An article I found about the future of data and football from the BBC, March 2021. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56164159 One bit caught my eye. I doubt this would ever come true but the fact that some think it’s possible - or even desirable - is frightening. “Mr Lee says we could see clubs using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse players' thought processes to help them with decision making.”
I think he should start by using artificial intelligence to improve his own decision making process before he starts on the players.
I think they should start by using it on the crowd. We'll know if they have when they sell 20,000 season tickets and 100,000 flatbreads every home game.
What a load of b0ll0cks.. if CL wants his teams to play.. a passing game.. Then firstly try signing players that can actully pass the ball.
Big Sam was one of the very first to start using data at Bolton, never seems to get recognised for it though. Is that the only interview Mr Lee has carried out in his 4 years, don’t recall another?
Us playing.. the passing game.. is one of the reason we're bottom of the table. Owners saying we must play a certain way will again be suicidal in the ale House league next season.
I am not sure what success looks like by his own definition. In 4 years we haven't had a big money player sale. We've got 2 million for our best manager in a generation, had to sack and presumably compensate three and got lucky with one we were probably going to sack anyway. Football wise we are worse than when they took over and with a disenchanted fanbase. Plus money is spent on a legal battle and the cash reserves that were inherited have gone. I'd like to know on what level Lee views any of this as a success.
Technically the first known to use data was a guy called Charles Reep, with Brentford. In the modern game Steve McLaren was using pro zone at Derby in 95 the year before Wenger came.
Well it might be an improvement on the no intelligence method that we appear to have adopted recently.
No he was a coach there and took prozone with him when he went to Man U as a coach. edit: Site I took info from had his start date wrong at Man U it was 99 he started there
Do football scouts actually exist anymore? The ones who'll go to Exeter v Rochdale on a wintery Tuesday night and actually watch players? Do the 'data driven' signings actually get watched or are they purely signed from data info?
Dunno. But this something data can never solve. It can never look at players as people - their character, their hopes, ambitions, weaknesses, what motivates them. All vital stuff in putting together a team as opposed to a mis-matched assembly of stats.
Not only is it possible - it's almost certainly already being done! Maybe not at Barnsley quite yet, but I can think of loads of applications of AI for clubs that have the money. We're not talking android coaches or self-aware bionic arms here - it's going to be more like movement or eye tracking and then crunching a huge amount of data, which you'd generally do nowadays with the help of some sort of AI.
Didn’t England cricket team introduce something about eye movement years ago, the theory being it would sharpen their reflexes for catching.
I think with the emergence of player video reels I reckon some clubs will just go on YouTube and see if the 'highlights' support the data/stats.