Edinburgh in Bloom – Celtic should consider this, maybe Hearts are coming

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The Celtic Star

·25. Juni 2025

Edinburgh in Bloom – Celtic should consider this, maybe Hearts are coming

With an EGM on the other side of the city picking up most of the headlines this week, with the news theRangers are coming yet again, there’s another major investor in Scottish football been speaking out with a bit less fanfare, but one which should be of interest to Celtic supporters in time, but fans of the Ibrox club more imminently.

Brighton owner Tony Bloom during the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers FC and Brighton & Hove Albion FC at Molineux on May 10, 2025 in Wolverhampton, England. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

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The Scottish football landscape might just have shifted again but perhaps not in the way many of us would have expected based on the media coverage so far this week.

While theRangers stumble around trying to convince their support success is yet again just around the corner, a new challenger has quietly, cleverly, and now officially, entered the Scottish football ring.

Hearts have just landed a financial injection alongside some genuine football nous, and it comes in the form of Tony Bloom.

‘Far too long’ – Tony Bloom sends message to Celtic and Rangers as £9.86m Hearts investment confirmed – That’s The Scotsman’s headline.

The Brighton chairman and data-driven football success story wherever he’s got involved, and let’s be clear, this will be ambition, and as they have called it ‘disruptive’ ambition at that.

Brighton owner and chairman Tony Bloom looks on during the Premier League match between Brighton & Hove Albion and Crystal Palace at American Express Community Stadium on February 03, 2024. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

This isn’t just a vanity project for Bloom, because he simply doesn’t do that

This morning, it was confirmed that Bloom has secured a 29% stake in the club via non-voting shares after the Foundation of Hearts, and I say this honestly and not to annoy our readership, one of the most admirable supporter movements in the game. And one who could have given good advice to another Scottish club on how to save their club, voted almost unanimously – 98.5% – to let him in.

In return, Bloom brings his brains, and a boardroom seat that will be filled by his right-hand cohort James Franks.

This isn’t just a vanity project for Bloom, because he simply doesn’t do that. The man turned Brighton from a seaside yoyo club into an analytics-powered Premier League model of sustainability. He helped Union Saint-Gilloise win their first Belgian title in 90 years. Now he wants to break the Glasgow’s football monopoly – his words, not mine.

“I firmly believe in the club’s ability to disrupt the pattern of domination of Scottish football which has been in place for far too long,” Tony Bloom

That domination he talks of is really Celtic’s, and historically Rangers’, you’d assume, though we all know who’s been doing the heavy lifting these past few decades.

And Hearts aren’t coming to the table empty-handed either. They’re already a well-run club with solid foundations—both metaphorically and literally, thanks to that fan-owned model.

However, with Bloom’s investment and his data-driven recruitment company Jamestown Analytics already embedded, we might just be looking at a new kind of football animal coming out of Tynecastle.

Franks, now officially with his feet under the table in the Hearts boardroom, issued the expected soundbite, when he said – “It was obvious to me just how special the club is.” – Birthday card stuff it might be, but it hits the right notes for the Hearts support.

Celtic v RB Leipzig – UEFA Champions League – Celtic Park Dermot Desmond in the stands ahead of the UEFA Champions League, league stage match at Celtic Park, on Tuesday November 5, 2024. Photo Andrew Milligan

So where does that leave Celtic?

Let’s keep things real for just now. Hearts still have to prove it on the pitch. Money helps, but it doesn’t win titles on its own. But while theRangers squabble over structure, signings, and corporate secrecy, Hearts are assembling something quieter, and likely also possibly much smarter, certainly more proven.

Hearts CEO Andrew McKinlay knows the significance, calling today “a hugely significant moment in this club’s history.” He’s right. You don’t attract this kind of investor unless you’ve built something worth buying into in the first place, and Hearts, off the field, have been a success story under Anne Budge, it is the football bit they’ve been struggling with, and badly so.

Brendan Rodgers with his players as they lift the Premiership trophy following the match between Celtic FC and St Mirren FC at Celtic Park on May 17, 2025 . (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

For Celtic, this could be good news—or bad, depending on how you look at it

For Celtic, this could be good news—or bad, depending on how you look at it. We’ve needed domestic competition that isn’t a basket case of assets and chaos-riddled for years. If Hearts play it right, they could be a genuine force.

But one thing’s certain, Tony Bloom’s Hearts aren’t just aiming for third place anymore. Time will tell if it’s enough to threaten Celtic’s dominance, that may come much further down the line, after all Bloom invested in USG seven years before his club won the Belgian title, but it is entirely possible the real challenge to Celtic might not be coming from Ibrox at all, it might be from Edinburgh.

I’m sure not everyone reading this will agree but Scottish football needs competition, because that’s what drives investment, sponsorship and what increases TV audiences, attendances and media deals.

That can only ever benefit Celtic. Competition drives up standards

Michael Nicholson, Chief Executive of Celtic FC looks on from the stands prior to the William Hill Premiership match between Celtic FC and St Mirren FC at Celtic Park on May 17, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

That can only ever benefit Celtic. Competition drives up standards, and although that may be more of a concern across the city just now, we need to ensure we are watching all our rivals, not just the current team operating out of Ibrox.

Niall J

We are delighted to confirm that the process for Tony Bloom’s investment in the club is now complete. The club would like to formally welcome Tony to the Hearts family and looks forward to working with him in forging a long and successful relationship. ℹ️ ⬇️
– Mittwoch, 25. Juni 2025

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