look at managers that come into the football club.
And they do well and they get lauded for doing well. And I always think, but everything's here and in place for them to do well. And the people you've mentioned there, they are that foundation that allow the managers to come in and concentrate with the players on the grass. Yeah, you're absolutely right. I mean, it is so important that we lay the foundations and we've got the environment here that if any head coach comes in...
that he can really focus on what we've brought him in. So any head coach we bring in these days, they're going to be an elite head coach. But we want to give them an environment to show those credentials, what they can do, working with the players, improving the players every day.
the training facilities and everything around works so they don't have to worry about a lot of the other things. And it's just everyone at the football club makes it what it is. So I was talking about the people who have really helped you in the transfer window. but there's so many other people at the training ground and also at the stadium and the support services. And there's many, many roles, the ground staff, that make the club what it is.
And not forgetting as well the Albion Foundation and all the magnificent work that gets done there in the community. And that makes a big difference. They all have a role, sometimes some... some are small roles but they all make a big make a difference at the end of the day to allow us you know on a saturday afternoon to compete at the highest level and i suppose we should ask why we've got you here with the
the amount of money that the football club spent in this transfer window. I'm sure there's a few fans out there who have a slight concern, but we are in a healthy place when it comes to PSR. We're in a very healthy place with PSR. It's done over three years. We've got no concerns there. The rules are likely to change and the future will be season by season. But I can assure everyone that we would always... stay within any financial rules that are set by the Premier League.
That process you just described of getting all the right people in the right places, good people in the right jobs, was that always a kind of business idea of yours or did you learn that here or did you have it in your original business as well? Yeah, I think it's always been the right philosophy of mine. I mean, any business, I think, is pretty basic thing. It's not easy ways to have, but that should always be, you know, any business owner, any CEO.
Any board of directors should be thinking along those lines. To get to that position has taken a number of years. And in the early days, certainly, we wouldn't have got everything perfectly right. It takes a bit of experience sometimes.
to get that right thing. And we certainly had the budget to do that. Initially, we need to get to the championship to have a bit more budget. And obviously the Premier League is where we're always aiming, where you have got... enough revenues that you can actually invest properly in facilities and staff and long-term planning, which is a really important thing of the football club.
Yeah, because there are people out there in business and so on looking at you and your model, your business model and how you operate and thinking. how the hell does Tony Bloom do that? I wish I could learn some of that. He's kind of good at it. Yeah, he's good at it. What can I learn from Tony Bloom? People are asking you all the time for tips and advice. Occasionally, yeah. I think one of the main things...
is long-term planning that people who get involved in football clubs it's often it's the here and now and it's the first team and it's the players and don't worry about their ages don't worry about the transfer fees it's just getting promoted or getting into Europe. You know, and I take a different view and I take the long term view. And, you know, you've got to do it in small steps, incrementally.
look to continue to improve in all aspects. And you can do that in lots of small steps, but over a number of years, you can get into a much, much stronger position. And the other key thing is obviously bringing in the right.
head coach and the right players and it's easier said than done um but that's where we spend a lot of time because if you've got the right players and not as we've talked i'm not just top ability but the right characters that will get you a long way and that helps everything else at the football club that helps you know if the football club's doing well that helps bring fans in helps revenues there helps commercial more partners want to be involved in you so it really starts
you know with the first team players but then that helps obviously with everything else including the whole academy where we've invested for many many years and we're starting to get lots of fruits of that you know investment You mentioned long-term planning there. And all those years ago when you took over the football club, was this a secret kind of long-term plan for you to reach these heights or was it more of a dream?
Certainly we had long-term plans. Well, I remember when I took over, I think Glenn... We met up in the summer. I think you were looking potentially to have a move. And I'm sure I talked a little bit about long-term planning. I may have talked about the Premier League. And certainly the Premier League was always a long-term work.
plan in terms of building the stadium and then soon after taking over getting the site for a top quality training ground where we could get category one academy status so I think that was always there and then obviously
you want to get to the Premier League and stay there. Beyond that, back in 2009, I wasn't looking beyond that. Obviously, as time evolves and as soon as you get into the Premier League, you've got to be aiming higher and higher. In those first couple of seasons... as i'm sure you remember it was all about staying there um you know and it wasn't until maybe the third season that we were looking beyond that we've got to have you know
a vision just beyond staying in the Premier League, however tough it was. And, you know, seven years in the Premier League, you know, we are established member of the Premier League. We don't take that for granted. We know how tough it is. I mean, this set of 20 teams, as is...
High quality the Premier League has ever seen, maybe similar to two seasons ago. I mean, 19 of the 20 teams are the same. But we always have to aim high, have strong ambitions. I think it was 2020, you know, when we... publicly set out our long-term vision for them for the men seem to be consistently top 10 and for for the women's top four i mean that ambition back when you took over the football club
for the state that the football club was in at that moment in time was huge. Yeah, I get that. But you've got to be having those ambitions. You know, it was a joy to see. The stadium being built as it was then, 22,500. As I knew back then, we were soon going to get up to 27,500. And then as it transpired, you know.
The demand was there, so we got to 30, 31, and now just over to 32,000. But you've got to be ambitious, because otherwise, what's the point? I wouldn't want to be spending that amount of money to be in the Championship or League One. Whether it came to fruition or not, you've got to be aiming high. And I think that's true for a lot of these clubs outside the Premier League.
