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The Art of Scouting - Episode Three, The future of scouting

Art of Scouting

“Scouting is changing – and it’s changing irrevocably,” says Mike Calvin, author of The Nowhere Men, a book about football talent spotters.

In 2015, clubs rely as much on numbers, statistics and analysts as they do traditional pitch-side scouts. But which is better, the computer or the trained eye?

Art of Scouting

The scouting process


The art of scouting

“Statistics can give you a quick starting point, without the need to get in a car or on a plane or spend any money doing any travelling,” Stephen Davidson, a Sports Interactive researcher, says in episode three of the Art of Scouting series.

“What scouts really want to know is as much information as possible. Data and statistics can very quickly put that information in front of you on a much bigger scale. If I go and watch a match, that’s 90 minutes of football. If I look at some statistics I can look at every match someone’s ever played.”

In contrast, Mel Johnson, who discovered Gareth Bale and Raheem Sterling, would rather be in the stands than in the office.

“You have to go to games. You have to have a gut instinct and you cannot have that watching a game on a laptop,” he said.

“Attitude of a player is a massive thing. I’ve recently spoken to a friend who watched a game with a young player and his attitude after scoring a goal was appalling. With a lot of the IT work you don’t see that type of thing.”

Hear more from both sides of the argument, and get the football manager’s verdict form MK Dons’ Karl Robinson, by clicking on the video above and watching The Art of Scouting - Episode Three, The future of scouting

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