Martindale: It’d be ‘stupid’ to write off Tony Bloom in Hearts quest

Livingston manager David Martindale believes it would be “stupid” to write off Tony Bloom in his bold quest to help Hearts become Scotland’s champions.

The Brighton owner, who recently completed a deal to become a Jambos shareholder, has made waves in Scottish football by claiming in interviews on Sunday and Monday – during a visit to Edinburgh – that he would be “very disappointed” if the Tynecastle club have not won the Premiership title within 10 years.

Rangers and Celtic have won every championship between them since Sir Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen triumphed in 1985.

But Martindale has no doubt that Bloom, who has enjoyed notable success at Brighton and Union Saint-Gilloise with the aid of Jamestown Analytics, is equipped to back up his bullish words and crack the Old Firm stranglehold.

“Yep, I think he’s shown he can do it with Union, very, very similar,” the Lions boss said on Wednesday, referring to the fact USG, where Bloom is a shareholder, recently won their first Belgian title in 90 years.

“I think he’s given himself a lot of wriggle room by saying 10 years, but do I believe that they can achieve that? It would be a stupid man that would bet against it.

“If I was a betting man, I would put my money on Tony Bloom achieving what he said he’s wanting to achieve rather than saying he’s talking ludicrous. I’d definitely put my chips behind him because I think he’s shown he can do it.”

Martindale, whose club recently moved coach Brian Rice into a new head of football operations role, admitted he was “envious” that his Hearts counterpart Derek McInnes had access to Jamestown – an offshoot of Bloom’s Starlizard sports analysis firm – to underpin his recruitment.

“I’ve spoken about it at Livingston over the years, we’re a good bit behind with that, but bringing Chipper (Rice) in upstairs is kind of that first stepping stone to make us a wee bit smarter with our recruitment,” he said.

“But again, you need the resources behind you to help you with that and that’s always going to be a problem at a smaller club.

“For me, ideally, that would kind of be the basic fundamentals I’d like to work under, so I’m envious of Derek.

“I think your eyes make the final decision but I think data definitely puts them on your radar. You could say everybody’s using data, but I don’t think everybody does it the same.

“The way football life is going now, artificial intelligence is playing a massive part in your everyday life and it helps you make smarter decisions.

“Tony kind of implemented that artificial intelligence years ago with the Jamestown Analytics. He’s shown that he can do it at the highest level with a real high degree of success, so Tony taking his strategy into Hearts is going to obviously enhance Hearts.”