Club to appoint recruitment analyst
https://www.wycombewanderers.co.uk/news/2021/may/recruiting-first-team-recruitment-analyst/
Can't understate how big a move this is for us. Think how excellent our recruitment was already; this should see us go from strength to strength. Exciting times ahead!
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Hope you’ve put in your application @ReturnToSenda.
Assuming we make the right appointment, of course.
Haha, I may like numbers, but I'm certainly not analyst material. There are loads of people doing great work on that front, though, and getting jobs largely from their social media / blog output ('fanalytics' as it's known), so I'm sure the club will get some really high quality applicants.
Shows how little I know @ReturnToSenda.
Maybe when they put the call out for a grammar analyst...
I reckon you'd be a great candidate
Forgive my ignorance. What does a full time first team recruitment analyst do for 8 hours every day?
In short, identifying and recommending potential signings - analysing video, data etc. We already have a performance analyst (Josh Hart) focused on analysing our games; the new person would be transfer-focused basically.
I think you'd be a good candidate - Alex Aldridge started off doing an independent Millwall website and he eventually became their head of recruitment and is now head of recruitment at Stoke City
I'm flattered people think I would be, but it's not what I want to do as a career anyway. I'm sure they'll make a good appointment.
Pretty sure it's a shoo-in for @kipperreborn anyway.
Interesting. Is this the way Brentford do things? Seems to work for them.
Most Championship clubs incorporate it now, and an increasing number of clubs lower down - gotta move with the times!
The Jonah Hill to Gareth Ainsworth’s Brad Pitt.
Shouldn't this position have been advertised at the start of the year rather than now? Recruitment process will take a few weeks, successful applicant may well have to work 1-3 months' notice, then it's going to take time for the successful appointee to get the right set up in place for a newly created job. Then there's the research period to get stuck into, once the person has had a thorough briefing on what Gareth etc are after. So chances of this feeding into any actual player recruitment this window are slim. Might well pay dividends for future windows - but let's not get overexcited about it bringing in new possibilities in the short term.
Frankly I am amazed that the cost of his salary is justified. I suspect I may be becoming an ageing dinosaur.
We seem to be following a similar approach to that of Brentford and they have done quite well with that strategy.
Yeah fair enough. We seemed to do pretty well on recruitment without this though. In fact you could argue that is one of GA great strengths. I hope we don't allow a computer to over-rule his instincts.
Maybe they'll get the computer to do psychometric tests on all potential targets to weedle out any disruptive characters.
You can have all the stats in the world but can't beat old school scouting. A stat only gives you so much. Watching a player in the flesh gives you so much more imo. I think it was Ray Houghton who said where's the stat for standing still as sometimes that's the best thing to do.
I'd have thought following Wycombe via a computer screen would have been right up your street Dev
A recruitment analyst doesn't just sit looking at stats; they do actually watch players - not in the flesh, but that's physically impossible. It's about combining the two.
The fact that Ainsworth saw fit to include him in an absolute skeleton staff (until this year) of basically 1 coach (Dobbo), a goalie coach, and 2 physio/fitness types (David Wates and Cian O'Doherty) would certainly suggest his salary was more than justified.
Plus he was useful for B+B Cup / 11 a side training games
So as long as you could limit yourself to just 8 hours of that a day, you'd be ideal ;-)
Depends what the salary is and what he does really.
There are vast online systems now so you can go in and have a look at the player on video alongside his stats, It's becoming a bit of a science and goes hand in hand with traditional scouting and the kind of nods and mates conversations that make up more of football than anyone is prepared to admit.
Very handy in transfer windows or when you need an injury replacement. Being able to look at youth and reserve appearances where needed before you make punt, being better informed before you go and scout for example. Can only help in other areas too if your opposition signs a player you can go and see what you are playing against.
There have been some examples, notably Fulham where it hasn't always worked but as long as the guy is reporting into Ainsworth rather than the board it could be very helpful.
People have commented on the salary but I doubt it would be huge and could be repaid fairly quickly if we pick up a prospect or save a wasted long contract.
I think that's an interesting point - would be good to know whether this would be part of Gareth's empire or Pete Couhig's as CFO. Is Andrew Howard still involved in player recruitment as well? You could certainly see a scenario where a Moneyball-style player recruitment drive forms part of an empire run by a former hedge fund manager backed up by the boss of a racing car team. Especially after the infamous letter from Rob which can easily be interpreted as interfering in playing style ("I told Gareth I want the team playing to the whistle" etc).
I mean, the job description literally says they'll be reporting directly to Ainsworth. We don't have a DoF, so who else would they report to?
I think everyone on the football side including Howard report in to Ainsworth. Half of the reason he is still here.
I do find it quite amusing that on Football Manager Howard is listed as the DoF - they're usually absolutely on the ball with the detail.