“Don’t ever switch off from those who might come through your door with a bright new idea.” Ged Roddy MBE, Premier League Director of Youth.
On 21st November a number of industry leaders and selected press gathered in Covent Garden at the invitation of Prozone and Amisco for a private screening of the new Bennett Miller-directed film, Moneyball. With the movie re-telling the story of Oakland Athletics’ General Manager Billy Beane’s successful implementation of empirical methods in baseball recruitment (sabermetrics), the unique screening and subsequent panel session were designed to initiate a debate as to whether it is possible to more fully apply those same principles to the game of football.
Chaired by business professor and UEFA ‘A’ License coach Chris Brady, the post-screening discussion panel consisted of former England Manager Steve McClaren, Chairman of the League Managers Association Howard Wilkinson, Premier League Director of Youth Ged Roddy MBE and Tom Glick, CEO of Derby County. Having absorbed Moneyball and the talking-points it raises, the high-profile guests talked at length about the importance of statistical analysis to their own roles and how it has enabled football clubs to make increasingly informed decisions in terms of their team selection and player recruitment.
With the distinguished panel having agreed that the use of empirical technologies is vital to those clubs looking to simultaneously achieve success and efficiency on the field, McClaren labelled the depth of information provided by Prozone as “the best coaching tool” he has access to, explaining that statistical aids help staff to quickly and clearly discover the data most relevant to their team’s specific issues. As Wilkinson added, the evaluation of empirical evidence leads managers to discover facts about the ability and effectiveness of their players which may not otherwise have been highlighted through more traditional channels.
Pointing out the success Beane had in bringing young players through at Oakland using his sabermetric strategies, Glick highlighted the fact that statistical scrutiny works equally well when deployed to assess the progress of academy players as it does with the first team squad. Roddy agreed, stating that there is a direct benefit of technology to player education, detailed analysis often facilitating vast improvements in the development of young talent. Indeed, Glick described tools such as those made available by Prozone as being essential to the process of squad management and knowing the right time to promote young players or, alternatively, to release older members of the team. Just as Beane did in baseball, football clubs now use data to be better informed when it comes to the practice of building a coherent team.
As the discussion moved on the panel came to agree that, should football clubs more fully adopt the fundamentals of sabermetrics, it must be implemented top-to-bottom throughout an organisation. Citing Beane’s difficulties in convincing his coach to believe in the Moneyball philosophy, Glick emphasised just how important a consistent methodological approach is to the achievement of success; Wilkinson citing Barcelona as an ideal model while McClaren explained the coherent structure he found in place during his time as manager of FC Twente.
There are obvious differences between the games of baseball and football, but the vision of Prozone and Amisco is giving football clubs the opportunity to, like the Oakland Athletics, hone their recruitment strategy through products like RECRUITER and maximise on-field returns through an engagement with analytical methods derived via PROZONE3 and MATCHVIEWER. Football may have initially lagged behind the statistical advances seen in baseball coaching, but pioneers in the field such as Prozone and Amisco are committed to giving clubs the technological means to advance their methods and achieve their ambitions at all levels.
With thanks to v-edition for media production.
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