I still think the involvement of Beane is the most intriguing part of our new world. Not sure how many of you have read "The Numbers Game" by Chris Anderson and David Sally? In it they make some different predictions on where the analytical and football data business maybe going and the first scenario they put forward is that the biggest analytical breakthroughs will not occur at Man Utd/City, Real Madrid, etc They talked about Beane addressing the first ever Sport Analytics conference in 2011 and how dismal the Oakland A's were - "an abysmal outfit playing in a drab stadium in front of a sparse, disinterested crowd." Which gave him the latitude to try something new and change the club - as they say "Often only desperation, marginality and a lack of money can create the conditions that support innovation" and its easy to see the parallels with football. It would be great to think that Billy, who has in interviews expressed his love for English Football will help in taking our approach to the next level - that is where we could see the biggest revolution for us.
Haven’t Oakland started to go backwards over the last few years. I don’t follow the sport so I don’t know but as I understood it when everyone else started using the same biometrics the sporting advantage was lost. Read an article linking the impact there to the one Wenger had on British football which gave him an advantage but was a shifty term bump as others copied.
Football is very conservative with a small 'c', there's certainly a window of opportunity to exploit and scepticism and resistance will continue, meanwhile if that got us to the Champions League and then we "slipped" back to mid-table Premier league I'd be ok with that!
I meant the problem with using biometrics is that many are already using it. Brentford in our division for one.
Yes, there was plenty of stats already being used in Baseball, just not the right ones to give you an advantage. I'm sure every team in the top 2 divisions is measuring player fitness during games (although, what they then do about it is another matter of course!)
While clubs keep employing dinosaurs like Steve Cotterill we'll always have the chance to stay ahead of the curve
I’m not being critical of the idea I have always supported the idea. Just interested in the dynamic. I do think Brentford have used their version of the spreadsheet pretty well.
A difference with the Oakland A's is that in American sports they don't do the whole promotion/relegation malarky. So if you're bottom, you can experiment a bit more freely than you could over here. For them, worst case scenario they'd end up right where the are. For us we could end up worse if we get it wrong. But it's not such an experimental system anymore and given that we're already pretty much operating with said system, we'll be alright I think.
Don’t Brentford lose between £10m and £15m a year though? One season lost £26m alone. Their owner has ploughed over £100m into the club. Having made his money in statistical analysis and gambling it’s not surprising he uses data analysis, however as a gambler I’m not sure how much longer he would or can prop up a club losing that much. The difficulty with Benham is know one knows how much he’s worth - he doesn’t make the rich list, but is clearly a very rich man. Or a huge huge gambler. With promotion to the premier league worth £170m income supposedly (not profit) he’s not a very good gambler if he keeps losing this much money. Eventually he’ll need premier league promotion (withough increasing expenditure) just to break even. Edit; and given we know our owners were being invited to buy the club, but chose not to, that makes you question whether they are a model to be admired.
I think it was the 48 million for a 40 percent share that put them off. Most of the losses I believed are linked into developing the new ground. They have made a decent profit on transfers. Look at Scott Hogan.
Guess we’ll just wait and see if they are the next Bournemouth or next Portsmouth. Hope it’s more Bournemouth, good club and decent fans.
Course not, all opinions are welcome, I think Brentford owners ploughed a lot more money than Cryne in though and in a shorter time frame!
There are some very strange comments on this board regarding the roll out of this takeover. Unless I'm mistaken, their message has been to stick with the plan that they believe has worked to a point. They will then develop the commercial side of things, the academy which we have already born fruit from and get better at the contracts side of the business. All the while doing it in a progressive and measured way without going crazy. It sounds very very similar to what people have been moaning about the club requiring over the last few years to me with the difference being that these people have direct expertise in international marketing and growth and have already practised on another club. Where's the risk?
I showed you the link to their local rag and their accounts the other week, the transfers have offset huge losses into £7 million ones. Conway commented on how badly the other clubs they had looked at were run. All these losses were mounting up long before they agreed the new stadium. If they can't fill it and no promotion is on the horizon they're going to struggle.
I’d say that’s the same for us. Any team with not many fans (comparatively) and no parachute money will struggle financially. Hence the 10 million quid Patrick had to put in. Like is they have brought in biometrics in to limit losses. The 2 lads they sold to Birmingham in July will cover losses this year. It’s the only model that you can follow as a small club in the championship unless you are happy to end up linen Bolton. It will only stop making a loss if you can guarantee a 5-10 million transfer surplus each year. I’d say we are in tbe same boat. They are just further along now they can sell 1-2 players rather than a whole team as we did. It would be counter productive to see the plan as a panacea it just stops you losing money but is a tight rope for even doing that. A couple of no sale seasons and you will lose 6-12 million quid.
