{"id":304100,"date":"2025-12-08T00:02:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T00:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/304100\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T00:02:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T00:02:11","slug":"brighton-ban-guardian-from-stadium-over-reporting-on-tony-bloom-brighton-hove-albion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/304100\/","title":{"rendered":"Brighton ban Guardian from stadium over reporting on Tony Bloom | Brighton & Hove Albion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brighton & Hove Albion have banned the Guardian\u2019s reporters and photographers from attending matches at the Amex Stadium after it reported on allegations relating to the Premier League club\u2019s owner, Tony Bloom.<\/p>\n

The club notified the Guardian on Sunday to say it felt it \u201cwould be inappropriate for journalists and photographers from the Guardian to be accredited to matches at the Amex, starting from Sunday\u2019s game against West Ham\u201d. The move follows reports in the Guardian that have raised questions from MPs about the activities of Bloom, a billionaire who has made his money from gambling.<\/p>\n

The Guardian revealed last week that Bloom, the majority shareholder at Brighton, is being sued<\/a> in a lawsuit that alleges \u201cfrontmen\u201d were sometimes used when his gambling syndicate placed bets on sports events. The details were set out in a public document at the high court in London, which named George Cottrell, a close associate of the Reform party leader, Nigel Farage, as one person who acted as a front for the collective, known as the Starlizard Betting Syndicate. The case involves a dispute between Bloom and Ryan Dudfield, a former associate who claims he is owed a share of gambling profits.<\/p>\n

The syndicate makes about \u00a3600m each year in winnings, the document alleges.<\/p>\n

Bloom has yet to file a defence to the lawsuit. He did not respond to questions from the Guardian about the claim. Lawyers acting for Cottrell were approached for comment.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the Guardian published a second story<\/a> which focused on allegations Bloom could be an anonymous gambler behind $70m (\u00a352m) in winnings \u2013 which allegedly included bets on his football teams.<\/p>\n

Bloom declined to comment about this specific claim, but through a source made clear he denied betting on his own teams or competitions that involve them, describing any such allegations as \u201centirely false\u201d.<\/p>\n

Following publication of the Guardian story, Bloom issued a public statement through Brighton FC in which he said: \u201cI can categorically assure our supporters that I have not placed bets on any Brighton & Hove Albion matches since becoming the owner of the club in 2009.\u201d<\/p>\n

MPs have said these matters need to be properly examined.<\/p>\n

Clive Betts, the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on football, said on Friday that the Football Association needed to conduct \u201ca thorough and comprehensive investigation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Iain Duncan Smith, a former leader of the Conservative party, said: \u201cThe FA must be much more transparent about their lax policy concerning the use of gambling money in the running of their clubs.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Guardian said: \u201cIt is a worrying development that Brighton has introduced this ban. The questions raised by our reporting are in the public interest and have been pursued in a responsible manner.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brighton & Hove Albion have banned the Guardian\u2019s reporters and photographers from attending matches at the Amex Stadium…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-304100","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}