The good and the bad of football scouting

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Spend twenty minutes on football tactics X/Twitter and you begin to doubt what a forward pass is. In many ways it shows you the good and the bad of football scouting.  

Social media is full of internet tacticians. The game’s best minds post graphics, spreadsheets, presentations, and theories. Each intent on dissecting the game down to a molecular level.

It might be build-up play with two center backs. Three center backs. Four center backs. FIVE center backs. The DM as center back. The center forward as center back. The center back inverting. The full back inverting. The kit man inverting. And so on. 

It is endless. 

And that’s fine. There are a lot of clever people out there. And a willing audience ready to absorb it all. But for me, the effect is total overwhelm. 

It might be because I’m older. Or not eager (or equipped) to find work in the professional game. It might be the nature of social media. 

But if you’re new to scouting, or analysis, it must look like an impossible task.

You need skills in programming, video software, graphics, and psychology. And that’s before you’ve worked out what formation a team is using. Although as you do that someone will correct you with that modern shibboleth: “We prefer to talk about shapes not formations”. 

GETTING INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE GAME

But suppose you still want to work in football. You’ll discover you have a near-impossible challenge ahead. 

Let me make this point with a story from a scout I met at a game earlier this season, and then an example of my own experience. 

A week before this season started I was in Weymouth. You can read about that trip here. 

I found myself sitting next to another scout, there to watch Weymouth’s opponents that day. He was enjoying his new role scouting opponents for a Step 3 team. It was a big change from his previous roles working for Bournemouth, and most recently Newcastle United.  

The common denominator of those clubs (as you might have guessed) is Eddie Howe. This scout had worked as a player scout for Eddie Howe since his early days in management. And it leads to a point that I agreed with. 

I asked him what it took to break into the game at these levels. Does a team look at unsolicited scouting reports for example and make random hires? Or was it more about who you know? 

He looked at me with a face that telegraphed the answer and which I already knew was coming: who you know every time. 

When you think about it that’s exactly how it should work. It fits my own experience of the non-football world. If you have a job that needs doing you find someone you know, and who gets the job done well. This man had been that guy. And all while keeping his non-football day job.

My own football experience backs this up as well. 

I’ve found sending reports to clubs, which I did for six months solid, got nothing more than a handful of short replies saying thanks but no thanks.

Now, not discounting the possibility my reports weren’t up to scratch, coaching teams don’t have the time to look at these things. More importantly, knowing their job is always a highwire act, they’re not prepared to take the risk. 

And who can blame them?

Every week I get the Coaches Voice newsletter full of information about the workings of the game. 

But it also includes a kind of misery list. A roll call of managers, coaches, academy staff, and analysts sacked that week. 

Here’s the most recent example:

With the busy festive period approaching for English football, several clubs have decided now is the time to make a managerial change. On Thursday, Wolves confirmed the appointment of Vítor Pereira as their head coach on an 18-month contract… Pereira replaces Gary O’Neil, who departed along with assistant Shaun Derry, first-team coaches Tim Jenkins and Ian Burchnall, goalkeeper coach Neil Cutler, and coach-analyst Woody Dewar.

Bottom of the Premier League Southampton, meanwhile, have agreed a deal to appoint former Roma boss Ivan Jurić, as they seek to turn their fortunes around… Saints called time on Russell Martin’s spell in charge after last Sunday’s 5-0 home defeat against Tottenham, while Simon Rusk took interim charge for the EFL Cup loss to Liverpool on Wednesday.

Something of a surprise departure in the Championship last Sunday, with news that Oxford United had parted company with Des Buckingham. It came months after he had led the club back to the second-tier for the first time in 25 years, but on the back of a poor run that leaves them a point outside the relegation zone. Paul Peros, chair of supporter group OxVox, said it was a “massive disappointment” and that Buckingham “was a manager we all loved”.

And that was a quiet week. 

This turnover is horrendous. In any other work there’d be a government inquiry. But with football as it is, and so many people wanting in, this revolving door spins faster and faster. 

REASONS FOR OPTIMISM

If you’d made it this far then well done. You must be exhausted, and miserable. 

But I did promise some optimism, so here goes.  

First of all I could be wrong. Also, I’m sure there are plenty of exceptions. Don’t immediately think you’ll never get into football.  

Back when I was scouting for Margate, I would often run into a young man who was working for another team in that league. He was half my age and doing his best to break into the analysis department at a professional club. He started working for Brighton the next season.  

I suppose my point is to be aware of how the world works.  If I was starting out in football now, I’d do something like this. 

First, I’d become a coach. I’d attach myself to the local non-league club and start at the under-7s, or whatever. Clubs always need coaches. 

Then, from a scouting or analysis perspective, I’d offer to scout for them. Pick a club with a promising and ambitious young manager. Then set about becoming an asset to them. I mean an absolute diamond. Someone who they find impossible to be without. I cannot stress this enough (it works in all sorts of jobs). To quote Steve Martin (and a book by Cal Newport): Be so good they can’t ignore you. 

Then having worked myself to death in non-league for a few years, and as a youth coach, I’d look to step up. And I’d use a technique I heard from a former Premier League scout. 

  1. Pick a club. 
  2. Then write reports on their opposition. 
  3. Send reports to the club. 
  4. Repeat endlessly. 

And be ready to do this unpaid for a long time. 

I can’t promise it will work. But if I was looking to do the work I do at non-league, but for a professional club, I’d do something similar. 

DO IT FOR FUN

Or, get a role in football at a small club because you love it. Nothing more. Revolutionary, I know.

When I started I wanted to help out my local Step 4 club (now Step 5). I’m now at Step 2 because of those foundations. Not a huge leap in any sense. But each week I get to work for a semi-pro club, with serious people, fans, and expectations. The type of environment you need to get better.

I also leave social media alone. Try it. Spare yourself the angst of keeping up with other people. Spend the time working on the skills you have instead. You might even start to feel optimistic.