Betting on Brighton?

Who Makes the "Going Down" Flags?

With most eyes locked onto Old Trafford yesterday to see whether United would take out Chelsea in the Champions League (it did) or whether Fernando Torres would score his first goal wearing Pensioner blue (he didn’t) news that Brighton & Hove Albion will be promoted to the English Championship next season might have been slightly overlooked.

The Seagulls’ 4-3 victory over Dagenham & Redbridge last night–and no, there were only 2 teams on the field, not four–clinched automatic promotion for the League One side with 5 matches remaining. Gus Poyet, in his first full managerial role, has seemingly wiped off the funk that had been attached to him when he was Magic Juande’s assistant manager with Tottenham before Levy cleaned house to make way for Jowls Redknapp.

And while most of you lot probably care little for lower league English football, Brighton’s rise up the league after near relegation from the Football League and complete extinction a few years ago is one you’re familiar with. Brighton’s owner did not earn his wealth due to his connections and investments within the Russian energy market, nor did he inherit oodles of cash simply by being born above a vast field of black gold.

Instead, he learned when’s the right time to double down.

Yes, Brighton & Hove Albion have to thank the lucky hands dealt to owner/chairman Tony Bloom over the years for its current success. Having used some of his earnings from property investments (read as his usual seat at the high-rollers’ table) the “Lizard” pumped the Seagulls with interest-free loans a couple years back to improve the playing squad and has also sunk around £93 million into building B&H a lovely new stadium for next season’s Championship campaign. Claiming he’s no Abramovich, the lifelong Gulls supporter aims to have the Sussex-based club playing Prem football by 2019.

The scenes last night could be heart-warming–Gulls fans reportedly storming the pitch to celebrate after years of financial woes, poor finishes that threatened their league status, and a stint in the late 1990s when they were forced to travel 70 miles from Brighton for home matches. But does having a “professional gambler” for an owner, one who purposefully operates in the background and faces real questions as to whether he can continue to deliver on a new Championship-level of financing after dropping nearly £100 million on a new swimming pad not strike anyone else as a potential train-wreck?

Maybe B&H investor Fatboy Slim’s gotten enough royalties off “Praise You” to keep them together if Bloom craps out?