Had someone said to me back in 1990 that nearly 40 years later I’d be writing an article marking the retirement of long-time Albion director Ray Bloom, I would have said it would be highly unlikely.
Back in my days as the co-editor of the club fanzine Gull’s Eye, we ended up in the Hugh Court on the back of a legal action by club directors Dudley Sizen, John Campbell and Ray himself.
We lost, and while Ray later had some challenging times at the club when he appeared to be aligned with Bill Archer and Greg Stanley, all these years later ironically we’ve ended up as friends.
Ray’s Albion DNA is steeped in history: his father Harry was Mike Bamber’s vice chairman in the club’s exciting rise to the top flight in the late 1970s, the ‘Henry Kissinger’ of the Goldstone, the perfect conduit between Bamber and the legendary Albion manager Alan Mullery.
Ray Bloom | Picture courtesy of Brighton and Hove Albionplaceholder image
Ray Bloom | Picture courtesy of Brighton and Hove Albion
When they had a row, and they often did, Harry was always there to smooth things over, and when he sadly died in October 1980, on the way to a First Division fixture at Stoke, their next row without their peacemaker would be their last.
In the summer of 1981 they fell out over Mark Lawrenson’s transfer to Liverpool which resulted in Mullery walking out, leaving the club after five memorable years in the dugout.
Ray joined the board in the mid 1980s and has served the club for nearly 42 years, in both good times and bad.
The aforementioned association with Messrs Archer and Stanley did irk many supporters, myself included, and for a short time Ray effectively found himself involved in a bitter war which nearly destroyed the club.
As with a lot of things, as fans we don’t know the whole story, and on embarking on the research for my book last year, I came to the conclusion that Ray’s continued involvement with the Archer regime was borne out of loyalty to his father and, with the greatest respect, almost a naivety that believing in being in the Archer ‘tent’ he could directly change the course of events for both the benefit of the club and its fans.
Sadly, he eventually realised he couldn’t and resigned in 1996.
When he was invited back by Dick Knight just over two years later I was by then working for the sports team on BBC Radio Sussex. Clearly with the back story his return wasn’t universally welcomed.
We broke the story on air during an FA Cup tie at Leyton Orient, but again with fans and even sections of the media not being aware of the whole picture, history has proved that Ray’s return was a pivotal moment in the history of the Albion.
Initially helping with club’s return to the city in the form of the Withdean stadium, it also brought his nephew Tony back into the Albion picture.
Dick Knight saved the club and without him there wouldn’t be one today, but as we all know Tony then financed and built the new stadium.
Ray’s retirement from the board now clearly doesn’t end his association with the club – he joins Dick as an Honorary President of the Albion.
But naturally the Bloom Albion dynasty lives on, and the club’s board will now include Ray’s daughter Carina. How proud would Harry Bloom have been, to not only have his grandson Tony as chairman but now his granddaughter serving as a director.
But I can’t finish this article without talking about Ray the man, because it’s in times of adversity and trouble you really learn the measure of a person.
After initially forging a relationship as director and manager in the early 1980s at Worthing FC, Ray and Barry Lloyd enjoyed a lifelong friendship, and it was the way that Ray looked after Barry in the last years of his life that is a testament to the person he is.
A true gentleman in every sense or the word.
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