Data Analysis on Players.

[Shr1mperBlue]

No one and no where has it been said that player recruitment is all being carried out by a computer and that the computer says yes or no. The ‘data approach’ is simply an extra layer in the process. Players will still be scouted, hunches will still be investigated. They’re trying to pull us into the current world and stop us being all 1980’s about it. Buying and selling for profit is going to be a huge part of our future success, we need a modern recruitment system. FFS.

 

[Grayson]

I'm pro data but we can't compare Shivaas Gulati with Brentford.

Matthew Benham runs an organisation that became successful in the business of analysing key indicators in sport that drive successful and winning teams, particularly in football. They have used it to bet profitably and run successful clubs. Shivaas has not.

Like others have said it is a useful tool in addition to means. But we cannot just refer to Brentford and Brighton success as if it works for everyone. Their businesses put their money where their mouth is in this field, literally.

 

[kentblues]

Don’t worry, we have the best scouting and recruitment team in the league……..apparently

We might have…and we might identify many prospects….but then we have a transfer committee to navigate and a software program to pass. Is the scouting the problem, or getting to the point of agreeing we want to actually sign them? Sounds like it’s all working out (another way of saying their are glitches)

 

[Jai]

No one and no where has it been said that player recruitment is all being carried out by a computer and that the computer says yes or no. The ‘data approach’ is simply an extra layer in the process. Players will still be scouted, hunches will still be investigated. They’re trying to pull us into the current world and stop us being all 1980’s about it. Buying and selling for profit is going to be a huge part of our future success, we need a modern recruitment system. FFS.

Yep as always people have let their imaginations run away with them.

We have no idea how data is being used. Personally I'm as cautious as anyone when it comes to using analytics, there's so many things you can't replicate. However, it can be a useful aid for certain things. I hope and would expect it's just one of the layers of our scouting.

 

[TrevorFitzpatrickHattrick]

The data available at this level and below is going to be harder to collect, have more gaps and therefore be less reliable. I really am hoping that it’s a more equitable decision-making process than just Gulati running it solo, otherwise I think we’re f****d.

 

[Sufc.2008]

I’m all for a data driven approach, or a scouting based approach… but with either of them, it would be nice to pull the trigger and sign a player or two. We’ve had massive gaps in the squad all season, and whatever method we’re using to identify players, I’m not sure it’s the problem - where’s the output?

Unless Gulati’s laptop has blown up of course, could explain it.

 

[Holy Joe]

The quote says that Gulati has "turbocharged the desire" ..... to add data analytics to the recruitment process.

Sounds to me like this was a route we were going down anyway, with or without Gulati. It's just seems that he has knowledge in this area and has sped up the process and/or made it more in depth??

 

[NZamba Legend]

I'd prefer as Callum said above, not to try this out in the middle of the season, but do all the research and let this play out during the summer at targets we may have for then, but then again, I'm not investing £1,000s into the club.

Arguably middle of a season where we’re going nowhere fast is the right time to try it out

 

[Barry.C]

Tom also said we have a new recruitment process we are bedding in

Fantastic at one level or Terrifying at another. A bit like investing in my portfolios
What happened to the previous system
Im sure he didnt mean John Still is back seated

 

[Sunnyshrimper]

Very interesting spread of comments. I appreciate old school scouting reports, that will always play a part for the intangible qualities like leadership and personality fit for the squad environment but its limitation is it is subjective. I’d challenge how many success stories we have had recently, signings that have really moved the needle? It’s a couple, small minority of the overall. Analytics is already widely used across football including our club. Players wear tech to track their stats, that’s shared with sports science department for injury avoidance and recovery, then there’s diet plans & conditioning etc. Why should analytics not ALSO be used as an input for player scouting? We need a blend - objective data and subjective assessment from experienced wise football men. I’d also say now is exactly the time to try it, what do we have to lose?

 

[Paddypel]

I’ve got no problem with a data driven approach to recruitment but stats aren’t everything. Look at Paul Mullins goalscoring record prior to rocking up at Cambridge… sometimes you’ve gotta have faith in a management team to take a rough diamond and make him a better player

 

[Jim Levenstein]

I’ve got no problem with a data driven approach to recruitment but stats aren’t everything. Look at Paul Mullins goalscoring record prior to rocking up at Cambridge… sometimes you’ve gotta have faith in a management team to take a rough diamond and make him a better player

Well, you know, you'd like to think the data driven approach would be a little more than looking at goals scored.

 

[Sunnyshrimper]

I’ve got no problem with a data driven approach to recruitment but stats aren’t everything. Look at Paul Mullins goalscoring record prior to rocking up at Cambridge… sometimes you’ve gotta have faith in a management team to take a rough diamond and make him a better player

It’s a fair point. To play devil’s advocate and it is subjective…how many players have come in as rough diamonds though and been polished by the management team into a better player? I’d say Pepple, Cardwell, GSM yes. All have developed wel and proven to be good investments / we’ll turn a small profit.

I think Morton, Wind, Appiah Forson, Kendall & Gubbins may in time but not certain to.

The longest list is the rest and I could argue some have become worse players who I expect could go on and do better elsewhere

 

[danbowen]

The issue is we identify a player and then send everyone to watch them 40 times before they even go to the committee who take 5 weeks to get together and then it has to wait if a club negotiate the deal until they get back together and by that point the player has already moved twice and retired

 

[bazzashrimper]

We have always used data and all agreed that it was a good indicator. If we signed a striker who had played 300 games and scored 7 goals there would be a meltdown. This seems to me to be an extension to this (big extension).

On the face of it, this seems like a good thing to do. It will need a good model and a good set of processes (how to integrate with the human scouting, process to get the names on the whiteboard) etc. This would take time to set up which seems to be where we are today.

 

[KiwiRob]

I’ve got no problem with a data driven approach to recruitment but stats aren’t everything. Look at Paul Mullins goalscoring record prior to rocking up at Cambridge… sometimes you’ve gotta have faith in a management team to take a rough diamond and make him a better player

Very good point. Southend's best signings have often been players that had underperformed at their previous club(s), but have shown sufficient potential to really excel in a different environment. For those with long memories, Billy Best was precisely that type of signing from Northampton in the 1967/68 season. Ernie Shepherd, the manager who signed Best, took some heat at the time for signing a player that had struggled to win a first-team place at Northampton and had an erratic goalscoring record. But Shepherd clearly spotted Best's tremendous goal-scoring potential and, as they say, the rest is history. Would data analytics have the capability to find a player like Best with little track record as a regular goalscorer? But that is precisely what he turned out to be in a Southend shirt.

 

[Avl1983]

What seems odd is, why the data approach would slow things down, however good the data available is, it should be there ready to go, maybe we have the data but not a sound analyst of that data or there are differing opinions on which metrics are most important. Surely you’d sort all this out before attempting to implement it.

 

[Taters123]

The data approach/board meetings on potential targets should have been done before the Jan window opens, not during the month which should be used to secure the agreed targets (appreciate any late targets identified would still be subject to the above).

 

[LennySUFC]

The data approach/board meetings on potential targets should have been done before the Jan window opens, not during the month which should be used to secure the agreed targets (appreciate any late targets identified would still be subject to the above).

I imagine it was done in advance, doesn’t mean the signings happen within 10 days

 

[Strykr]

The data approach/board meetings on potential targets should have been done before the Jan window opens, not during the month which should be used to secure the agreed targets (appreciate any late targets identified would still be subject to the above).

We're still trying to download John Stills brain....