Investor Tony Bloom sat down with Hearts TV to discuss his role at the club, why he was keen to invest in Hearts and his hopes for the future.
The interview can be watched in full on YouTube, but below is a flavour of the Jambos investor had to say.
Why did you decide you wanted to be involved at Hearts?
I thought that Scottish football could do with a change, a change in dynamics, where it's not a two-horse race every season, or as it has been for the last 15 years, pretty much a one-horse race. Scottish football deserves better than that.
I thought that I could come in and make a difference. And then it was about speaking to a small number of clubs, speaking to people in Scotland who I respect. And when I met with Ann Budge, she sold the club.
The history, what happened when she took over, the fact that the club almost went out of existence with the old ownership. The fact that the Foundation of Hearts was such a key part of the club, it helped save the club. It still is so important with the donations from Foundation members, the difference that makes, the community of Hearts.
She sold it very, very well. I then did a lot more work and due diligence. But really, after that meeting, I was pretty much sold that Hearts was the club I wanted to invest in.
Were there any key factors or moments during that period of due diligence that set you on this course to investing in Hearts, or was it very much a case of sold from the beginning?
Pretty much sold as soon as I'd spoken to Ann, did a bit more early due diligence on the club and trying to understand about what the club is about and the history.
All my interactions with the people at Hearts were very, very positive. And I'm just delighted to be here. And of course, the supporters, Foundation members, overwhelmingly voted through your investment proposal.
How happy were you to see the resolution for your investment proposal passed so convincingly and how do you see your role at the club taking shape?
I was extremely pleased. You never quite know when things go to a vote. You don't know how Hearts fans, how Foundation members are going to react to potential investment from somebody south of the border.
So to get such a high percentage, such a vote of confidence, I'm very, very appreciative of those Hearts members who voted for me.
My involvement is very much in the background. I'm not involved at all in the day to day. That's the role of the executive team and the board of directors at Hearts. I can see myself giving a lot of strategic advice and insights to people at the club. And also, with my 16 years of experience and contacts in football, I think I can open lots of doors.
And I think that's the way that football clubs should be always looking to improve in many different aspects. And the way of doing that is meeting people at other football clubs, seeing how other clubs operate and trying to learn from that, but still do things the way which is right for Heart of Midlothian Football Club.
On James Franks appointment to the Hearts board:
I've known James for a very long, long time. He's a very good friend of mine. He's been working with me for over 17 years. He's a lawyer. He's my legal representative in many different aspects. Certainly, in terms of my investments in Royal Union St. Gilloise, Melbourne Victory and in Hearts.
He's been with me every step of the way there. He's a trusted advisor, a strategic advisor for me, and I think he'd be an excellent appointment for the board of Hearts. He's very passionate.
He's taken a big interest in Hearts, the history of Hearts, and I think he'd work very, very well with all the other board members.
What do you want to achieve at Hearts?
For too long, when I'm looking as an outsider, the Scottish Premier League, everyone's always talking at the start of the season about it being a two-horse race, it's Celtic or Rangers, and the last 15 years, by and large, it soon becomes a one-horse race and Celtic are dominating.
That cannot be good for football in this country. It's really not good for Scottish football. It's not good for the Scottish national team, and it's really not good when other teams are not doing well in Europe.
It really hurts the Scottish coefficient, which hurts everyone. So I think we can make a real difference and Hearts can become a factor, regularly qualifying for group stages of European tournament, and when we're in Europe, winning games and having some success, which will help lift the coefficient, which means that the champions of Scotland go straight into the group stages of the Champions League and not having to have two qualifiers. And when the coefficient is so low, it means that qualifying for the fourth and the fifth-place teams is much more difficult.
You sometimes have three rounds to get through and some of those games will be against tougher opposition. So we want to be challenging to win the league at the start of the season. That should be a challenge for Hearts, for the players, for everyone at the club, that we can win any game that we go into. We can contend to win any tournament that Hearts are in.
