Tony Bloom set to buy Belgian second tier club
Brighton and Hove Albion chairman Tony Bloom is set to purchase a second football club with a deal to buy Belgian second division side Union Saint Gilloise expected to be given the go-ahead at a general meeting of shareholders on Monday.
The Brussels based side are one of the most successful in Belgian football history having won the Belgian Title 11 times and finished up on eight occasions, although it should be stated they were all before World War II kicked off.
Currently in the eight team Belgian First Division B, they finished sixth in the opening tournament of the season and fourth in the closing tournament of the season. For reasons probably that only a Belgian person would probably be able to explain to you, the league is split into two different “tournaments” with each side playing each other twice in each “tournament”.
The winners of each “tournament” then face off in a two legged play offs to determine who will win promotion to the top flight. The remaining teams who finished in the top four but weren’t promoted then go into a play off system with the teams who finished seventh-15th in the top division to decide who will qualify for the Europa League while the sides finishing fifth-eighth in the second tier take part in their own play off with the loser of that being relegated into the amateur leagues.
Bloom clearly doesn’t have a problem with how bloody stupid or confusing all that is having agreed to purchase the club from their current German owner Jurgen Baatzsch. Baatzsch is set to remain as president.
Although it is being said that the deal is completely independent of the Albion, it isn’t hard to see the benefits that we could reap from it. Development squad players who aren’t really benefiting from under 23 football could be sent on loan to Union SG while Belgium’s less stringent laws on bringing in overseas players means that a new signing from South America who doesn’t qualify for a work permit could be signed by Union SG, play for them for a couple of seasons to qualify for an EU passport and then move to the Albion. Presuming of course Brexit doesn’t bollocks all that up.
It will also give the Albion a closer insight into the world of Belgian football in terms of finding potential signings. Belgium is of course where we signed Jose Izquierdo and Maty Ryan has spent most of his career in Europe.
Several teams in England have been taken over by individuals involved with foreign clubs with mixed success. Watford have become an established Premier League side under the ownership of the Pozzo Family who control Udinese and at one point, Granada as well.
Less successful has been the ownership of Charlton Athletic by Roland Duchâtelet who has owned more football clubs that Katie Price has had blokes, turning Charlton into a complete basket case while Brescia chairman Massimo Cellino’s tenure at the helm of The Leeds United was nothing if not entertaining.
Not many owners of English clubs have gone the other way bar Manchester City who’s City Football Group also part own New York City, Melbourne City and a host of other clubs. They’ve put that to good use by installing former Man City coach Patrick Viera in charge of New York in the hope of grooming him to be a future boss at the Etihad Stadium.
It will be interesting to see how Bloom’s investment plays out from an Albion point of view but one disappointing thing from a supporters perspective is that he has picked a club in Brussels. With the whole of Belgium available to him, he has picked one of the worst cities in a country featuring places such as Gent and Brugge.
Given that Belgian beer is still lovely and blows your head off, it probably won’t stop us visiting at some point next season.
