The 2016-17 Premier League TV deal means even the bottom team stands to make almost £100m.
So now everyone’s rich, (even if some are richer than others). But this brings the problem of how to distinguish yourself and make sure you stay at English football’s top table.
Most clubs agree, the answer lies in recruitment.
All clubs have recruitment departments of course but they differ greatly and tend to reflect the club’s history, particularly their relationships with previous managers or head coaches.
Notwithstanding Arsene Wenger’s unusually long reign, a new Premier League manager can expect a little over 15 months in charge on average. This constant state of managerial flux has a significant effect on the recruitment approach of many clubs as they constantly reinvent themselves in an attempt to satisfy the latest demands of the changing face of their club’s ‘football people’ as they often refer to themselves.
As a result, the recruitment department of these clubs has been seen by club owners as a cost centre in the Profit & Loss account as opposed to an asset on the club’s Balance Sheet. Few clubs can really claim to own their recruitment policy.
So what about sports analytics? this upstart from the United States. The suggestion that careful data analysis should be central when deciding on a new goalkeeper or centre forward serves to confuse the issue for many. Rarely has an idea had such a polarizing effect.
Some club decision makers are downright dismissive while most are at least suspicious. Some are confused and others still have perhaps taken things too literally and placed complete faith and their entire future in the hands of the data scientists.
Not surprising then that with club officers in disagreement as to the value of or how to use analytics, there exists a serious polarization between the old school of scouts, managers, coaches and other ‘football staff’ and the mostly young, somewhat geeky ‘quants’ collecting data for club owners.
This is not surprising given the fragility of the manager or head coach’s tenure but ironically the very people who might appear to threaten the football staff with their data feeds and metrics will tell anyone who’ll listen they are just as likely to provide the manager with defensive weaponry against a premature and statistically unjust termination of his contract.
It’s pretty certain that the likes of Sky and BT are in football for the long haul and that this secures the financial future of the Premier League. And as this rising tides is lifting all boats, the task for the chosen 20 each season is how to distinguish themselves and thereby secure their own futures in the top flight.
So all clubs constantly search for an edge.
When a failed signing might now cost you £30m in transfer fees and perhaps another £20m in wages whereas you might make an inspired addition for a tenth of that, most clubs are waking up to the realisation that the recruitment challenge has risen to the top of their priorities.
Getting it right, even without the obvious benefit of fielding a stronger team will have serious implications to the value of the club’s principle asset base, the players.
With the advent in England of what has become known as soccer analytics, what’s needed is a comprehensive and systematic approach to recruitment that blends conventional football wisdom with valuable data analysis.
To make this work though, clubs need to bridge the gap between the football staff and the analysts where at the moment mistrust and sometimes outright hostility prevails. The introduction of the right kind of recruitment method will reassure those whose domain is the training ground and the touchline while taking advantage of the nuggets of value that hide away in the data and will remain hidden to the unenlightened.
The club that rises to this challenge will steal a march on its competitors and the rewards for early adoption are huge.