Getting Into Scouting
I get a lot of messages on Twitter asking for my advice about getting into scouting. I’ve been meaning to write this article for ages and finally getting round to it. Now I can just send this to people rather than typing out the same thing or finding the last message and copying that.
I’m not saying I know everything and have all the answers but people do regularly ask for my advice so here it is. I still have a long way to go myself.
It’s not what you know, it’s who you know
This is my family’s motto and I was told it so many times growing up. Networking is the most important thing you can do in my opinion. You can know your stuff but unless you can get roles then it’s pointless. I made connections are Cheltenham which paid dividends, and while I’m not continuing with them directly next season I have those connections.
Jobs in football aren’t just the ones you see advertised. People get jobs through connections. A lot of job adverts are just a formality when they already know who they’ll appoint. That’s why Twitter is great, I know a lot of people currently working in football or will in the future and no doubt those connections will pay off.
I’ve found that people in football are extremely willing to help each other. It’s not always the case but on the whole, people want to help. So don’t be afraid to message people to ask questions or see if you can help. I always try and help people as much as possible and because I feel I have a decent base of contacts I can often connect other people together so they can help each other.
Study the game
Scouting is essentially just having an opinion. And then trying to have the best opinion in the room that leads to the best outcomes. Knowledge is key and having a full understanding of the game, players and what to look for. So understanding tactical concepts is important to evaluate your player. And obviously, for opposition analysis this is key.
Watch as many games as possible from a range of levels and leagues. Understand different types of players and roles. Get to live games also, I don’t think this is done enough by my generation but I think it’s really important. It doesn’t matter the level.
If you can find a niche that’s even better and then grow expert knowledge of that league, nation or region. You could even specialise in a position, becoming an expert in centre backs for example.
As well as watching, reading is key. And while I don’t think you need scouting qualifications, tactics and coaching courses are very valuable in my opinion. Not just watching as well but analysing and studying. Also, learning how to use data and interpret data is massive and a very useful skill.
It also comes down to learning how you analyse players. It’s not about finding good players, it about finding the right player. You need to learn to use the right language, developing your own terminology for things so that you can understand the game but also explain on paper what you’ve seen. There will be things that every scout looks for that others won’t, tiny details.
I’m a bit obsessive, I spend most of my day thinking about football. But I think this is really important to do. most of my tweets that do well are just random thoughts that I tweet not thinking that anyone would care. I’m struggling to explain what I mean here properly, probably because I’m tired. But I believe scouting is a craft that the individual has to learn and by practising and thinking about the game, you pick up more things and you can always be improving. Innovate, think of better ways to evaluate players and how your opinion can be better than others.
Get Experience
Writing online is a great place to start. One of the main aims when we started Target Scouting last year was to be a platform to produce scouts who go on to work for clubs, which has been a success. Practise is key, scouting is a craft that you learn and I know I have so much further to go.
Writing online means you can get feedback and practise loads. That was another great thing about Target Scouting, I know that Thomas and I benefitted from writing so much and our match report system made it easy to produce lots of articles at the time and I think I developed a lot in that time.
I started out by writing online as did a lot of people who have gone from Twitter to working in football. I started out with my own blog and then helped run Chance Analytics which was a big analytics site at the time and was where Ashwin Raman and Peter McKeever also broke through.
In the football industry, volunteering is a big thing. People aren’t paid fairly in full time roles a lot of the time and you have thousands of people across the country who are voluntary and commit a lot of hours to non-league and grassroots football. It is unfortunately a necessary part of the industry. So volunteering to work for a club is how almost everyone will start. This is where building connections come in. Freelancing is also useful and is what I did to start.
For example, when I was starting I would go to non-league or lower league matches and put into a big group chat full of scouts that I was at the game and asked if anyone needed anything. I’d get scouts and heads of recruitment message me asking to know how player x gets on. This might be a full written report or it could be a few lines on a WhatsApp message. But it was good practice for me and meant that people in clubs were seeing my work and built those connections. Then once I had relationships with certain clubs, it would become a more regular thing and I could message them directly each week with what game I was at.
I also believe that you shouldn’t be afraid to start low. In England especially, the depth of football is incredible. I think a lot of people think they’re going to start working for top clubs straight away. But I think that League 2 down to step 4, maybe even 5 of non-league offers much better opportunities and shouldn’t be overlooked.
I think that’s pretty much it, my final piece of advice is to just work hard and get started right now. I hope this was useful and if you have any questions then feel free to message me on Twitter.
Thank you so much for this article Luke.
This helps a lot, Luke. Thanks for taking your time to share this.