When the club spends £30 or £40 million on a player, do you think that raises the expectation of selling clubs? So in other words, will they become harder to deal with now? Will they say to themselves, well... Brighton are spending more, therefore we're going to push them harder in a negotiation. Is that going to test your negotiating skills even more, do you think?
i think it's always been like that i think it's harder when you're in the premier league you know and i think the last two years have not been easy when we're trying to purchase players. But I think that's true of all Premier League clubs and almost true of any club. Any club who's got a wanted player is going to negotiate hard. So I think we just...
take that and accept the fact that some clubs will not want to sell their players or make the price too high and then we move on. As I said, we're never going to be beholden to any one club or any one player. Is Jael Pedro a good example of everything going right in your process? Because, you know, you paid a fair amount for him, but already he looks to be way more than you spent for him. Is he a classic example of good recruitment?
Good development, good potential, good future for this club. I mean, you must be very satisfied with the Jao Pedro acquisition. Yeah, for sure. I mean, Jao Pedro is a superb... He's fitted in brilliantly when we bought him. Well, he's still young. Those are the sorts of players we like. He was at a high level when we bought him and he's improved since then. You want that to happen.
to all the young players you buy won't always be like that. But for sure, I mean, he's been a tremendous purchase. We love having him in the club and, you know, he's a key player for us. signed a lot and you've been in charge of a lot of players over your time at the club. Any favourites?
I'm not fishing, I'm not fishing, by the way. Glenn, you're looking for a bit of recognition here. No, actually, before you won the Football Club and when you were still a fan. Yeah, I don't like to talk about individual players too much. in terms of favourites since I've been here. But when I was growing up, 70s, early 80s, when I was young, I mean, the players... I mean, Mark Lawrenson was probably the best player I'd seen growing up, but he... Obviously, he went...
before I'd seen him play that often. So the two I remember the most were Peter Ward and Brian Horton, who were the key players in those days. Brian Horton as our captain. played all the time I don't ever remember him getting injured and Peter Ward just obviously when you're young the person who puts the ball in the net the ones you remember most that's why you've got so many fans Glenn I don't know about that what era
Have you enjoyed the most at the football club? Or whose era, could I say, which manager? I think that the year we got promoted, for sure, because that getting into the Premier League, we got so close in previous seasons. That season and getting up has got to be right up there because we'd worked so hard for that moment. And as you know.
We were up there all the season, I think. All season long, I was confident. I remember, I think the goal you scored at the end of the match against Birmingham, I think it was just before Christmas. It was that goal. I thought, that is it. We will definitely get promoted. That's what it was for me. I mean, obviously, we still had a long way to go, but that was the moment I became...
really, really confident will get promoted. Look, I think the Premier League are playing in the Premier League against the best players, the best teams in the world. The first two or three seasons would ever struggle, but we... Stayed up, even that in itself was a monumental effort and a big achievement. The last three or so seasons where we were playing such good football.
and really competing and doing well against some of the best teams in the world, that's probably it. I think most Albion fans will agree with you on that one. You went a long way to hire a women's manager to Australia, in fact. Dario came with a very good reputation. What was it about him that attracted you to him? Yeah, the search for a head coach for the women's team. And we had a good amount of time that there's a long off season. So we took a lot of time in terms of that when we.
I met with Dario, he had the right qualities in terms of what we thought the women's team needed and the players that we had and the recruitment we were about to do. We thought he was just an excellent fit, very down to earth.
what you'd perhaps envisage a typical Aussie would be. And, you know, he got on really well with the people that he had a chat to, David, Mike, Zoe and Michelle. And I think we... instantly after meeting with him we'd obviously done a lot of research beforehand you know the feedback I got was yeah this is This is the guy. He will be a really good fit for us. He'd done really well. Obviously, we looked at his results, how we got on in Australia.
we have not been disappointed he's come in he's been impressed for fresh air and he's got on really well um with the women who have been here and We've recruited 10 new players. That's a lot. So there's a lot of settling in process for them. But I'm excited for the season ahead. I think we've got... a really good set of players and I think we're going to have an excellent season. The caveat to that is the Super League as a group of 12 teams has improved a lot.
You know, you have to improve just to stand still. I think we've done more than that. But I think the Women's Super League is definitely becoming easily the best league in Europe. And it's competing with the US league as the best league in the world.
When we spoke to Dario Vidicic, he was incredibly clear about what he wanted to do, and it reminded me of speaking to Fabian Herzler in a way. You're hiring people, and young managers have to be really clear, don't they? He's very articulate, very calm. So he reminded me, actually, of Fabian Herzler.
and Herzl a little bit. So you've hired two similar coaches in some ways, haven't you? Yeah, I definitely think so. It's probably not the biggest coincidence in the world. But, I mean, I've not had much to do with Dario, but the things I've heard about him and when I've heard him... um in the media there are definitely similarities between him and fabian and um you know we are one football club and there's although the the men's and the women's are quite separate in a ways some of the processes
that we're looking to do, you know, whether it's with recruitment and certain other areas, you know, we are looking for both the men's and the women's to understand what each other's are doing. And you can always, there's always areas to learn. We understand you're extremely busy. So thank you for joining us on the pod. And thank you for your wonderful insight of your football club. Thank you very much. I've really enjoyed it.
The official Brighton & Hove Albion podcast. Thanks to Tony Bloom there, Glenn. I think we learned a lot about how it happened, why it happened, and what's going to happen next. Yeah, that was a really nice, open, honest interview from Tony. He took us behind the scenes of his involvement in recruitment, but was quick to praise the team that... he's employed at all levels of the football club and how what's happening now is a culmination of all of that I suppose is the epitome of togetherness.
That's all we have for this episode. Hit subscribe now to join us every week for more great conversations. See you next time.