Both Brentford and Brighton have recently reached the dizzy heights of the Premier League after predominantly playing in the lower leagues of English football. Brentford were even playing in League One just seven years ago back in 2014.
However, this hasn’t been achieved through heavy investment from rich owners, but more with savvy business acumen and targeting the right profile of players in the transfer market by focusing on analytics.
The Bees sealed their status in the English top flight for the first time in 74 years after they were promoted in 2021, whilst the Seagulls secured their maiden voyage into the Premier League back in 2017.
Below, we explore how and why the two clubs have been able to achieve such impressive success and how owners Tony Bloom and Matthew Benham have utilised “moneyball” tactics to elevate their respective clubs to the pinnacle of English football. You can find the latest spread betting odds on the English top flight here.
A Frosty Relationship
Interestingly, Brighton’s owner Bloom and Brentford’s owner Benham are familiar foes. The pair originally had a good relationship after Bloom hired Benham in the early 2000s to work for his company Premier Bet. Both owners come from well-educated backgrounds and have a history in using data, mathematics and statistical research.
However, the pair left on bad terms in 2004, eventually becoming business rivals in the football betting market. Following a similar philosophy in using data-driven analytics to predict the outcome of results and thus becoming professional gamblers, the two businessmen were in direct competition.
Expected Goals (xG) had yet to become widely used as a statistic in football and instead they hired people to watch over the chances created in a match, evaluating each opportunity in the process.
Now, Bloom and Benham are Premier League rivals and have both found success by utilising their similar models.
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What is Moneyball?
Brentford owner Benham was the catalyst for change in philosophy for the club when he purchased the Bees back in 2012. Instead of focusing on heavy investments on marquee players or facilities, he wanted to place his funds primarily into analytics.
These “moneyball” recruitment strategies allowed the club to triumph on a…
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