Great article, nice to see the club come out and give a full update from all corners.
“Smart, sensible and sustainable is the transfer strategy in place” what a beautiful sentence to see associated with our club, we bloody deserve it too!
Many fans thought they deserved an explanation about the direction we were taking in the transfer window. It's good that there is transparency as to the policies in place.
We knew they'd be rebuilding our recruitment set up but great to find out more about it. As you'd hope to hear we're combining analytics, video and traditional scouting, they all have a part to play.
It's not so much a revolution but bringing us in line with where we should be, the kind of things well run clubs have done well for years.
Interesting to see a few people named on the OS for the first time, recruitment analysts Ruben Sammut and Aaron Barnes (our former academy player, explains why he was at a game recently), and Dan Pelchen.
Looking at Pelchen's LinkedIn he was at Chelsea as Lead Recruitment and Data Analyst:
Sammut is also on LinkedIn, his role with us is '1st Team Recruitment Coordinator'. 'Ruben' was mentioned in an interview (Adkins I think) earlier this year and from what a few had said it seemed clear it was him.
Roddy also mentions looking at what we can learn. It's clear they did that ahead of this summer with younger players joining on permanent deals and older loan players rather than the Smith/Smyth/Levitts coming in. This summer should give them a better picture of our position in the market. Hopefully we won't need to sign so many late on or even after the window.
They've also been open that we'll sell players. We've already seen signs of it, Bonne being the best example, ultimately sold because the offer was too good to turned down. Nothing wrong with that if it's combined with ambition and some of the money is reinvested in the squad, something we never saw under RD.
Looking forward to seeing how our squad develops over the next few years.
Just looked at Dan Pelchen's LinkedIn profile. Worked with Collingwood Football Club (Aussie Rules) and Chelsea over the last seven years in an analytics capacity (both performance analytics and recruitment).
Have to say I'm mega jealous - think that would be my dream job!
We can only wait and see if this system works, if they are pleased with the business we have done and it has all been generated by the 'Black Box' then anything less than promotion this year will be a failure.
What I find strange is they speak as if the players we have signed will take us all the way to The Premiership on their long term contracts with age on their side however we all know in reality to compete in a league above you have to strengthen again to remain competitive.
A lot of our players are average to good League One players at best, they may well struggle in the Championship.
So no loans, short contracts, free transfers… ok right. That might have been the intention but it certainly wasn’t the outcome, maybe address that?
Rome wasn’t built in a day. What did you want them to do? Out everyone and then sign a whole new squad on four year deals? It will take two/three/four seasons to sort out the squad issues inherited but I’m sure they will get there.
We can only wait and see if this system works, if they are pleased with the business we have done and it has all been generated by the 'Black Box' then anything less than promotion this year will be a failure.
What I find strange is they speak as if the players we have signed will take us all the way to The Premiership on their long term contracts with age on their side however we all know in reality to compete in a league above you have to strengthen again to remain competitive.
A lot of our players are average to good League One players at best, they may well struggle in the Championship.
Just as well we only have a few with contracts long enough to play in the PL in that dream scenario.
We have a good number due to end next season too. I think we'll see players leaving and *hopefully* being replaced with better year on year by default.
We just have to hope that each time we're moving up a level.
Football espionage moves on from the spy at the training ground.
Tech savvy agents could break into our black box, insiders could sell our data, our systems could be hacked, accessed remotely and compromised.
Even worse Dan Pelchen might get kidnapped and have tea cups thrown at him. Once he cracks and reveals the secrets of our algorithm, we'll all be done for
So no loans, short contracts, free transfers… ok right. That might have been the intention but it certainly wasn’t the outcome, maybe address that?
Where did they claim we wouldn't use loans, short contracts and sign free agents?
The strategy is not to (loans count as short contracts for a year or less)
‘In the recent past, with the previous ownerships, the strategy has been focused on free agents and/or players on a one year contract. That existence has been hand to mouth. It is one which wasn’t sustainable. ‘
So no loans, short contracts, free transfers… ok right. That might have been the intention but it certainly wasn’t the outcome, maybe address that?
