Confirmed Transfer Ben Wrigglesworth to Arsenal

[ThaiSweetChilli]

http://www.skysports.com/football/n...er-city-scout-ben-wrigglesworth-joins-arsenal

He's gone! Thoughts?

I think that we need to guard Steve Walsh right now. . .

 

[Borderfox]

Video analyst, shouldn't be to hard to replace. Steve Walsh I read somewhere has a huge buy out clause in his contract, which I hope is true because he is the real architect of City's scouting system.

 

[ThaiSweetChilli]

Hmm. Interesting. I don't believe he'd be simply replaceable.

He clearly worked extremely well with the rest of the team - Rob McKenzie...now Benji...we need to keep hold of our team! SW needs to groom (not in that way) his successor.

 

[Ike O'Noclassed]

Those You Tube clips won't watch themselves, replacement needed.

 

[Brown Nose]

Video analyst, shouldn't be to hard to replace. Steve Walsh I read somewhere has a huge buy out clause in his contract, which I hope is true because he is the real architect of City's scouting system.

I don't think that there is a buy out clause in Walsh's contact. However, he is reportedly on for a huge bonus at the end of the season which is sufficient to keep him here for now.

I think anyone from the backroom staff leaving is bad news. This guy didn't just watch videos. He was a key man developing our approach to recruitment and identifying targets to pass onto Steve Walsh and has been for some years.

We've already lost McKenzie who is successfully implementing 'our system' into Spurs. Now, Arsenal will be doing the same which will increasingly mean we're competing for some of the same players. In short, we're losing one of the 'edges' we have over our rivals. They'll now have more cash, a bigger reputation and 'London' to offer potential players we'd be wanting too.

I only hope that Walsh is as good at recognising talent in recruitment specialists as he is with players.

 

[Mawsley]

London is a shithole.

 

[Mike - True Blue Tinter]

I don't think that there is a buy out clause in Walsh's contact. However, he is reportedly on for a huge bonus at the end of the season which is sufficient to keep him here for now.

I think anyone from the backroom staff leaving is bad news. This guy didn't just watch videos. He was a key man developing our approach to recruitment and identifying targets to pass onto Steve Walsh and has been for some years.

We've already lost McKenzie who is successfully implementing 'our system' into Spurs. Now, Arsenal will be doing the same which will increasingly mean we're competing for some of the same players. In short, we're losing one of the 'edges' we have over our rivals. They'll now have more cash, a bigger reputation and 'London' to offer potential players we'd be wanting too.

I only hope that Walsh is as good at recognising talent in recruitment specialists as he is with players.

But will they be able to say to potential players, ' A team that loves and respects and fights for each other, a fanbase that will worship you, and unlimited crisps for life. Oh, and by the way, EPL Champions 2015 -2016' ?

 

[Moose]

I don't think a video analyst gives us an 'edge'. I'm pretty sure every club is already using video analysis and probably have been since mass recording of football began in the 80s.

All these technical guys do is put together videos and stats for the proper scouts like Walsh to pour over. Every club has several of them all doing the same thing. It takes a bit of skill but nothing a typical graduate couldn't learn in a week. That's why this guy was able to rise to "head of technical scouting" two years out of uni. It sounds impressive and important but it's probably actually a simple £22k per year job and we'll replace him easily, indeed we already have.

 

[Feriol]

I don't think a video analyst gives us an 'edge'. I'm pretty sure every club is already using video analysis and probably have been since mass recording of football began in the 80s.

All these technical guys do is put together videos and stats for the proper scouts like Walsh to pour over. Every club has several of them all doing the same thing. It takes a bit of skill but nothing a typical graduate couldn't learn in a week. That's why this guy was able to rise to "head of technical scouting" two years out of uni. It sounds impressive and important but it's probably actually a simple £22k per year job and we'll replace him easily, indeed we already have.

I'm not sure what the job involves, or how difficult it is, but I suspect the list of potential summer transfer targets he takes with him is quite valuable.

 

[M17TT C]

I'm not sure what the job involves, or how difficult it is, but I suspect the list of potential summer transfer targets he takes with him is quite valuable.

I'm sure we have a copy of it somewhere.

 

[ThaiSweetChilli]

I don't think a video analyst gives us an 'edge'. I'm pretty sure every club is already using video analysis and probably have been since mass recording of football began in the 80s.

All these technical guys do is put together videos and stats for the proper scouts like Walsh to pour over. Every club has several of them all doing the same thing. It takes a bit of skill but nothing a typical graduate couldn't learn in a week. That's why this guy was able to rise to "head of technical scouting" two years out of uni. It sounds impressive and important but it's probably actually a simple £22k per year job and we'll replace him easily, indeed we already have.

If that's the case then why have one of the best clubs in the world (over the last 20 years) gone in for him? If he was just another video analyst.

 

[Moose]

I'm not sure what the job involves, or how difficult it is, but I suspect the list of potential summer transfer targets he takes with him is quite valuable.

If such a list already existed when he left his role a couple of months ago, and if the technical scouts even know about actual targets rather than just scouted players, and if Arsenal are looking for the same type of player, and if their main scouts are also interested in the player, then we may be competing with them for a signing. Whole lot of ifs.

The club obviously doesn't deem his inside knowledge as that valuable otherwise they'd have made him an offer he couldn't refuse, which in the context of football salaries would have only had to have been pennies.

 

[Moose]

If that's the case then why have one of the best clubs in the world (over the last 20 years) gone in for him? If he was just another video analyst.

Because they wanted to employ a new video analyst I guess.

 

[Borderfox]

If that's the case then why have one of the best clubs in the world (over the last 20 years) gone in for him? If he was just another video analyst.

Because they think he knows something,or he is good at his job. However I don't think for a second that Arsenal with all their French connections (no not the film about drugs or the actual drugs trade), don't have their own scouting system in France but probably overlooked the lower leagues but so have a lot of other clubs. Wigglesworth may have a bit of information, but not much, I doubt he would have been party to discussions about actual targets.

 

[Feriol]

I'm sure we have a copy of it somewhere.

Where did I say we didn't? Any names he takes with him, enables them to compete for the signings.

If such a list already existed when he left his role a couple of months ago, and if the technical scouts even know about actual targets rather than just scouted players, and if Arsenal are looking for the same type of player, and if their main scouts are also interested in the player, then we may be competing with them for a signing. Whole lot of ifs.

The club obviously doesn't deem his inside knowledge as that valuable otherwise they'd have made him an offer he couldn't refuse, which in the context of football salaries would have only had to have been pennies.

Players are scouted over several years in some cases so I'm sure there is a list of potential targets. Our scouts are the best people to know who is being watched repeatedly which is a good indicator of potential. Of course they will send their own scouts, but they will get an indication of some to look at. A list of names from a respected and effective scouting team would save many hours of work.

By definition a scout knows who his team is interested in.

 

[ThaiSweetChilli]

Because they think he knows something,or he is good at his job. However I don't think for a second that Arsenal with all their French connections (no not the film about drugs or the actual drugs trade), don't have their own scouting system in France but probably overlooked the lower leagues but so have a lot of other clubs. Wigglesworth may have a bit of information, but not much, I doubt he would have been party to discussions about actual targets.

Boobs.

 

[Moose]

Where did I say we didn't? Any names he takes with him, enables them to compete for the signings.


Players are scouted over several years in some cases so I'm sure there is a list of potential targets. Our scouts are the best people to know who is being watched repeatedly which is a good indicator of potential. Of course they will send their own scouts, but they will get an indication of some to look at. A list of names from a respected and effective scouting team would save many hours of work.

By definition a scout knows who his team is interested in.

But he's a technical scout. He compiles videos and stats for the main scouts to look at in more depth. His role is a distance from the decision to make a technically scouted player (ie a player whose stats we've compiled, which likely number in the hundreds if not thousands) an actual target for signing. The real football heads like Walsh are the ones who are paid the big bucks to know what type of player we need to improve the team. You don't give that responsibility to a kid two years out of college, no matter how good he is at compiling stats.

In reality, Arsenal probably already had a technical file on someone like Kante, and their main scouts made the decision not to pursue him. Just like we probably knew about someone like Dmitri Payet, but didn't go in for him. It's not the technical scouts that make those decisions, it's the high level scouts, managers and assistant managers who have got decades in the game. There's no reason to suppose that this lad deserves any particular credit for the quality of our signings. No doubt he did a good job at putting the videos together, but the real talent lays elsewhere.

 

[ThaiSweetChilli]

But he's a technical scout. He compiles videos and stats for the main scouts to look at in more depth. His role is a distance from the decision to make a technically scouted player (ie a player whose stats we've compiled, which likely number in the hundreds if not thousands) an actual target for signing. The real football heads like Walsh are the ones who are paid the big bucks to know what type of player we need to improve the team. You don't give that responsibility to a kid two years out of college, no matter how good he is at compiling stats.

In reality, Arsenal probably already had a technical file on someone like Kante, and their main scouts made the decision not to pursue him. Just like we probably knew about someone like Dmitri Payet, but didn't go in for him. It's not the technical scouts that make those decisions, it's the high level scouts, managers and assistant managers who have got decades in the game. There's no reason to suppose that this lad deserves any particular credit for the quality of our signings. No doubt he did a good job at putting the videos together, but the real talent lays elsewhere.

If we had Payet....that would be mental. Payet on the left, Mahrez with a free role...Albrighton on the right (or left) . . . ooooohhhh

 

[Brown Nose]

But he's a technical scout ... elsewhere.

With respect, you don't know what you're talking about.

Our 'technical' scouts watch loads of matches live each every year. They travel every bit as much as any of our actual scouts. So for example, both McKenzie and Wrigglesworth went to watch Mahrez on numerous occasions.

We subscribe to a data package that Rob McKenzie, Ben Wrigglesworth and others then developed and developed over a period of years to shortcut our need to do actual scouting. At the time, we lacked the network to be able to travel the world watching players and so wanted a way to find players more efficiently.

Our technical scouts have a database of hundreds of potential targets that changes all the time. They constantly watch players live on that database as well as on video in order to evolve it. When the club want a particular position strengthened, or we find someone we think may be worth looking at further, David Mills and his team look and then Steve Walsh does too.

This is a well refined and proven process that is absolutely vital to our 'edge' over our competitors.

My point in my previous comment in this thread was that the two people instrumental in developing this approach are no longer here. Instead, they are at rival clubs having taken everything they've learnt with them. I have no idea whether there is anything in place to stop someone from taking our 'list' of targets with them, but I doubt that it is feasible to do.

Now I know Steve Walsh is the key man as he can 'see' the potential in a player that distinguishes him from many other jobbing scouts. His track record is outstanding. This is why Arsenal want him too and I'm sure we'll have a hell of a job retaining him in the summer.

But anyone suggesting that losing key members of this team is anything other than seriously damaging to its effectiveness is deluding themselves. I don't know who is replacing Wrigglesworth. For all I know, he may be better. But it does matter.

 

[ThaiSweetChilli]

With respect, you don't know what you're talking about.

Our 'technical' scouts watch loads of matches live each every year. They travel every bit as much as any of our actual scouts. So for example, both McKenzie and Wrigglesworth went to watch Mahrez on numerous occasions.

We subscribe to a data package that Rob McKenzie, Ben Wrigglesworth and others then developed and developed over a period of years to shortcut our need to do actual scouting. At the time, we lacked the network to be able to travel the world watching players and so wanted a way to find players more efficiently.

Our technical scouts have a database of hundreds of potential targets that changes all the time. They constantly watch players live on that database as well as on video in order to evolve it. When the club want a particular position strengthened, or we find someone we think may be worth looking at further, David Mills and his team look and then Steve Walsh does too.

This is a well refined and proven process that is absolutely vital to our 'edge' over our competitors.

My point in my previous comment in this thread was that the two people instrumental in developing this approach are no longer here. Instead, they are at rival clubs having taken everything they've learnt with them. I have no idea whether there is anything in place to stop someone from taking our 'list' of targets with them, but I doubt that it is feasible to do.

Now I know Steve Walsh is the key man as he can 'see' the potential in a player that distinguishes him from many other jobbing scouts. His track record is outstanding. This is why Arsenal want him too and I'm sure we'll have a hell of a job retaining him in the summer.

But anyone suggesting that losing key members of this team is anything other than seriously damaging to its effectiveness is deluding themselves. I don't know who is replacing Wrigglesworth. For all I know, he may be better. But it does matter.

Brilliant post BN - completely spot on.