Moneyball

AFCDorset

AFCDorset

Roofer
In several of the threads discussing our future strategy I have proposed a much slimmed down structure of management and a concentration on youth.

A few items have appeared recently reminded of the 'Moneyball' concept that became quite famous in the US some years back. It was a way that mid market sports team could compete with the established giants of the game. The Oakland A's were pretty successful using this technique and I believe that elements are still commonplace in many teams. in different sports.

In the UK 'moneyball' was implemented most effectively by Brentford, and helped get them promoted to the EPL, it was also responsible for the sacking of Dean Smith who fell out with the owner of the team. Mathew Benham wanted to continue the Moneyball strategy in The EPL, Smith did not, so they parted company.

I am not suggesting that we slavishly embrace everything about Moneyball, but if we are to make any impact on the BCCs we need to do things differently, we cannot, as they do, buy success.
 
So long as it remains a tool you employ and not a religion, or the be all and end all. Rodgers was part of the moneyball system in Liverpool.

About two years ago, I thought it might explain his decisions - he was operating on an alternate strategy. I didn't stop to think that he was a woefully inadequate human being.
 
AZ operate on a budget about 1 tenth of that of West Ham and meet in the semifinals of a european competion.
Brighton are known to implement some aspects of the technique and are not doing that badly. We are not going to compete with the BCCs by taking them on at their own game, we really do need to think and do things differently.
 
How well you do with it depends on your analytics department, every major sports team has one. Some more respected than others.
There has (finally) been a bit of a backlash against it - every smooth talking charlatan with a mathematics degree was getting a major position in organisations and promoting statistic based results exclusively. Thankfully common sense seems to be prevailing
 
I have always thought that you only really need a D.O.F when you appoint just a coach. Thus allowing the day to day running being taken away from the playing side.
 
As we learn it becomes apparent that there is no simple solution to this, we need to mix and match. For years Brentford had no youth system. They relied on picking up players from bigger clubs who were never likely to get much game time and giving them a chance, some would never make it, some no more than journeymen, then you might get an occasional gem.

This is a complex issue, I, and probably most of us, have no real idea of how a football club is run, but most of us can see that we are not going to bother the upper reaches of the EPL by trying to compete with the BCCs with a fraction of their resources.

I'll say it again, we need to think differently.
 
You need a goalkeeper that can stop shots.
Defenders that can break up an attack.
Midfielders that can tackle & create.
Strikers that can score goals.
Simple.
 
AFCDorset said:
As we learn it becomes apparent that there is no simple solution to this, we need to mix and match. For years Brentford had no youth system. They relied on picking up players from bigger clubs who were never likely to get much game time and giving them a chance, some would never make it, some no more than journeymen, then you might get an occasional gem.

This is a complex issue, I, and probably most of us, have no real idea of how a football club is run, but most of us can see that we are not going to bother the upper reaches of the EPL by trying to compete with the BCCs with a fraction of their resources.

I'll say it again, we need to think differently.
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When have we ever tried to compete directly with the BCCs by trying to match or even get close to their level of spending? We don’t do it for an individual player let alone across the squad.
 
hackneyfox said:
When have we ever tried to compete directly with the BCCs by trying to match or even get close to their level of spending? We don’t do it for an individual player let alone across the squad.
Click to expand...
We certainly didn't do it in that season, and when we spent after that it was to improve the depth in the squad to be able to compete in the champions league and Premier league.
 
We had a moneyball strategy, it won us the league.

What we didn’t do was revise it upwards after we beat Man City 3-1 (a), so we still went ahead to sign players that were originally scouted to help us survive in the division again.

When instead we should have been looking higher.
 
That is the conundrum, spend or not spend.

We could have tried looking/buying higher as suggested but, given our appeal (history, profile, location) and our budget, we would. most likely, have simply ended up with a better class of jouneymen.

Top players with ability and real commitment do not come cheap, they also want to be celebrities, win trophies, play at a World Cup etc. Far more likely to happen at a BCC than with us.

If we want that sort of player we need to develop them, whether from our academy or from elsewhere, improve then to a point where they give us a couple of really good years before moving on to bigger and better things.
 
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