Where did they claim we wouldn't use loans, short contracts and sign free agents?
The strategy is not to (loans count as short contracts for a year or less)
‘In the recent past, with the previous ownerships, the strategy has been focused on free agents and/or players on a one year contract. That existence has been hand to mouth. It is one which wasn’t sustainable. ‘
And we have signed DJ, long term contract Kirk, long term contract Stockley, long term contract Levelle, long term contract MacGillivray, Clare, JFC and Dobson, 2 years We have an option on Famewo, I am assuming on a long term contract
In two windows. There was a suggestion we wanted to buy Leko, so we still might, that would be on a long term contract.
If we had 25 players on 4 year contracts and didn't go up everyone would be kicking off that we couldn't get rid of the useless feckers.
Can’t we have one thread on this website that gets to page 2 before someone shits on the original post/link, even when it’s a superb open letter to the fans from the club!
Comments
Validation is not a fecking threepenny bit ffs
It's not so much a revolution but bringing us in line with where we should be, the kind of things well run clubs have done well for years.
Interesting to see a few people named on the OS for the first time, recruitment analysts Ruben Sammut and Aaron Barnes (our former academy player, explains why he was at a game recently), and Dan Pelchen.
Looking at Pelchen's LinkedIn he was at Chelsea as Lead Recruitment and Data Analyst:
Sammut is also on LinkedIn, his role with us is '1st Team Recruitment Coordinator'. 'Ruben' was mentioned in an interview (Adkins I think) earlier this year and from what a few had said it seemed clear it was him.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruben-sammut-67292712a
Roddy also mentions looking at what we can learn. It's clear they did that ahead of this summer with younger players joining on permanent deals and older loan players rather than the Smith/Smyth/Levitts coming in. This summer should give them a better picture of our position in the market. Hopefully we won't need to sign so many late on or even after the window.
They've also been open that we'll sell players. We've already seen signs of it, Bonne being the best example, ultimately sold because the offer was too good to turned down. Nothing wrong with that if it's combined with ambition and some of the money is reinvested in the squad, something we never saw under RD.
Looking forward to seeing how our squad develops over the next few years.
Have to say I'm mega jealous - think that would be my dream job!
it still won’t be enough for some though
Hope the club does more of this sort of longer, more in depth article.
Good to find out who the analysts are and some of the process. Some young guys in there like Barnes.
I thought the use of both stats and human factors was the most important alongside it being long term.
It won't please everyone and yes it's from the club so not unbiased.
But the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.
What I find strange is they speak as if the players we have signed will take us all the way to The Premiership on their long term contracts with age on their side however we all know in reality to compete in a league above you have to strengthen again to remain competitive.
A lot of our players are average to good League One players at best, they may well struggle in the Championship.
Aaron Barnes is a former player now at Dulwich doing some analysis alongside his non-league career.
We have a good number due to end next season too. I think we'll see players leaving and *hopefully* being replaced with better year on year by default.
We just have to hope that each time we're moving up a level.
Proof is in the League Table though. Everything is just words until we start (or continue) winning.
Tech savvy agents could break into our black box, insiders could sell our data, our systems could be hacked, accessed remotely and compromised.
Even worse Dan Pelchen might get kidnapped and have tea cups thrown at him. Once he cracks and reveals the secrets of our algorithm, we'll all be done for
‘In the recent past, with the previous ownerships, the strategy has been focused on free agents and/or players on a one year contract. That existence has been hand to mouth. It is one which wasn’t sustainable. ‘
it’s pretty much back to pre Duchatelet hands off (when the club was in limbo), hardly a revelation
they even talking about selling players - hardly learning from the past, again better than Duchatelet limbo I suppose when players went for nothing
so far a long way from equalling the spivs first window
Kirk, long term contract
Stockley, long term contract
Levelle, long term contract
MacGillivray, Clare, JFC and Dobson, 2 years
We have an option on Famewo, I am assuming on a long term contract
In two windows. There was a suggestion we wanted to buy Leko, so we still might, that would be on a long term contract.
If we had 25 players on 4 year contracts and didn't go up everyone would be kicking off that we couldn't get rid of the useless feckers.