Hearts can end Celtic and Rangers’ Scottish Premiership dominance by winning title and reaching Champions League, says Tony Bloom | Football News

Brighton owner Tony Bloom has declared his unwavering confidence that Hearts will emulate Union Saint-Gilloise by becoming title winners and Champions League contestants following his investment in the Scottish Premiership club.

The English entrepreneur completed a £9.86m deal in June to secure a 29 per cent stake in the Jambos in non-voting shares.

With Hearts now in partnership with the same Jamestown Analytics data firm that has underpinned the success Bloom has enjoyed in establishing his beloved Brighton in the Premier League and as a shareholder of freshly-crowned Belgian champions Union, the 55-year-old is adamant the Edinburgh club should have “no ceiling” in their ambitions going forward.

In his first meeting with Scottish journalists ahead of Monday’s Scottish Premiership opener at home to Aberdeen, live on Sky Sports, Bloom outlined his intention to use shrewd recruitment to crack Celtic and Rangers’ 40-year duopoly of the Scottish top flight and help Hearts to their first league title since 1960.

“If we (Hearts) have not won the league title in the next 10 years, I will be very disappointed,” he stated.

“I want to make sure that we are in the talk to win the title at the start of each season and hopefully we won’t just talk the talk but we will walk the walk.

“Not being in the (Scottish football) bubble I think it’s easier for me. I’m not just saying that as somebody that’s putting some investment in, I’ve seen what we’ve done at Brighton, I’ve seen what we’ve done at Union Saint-Gilloise, so hence the confidence in where I think Hearts can go.”

While Bloom views his involvement with Hearts as “a very long-term project”, he believes Derek McInnes’ new-look team could win the title as early as this season, and at least split the Old Firm.

“I genuinely believe that this current Hearts squad is very strong and every season it will develop and get stronger,” he said.

“I think Hearts will have an excellent season. I think we can, even from this season, challenge for every tournament that we’re in.

“I truly believe in the squad of players that has been assembled, and I’ve got every faith in Derek’s ability to get the best out of them and to improve them.

“I think we’ve got a very good chance of at least being second this season.”

Scottish champions Celtic have to qualify for this season’s Champions League through a play-off but Bloom, who feels that is “a terrible situation for Scottish football”, believes Hearts can help boost the coefficent.

“Hearts will be a force and when we get into Europe we’ll be winning games and we will help lift that coefficient,” he said. “I hope that as and when Hearts do win the league, the coefficient is such that we go straight into the Champions League group stage, just like Union Saint-Gilloise have.

“By winning the league, they’ve gone straight into this season’s group stage of the Champions League.”

Bloom, who helped transform Union from second-tier strugglers to Belgian champions for the first time in 90 years last term, acknowledged his talk was bold, but he insisted he has a body of work to back up his words.

“I understand there will be a lot of Celtic and Rangers fans, maybe Hibs and Aberdeen fans, who will be laughing and saying ‘we’ve heard it all before’,” he said.

“That’s fine. I’m just saying as I see it, I’m not saying it’s going to be a straight-line success, I’m not saying we’re going to win trophies this season, that season, next season.

“I’ve just got a lot more confidence of what Hearts can do compared to when I did a first press conference at Union seven years ago.”

Watch Hearts’ Scottish Premiership opener versus Aberdeen live on Sky Sports on Monday from 7pm.