Thirty Five

Who said it's gone?

 

We haven't been using James Cryne's data (The Spreadsheet) for over 12 months, it's been documented previously that we've moved onto a different model, there will be a snippet somewhere on one of the forums

 

I thought it was documented that he had left involvement with the club as a hands on guy but it would make absolutely no sense to bin off the data model which he successfully sells/licences at other clubs

 

Happened sometime ago mate, hence some really poor signings that's come out of what we use now.

 

1981/82

think we only used 19 players.

 

I have no idea about the processes at Barnsley, or know very much about football data at all, but I'm the product manager and developer of the Analytics platform at the business I work for so I do know a bit about the subject.

As far as I'm aware there are several companies that record and sell data on football matches and football players. I don't know the reputation of any of them or what they offer, but I can't imagine there's a lot between them. They may specialise I suppose and offer different metrics, and we may have changed provider but I don't think that would make much difference.

There are dozens of software platforms available for use in data analysis and we could have changed these too, but if you know what you're doing, you'll get the same output from the same dataset on one platform as you will on another. If you don't, you've got your formulas wrong. I'm sure we will have changed software, Mladen Sormaz is very experienced in the field, and will have preferred working practices and software providers, but the tools you use don't make any difference.

What matters is what you prioritise to analyse, the data you believe is significant and the variations within that you believe are advantageous. Basically, of all these millions of rows of data, which are really useful and what are the thresholds within those that are meaningful. And that all comes from the human being analysing it. You can set the software to find subjects that meet the criteria, but the skill is in setting the criteria. There's AI too now I suppose but I don't place much value in a fancy text prediction engine that, when asked, tells me that the letter R only appears twice in the word strawberry, even after it has type the word out and spelled it correctly.

We've recently employed a well respected expert in data analysis as our sporting director. The 'data model' that you're discussing is his area of expertise. So, for me, the answer to the question of has it changed is of course it has! If it hasn't, if he began working for us and just said, "yeah, everything you're already doing is fine, crack, on" we've wasted a hell of a lot of money by giving him a full time position. We would have been far better getting him in on a consultancy basis for a couple of weeks to assess us.

We've employed someone with a wealth of knowledge and experience on the subject and I would imagine he's brought a myriad of insights and implemented a range of new working practices.

It's tempting to look at how we're playing now and the players we've signed and come to the conclusion that what Sormaz has brought to the club has made things worse. But it's not that simple. There is a team of coaching staff, there is a budget to work to, data analysis is just a cog in a much bigger system.

That's not to say I think Sormaz is doing a good job, I don't, but when I say that I'm fully aware that I'm not even close to having all the facts to hand that make my opinion anything more than that of an internet forum monkey.

 

Another test.

5 keepers used this season.

I reckon it took me at least 5 years to see 5 different keepers for us from 1996. How many years did it take you? My lads been to 3 games and see 3 keepers.

 

Probably about the same Pearce, Horn, Rhodes,Baker, Butler not sure if Pearce was before horn tbh

 

Maybe he wanted paying for the use of his system now he's hands off and the board went for the cheaper option of a ******* useless Director of Football whose really a data analyst that can't analyse data. Although to be fair even 12 months ago we weren't recruiting as well as we were 2 to 3 years ago the standard had started to drop but that's because we started to go for quantity above quality and stopped buying players we needed to fill gaps in the squad and started to just bring in players and force them into gaps that they didn't fill.

 

The problem is he's a data analyst not a director of football he should be sticking to his laptop and interpreting data to pass on to the person making the decisions about what we need not making the decisions because he clearly hasn't got a clue how to provide a head coach with the players he needs or deciding what style those players are capable of playing successfully week in week out.

 

I can't understand why a data analyst was employed as director of football anyway but it's Barnsley fc for you anything can happen.

 

It's pretty obvious it's gone.

 

Baker, Butler, Watson, Leese, Bullock. 88 to 98. So 10 year.

 

Also has joint 2nd amount of assists in the league.

 

Mad innit. I remember Miller after Bullock but god knows who after.

Now we've got two a season on average.

 

Do you know any products which are free, or cheap for personal use, that does a better job than Excel?

 

What are you wanting to do?

Power BI has a free version.

 

I'll take a look. Thanks. I used to work for SAP, so I had free access to software. I just have some stuff, spread across Excel spreadsheets. It would make life easier, if it was all in one place.