NEVILLEB
Well-Known Member
- Nov 6, 2006
- 6,805
- 6,458
Football is about instincts, feelings and heart. At it's best it's magical and romantic and can make you leap out of your chair in sheer joy.
Few other forms of entertainment can offer up the drama and emotional roller coaster of a good football match.
Running a football club can't be done just by examining statistics and data analysis. Pro Zone might tell you how many miles a player runs but it misses the intuitive analysis that can only come from human instinct. That gut feeling you get inside.
Much like the film industry we see decisions made by committee in football. The money involved is so large that fear of making a mistake stifles creativity and self expression. So people order reports and data analysis to back up there arguments. They need physical evidence to protect them from criticism.
Directors of Football are brought in with their expensive suits and silver tongues. Cost analysis charts and other data are used to compare players turn an instinctive decision into a business one.
"Why buy Scott Parker when his value will depreciate so quickly? This is a poor business decision..."
The Managers instincts become marginalised against the 'data' that is on offer. How can you argue that a certain player will be good for the club when the 'data' says Player B will be better.
As Comolli belatedly acknowledged, ProZone doesn't tell you the character of the player. It doesn't tell you how they react under pressure, how they are in the dressing room, how ambitious they are.
"What good is a Taraabt if he won't listen and learn?"
This push to make every decision a business one is, for me, at the root of Daniel Levy's frustrating failure to achieve his potential.
His most successful Managerial appointment came at a time when all his 'data' and planning had failed him. In appointing Redknapp he had take his fingers off the steering wheel and let the Manager decide the football strategy...at least for a while.
As success came the desire to have more control nawed away at him. He was the Chairman after all and why shouldn't he have more say in what happened in his club. The Director of Football position had some success in the past after all...Maybe he'd just appointed the wrong people...
So out went Harry and in came the smartly dressed, pseudo tactical genius of AVB. A man that only looked good on paper but talked a hell of a game. A man with little to no natural 'instincts' for the game. He didn't rate Van Der Vaart and his subsequent transfer decisions have contributed to the disjointed, average squad we have now. The Director of Football position came back in and what followed has been entirely predictable. A squad assembled by committee with a focus on business strategy and not on instinct.
Levy went back to trusting his 'data' and repeated all his old mistakes over again.
If you pick a Manager, TRUST him to pick the players. If you can't do that then you shouldn't have appointed him in the first place.
Alex Ferguson would travel to youth players parents houses to meet their parents. He would see what their character was like and what they were made of. He knew that more than talent, 'personality' is the greatest predictor of success. Genius is after all 90% perspiration.
So Daniel please step away from the football side of the club. You have run the business side very well but we need another voice who helps balance out the spreadsheets with an instinct of how to assemble and run a successful football team.
Few other forms of entertainment can offer up the drama and emotional roller coaster of a good football match.
Running a football club can't be done just by examining statistics and data analysis. Pro Zone might tell you how many miles a player runs but it misses the intuitive analysis that can only come from human instinct. That gut feeling you get inside.
Much like the film industry we see decisions made by committee in football. The money involved is so large that fear of making a mistake stifles creativity and self expression. So people order reports and data analysis to back up there arguments. They need physical evidence to protect them from criticism.
Directors of Football are brought in with their expensive suits and silver tongues. Cost analysis charts and other data are used to compare players turn an instinctive decision into a business one.
"Why buy Scott Parker when his value will depreciate so quickly? This is a poor business decision..."
The Managers instincts become marginalised against the 'data' that is on offer. How can you argue that a certain player will be good for the club when the 'data' says Player B will be better.
As Comolli belatedly acknowledged, ProZone doesn't tell you the character of the player. It doesn't tell you how they react under pressure, how they are in the dressing room, how ambitious they are.
"What good is a Taraabt if he won't listen and learn?"
This push to make every decision a business one is, for me, at the root of Daniel Levy's frustrating failure to achieve his potential.
His most successful Managerial appointment came at a time when all his 'data' and planning had failed him. In appointing Redknapp he had take his fingers off the steering wheel and let the Manager decide the football strategy...at least for a while.
As success came the desire to have more control nawed away at him. He was the Chairman after all and why shouldn't he have more say in what happened in his club. The Director of Football position had some success in the past after all...Maybe he'd just appointed the wrong people...
So out went Harry and in came the smartly dressed, pseudo tactical genius of AVB. A man that only looked good on paper but talked a hell of a game. A man with little to no natural 'instincts' for the game. He didn't rate Van Der Vaart and his subsequent transfer decisions have contributed to the disjointed, average squad we have now. The Director of Football position came back in and what followed has been entirely predictable. A squad assembled by committee with a focus on business strategy and not on instinct.
Levy went back to trusting his 'data' and repeated all his old mistakes over again.
If you pick a Manager, TRUST him to pick the players. If you can't do that then you shouldn't have appointed him in the first place.
Alex Ferguson would travel to youth players parents houses to meet their parents. He would see what their character was like and what they were made of. He knew that more than talent, 'personality' is the greatest predictor of success. Genius is after all 90% perspiration.
So Daniel please step away from the football side of the club. You have run the business side very well but we need another voice who helps balance out the spreadsheets with an instinct of how to assemble and run a successful football team.
Last edited:
