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Football Whispers

Rob

The Boss
Admin
Jun 8, 2003
28,014
65,116
Hi everyone, we've teamed up with the guys at Football Whispers to bring you an extra take on our transfer activity. It's run by Spurs fans (and SC members) so isn't just some faceless company and we think it's got a lot of potential. To be completely up front, Football Whispers are contributing towards some of our server costs in exchange for promoting them but we wouldn't promote something we didn't think was worth it. Hopefully you do too.

I'll leave you to read the explanation below but feel free to visit their site, ask questions on here, etc.

Cheers

Rob

================

Football Whispers is the world’s first football transfer predictor. Developed by football fans for football fans, Football Whispers has worked with The University of Sheffield Department of Computer Science to develop a unique algorithm to take all of the transfer rumours from across the globe and calculate the real likelihood of a player or manager joining your club.

They also provide innovative, analytical content which few websites can rival. If you are sick of falling for misleading, clickbait headlines, then Football Whispers is the place for you.

They stick to a philosophy of creating thought-provoking articles, graphics and video content with a focus on tactical analysis and breakdown.

The hugely popular Football Whispers TV has already seen Tottenham legends Ossie Ardiles and Clive Allen join regular host Matthew Lorenzo and you will find fresh Spurs content uploaded on an almost daily basis.

Whether it is who Mauricio Pochettino will sign in the summer, who starred in the win over Arsenal at the weekend or analysis of how the latest arrival compares to those already at White Hart Lane, footballwhispers.com brings you unrivalled insight into the club you love.

How does the Index work?


Like most algorithms there are plenty of elements taken into account when calculating the eventual score for each whisper. However, whilst they all play their part there are three primary elements that carry the most weight:

Volume of Whispers – the number of blogs, articles, posts and tweets across the internet talking about a specific transfer rumour.

Authority of Sources
– whether its Dave from down the Bill Nich or Daniel Levy himself, the Football Whispers algorithm factors in how reliable and reputable the people talking about the transfer rumours are. The more reliable the source, the more likely that rumour is to be true.

Recency of Whisper – the more recent the chatter around a rumour the hotter it is. If no one has been talking about it for a while, then it’s likely to just be gossip.

Based on a combination of the above and a few other, smaller factors the algorithm takes shape in the form of the Football Whispers Index, with a score out of 5.0.

On top of all of this, the unique algorithm is constantly evolving so that over time it begins to pick up and understand the subtle differences between what really is just a rumour and what’s a certain bet to go through.

Whether you’re looking for a specific rumour regarding a player, all the players linked to your club or even which manager is most likely to replace Poch, you won’t miss a thing with

Football Whispers.
 
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archiewasking

Waiting for silverware..........
Jul 5, 2004
7,848
11,668
Sounds interesting Rob. And if takes some of the stress from your pocket, all the better. (y)
 

LexingtonSpurs

Well-Known Member
Aug 27, 2013
13,456
39,042
Thanks for the introduction @Rob. Pleased to be part of the community.
Obviously new here...that will change once you spend one afternoon in a match thread.

But welcome, I find the concept interesting, and have followed for the last couple of windows...still not sure that it amounts to much more than a data aggregation - but I am a data junkie, so I like to see it.

I assume you continue to tweak the algorithms, but have you found that certain sources carry more weight than others - and even unique to each team?
 

Dougal

Staff
Jun 4, 2004
60,344
129,918
If it's good enough for Matthew Lorenzo it's good enough for me.
 

widmerpool

Well-Known Member
Jun 18, 2012
3,378
5,605
Like most algorithms there are plenty of elements taken into account when calculating the eventual score for each whisper. However, whilst they all play their part there are three primary elements that carry the most weight:

Volume of Whispers – the number of blogs, articles, posts and tweets across the internet talking about a specific transfer rumour.

Authority of Sources
– whether its Dave from down the Bill Nich or Daniel Levy himself, the Football Whispers algorithm factors in how reliable and reputable the people talking about the transfer rumours are. The more reliable the source, the more likely that rumour is to be true.

Recency of Whisper – the more recent the chatter around a rumour the hotter it is. If no one has been talking about it for a while, then it’s likely to just be gossip.
.

These things work best when the factors are independent.

That's not the case here. V correlates negatively with R. A correlates positively with V.

I look forward to being convinced.
 

FootballWhispers

Well-Known Member
Feb 28, 2017
182
751
Obviously new here...that will change once you spend one afternoon in a match thread.

But welcome, I find the concept interesting, and have followed for the last couple of windows...still not sure that it amounts to much more than a data aggregation - but I am a data junkie, so I like to see it.

I assume you continue to tweak the algorithms, but have you found that certain sources carry more weight than others - and even unique to each team?

The algorithm is forever evolving, yeah. So for example if a certain journalist is an authority when it comes to a particular club then if they link a player to the club it carries more weight and impacts the index score.
 

Rob

The Boss
Admin
Jun 8, 2003
28,014
65,116
These things work best when the factors are independent.

That's not the case here. V correlates negatively with R. A correlates positively with V.

I look forward to being convinced.

(I'm not speaking about the FW algorithm as I don't know the details) In general, you'll rarely have truly independent pieces of information, but you do have some knowledge of the covariance between them and that covariance can be factored in to the calculations.
 

LexingtonSpurs

Well-Known Member
Aug 27, 2013
13,456
39,042
Not sure this was intended to be a Q&A, but one more follow-up - a lot of times a story gets repeated as if its in an echo chamber, where it starts from one source, and then other papers/sources simply run with the exact same story (i.e. no new confirmation of a particular link) - are you able to diminish the weight of each successive story - or do they simply carry whatever weight is associated to each specific source?
 

kr1978

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
5,322
8,463
Just read the Andre Gray article and it's nice to see a bit of effort going in rather than just the regurgitating of social media or other articles. In particular i personally thought it was interesting to see the comparisons and analysis of Grays style of play and where he could fit in to our style of play.
 

LexingtonSpurs

Well-Known Member
Aug 27, 2013
13,456
39,042
Just as someone not associated with this site, or with football whisperers, I will say that the information is interesting. I checked their site regularly towards the end of the summer, and in the January window.

Its not infallible - nobody is - so if you take it for what its worth, a source who is looking at a bunch of other sources - I think it does do a pretty good job of weeding out unlikely rumors - and bubbles up the rumors that are gaining traction. At the end of the day, its still just rumors - this is just a good format, I think, for evaluating those rumors.
 

widmerpool

Well-Known Member
Jun 18, 2012
3,378
5,605
(I'm not speaking about the FW algorithm as I don't know the details) In general, you'll rarely have truly independent pieces of information, but you do have some knowledge of the covariance between them and that covariance can be factored in to the calculations.

That makes sense up to a point, the worry is that football rumours take place in such a bubble of lies that there are very few additional factors that could have the same degree of covariance with the chosen variables, that they do with each other.
 

Dougal

Staff
Jun 4, 2004
60,344
129,918
Just as someone not associated with this site, or with football whisperers, I will say that the information is interesting. I checked their site regularly towards the end of the summer, and in the January window.

Its not infallible - nobody is - so if you take it for what its worth, a source who is looking at a bunch of other sources - I think it does do a pretty good job of weeding out unlikely rumors - and bubbles up the rumors that are gaining traction. At the end of the day, its still just rumors - this is just a good format, I think, for evaluating those rumors.
As someone who doesn't believe in any transfer until it happens it sure beats listening to someone who has just read the Daily Star.
 
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