“The really intelligent clubs – and Manchester City are one of them – are now doing continuous succession planning”. That’s what we told iNews this weekend for a piece that focussed on Manchester City’s possible plans for the eventual, inevitable loss of Pep Guardiola. As the piece, written by Mark Douglas, says, “For football’s smartest operators it is no longer a case of reacting to the market when you have a vacancy.”
We are no strangers to helping clubs create succession plans. Our Coach ID service, used by clubs across the world, finds head coaches and assistants using a series of assessments. Our algorithms assess performance impact, style of play and tactics, player development, in-game tactical decisions and much more. One of the key aspects is style, which means the data can find coaches whose teams play in a certain way, for example, focussing on short passes in deep build-up, or going vertical and leveraging a high press.
Clubs working with Analytics FC are sometimes forced to be “reactive” in their approach, but a growing number are utilising data in an even more effective way by building processes well before any decision is made. In the same way as a club would scout players, proactive Head Coach succession planning can be key to ensuring continuity and avoid being left in a difficult position.
Clubs are using the Coach ID service to create a shortlist of coaches of similar coaches to their own, so that when the transition to a new head coach comes, it is as stable as possible. A club need not be thinking of imminent change to start the process and, indeed, with the ability to refresh the shortlist, the clubs who succession plan most effectively can work with us to stay abreast of changes in the market and be ready to act as soon as necessary.
This has important effects on squad planning, for a start, meaning that a new coach doesn’t require a raft of new signings after a change in approach. We can also assess squad compatibility to see which positions might need addressing, as well as looking at player development to see how coaches affect the output and valuation of their squads, which groups of players coaches work well with, and tracking other coaching effects and outputs.
If you’d like to know more about our Coach ID service watch the video below in which our CEO Jeremy Steele explains the story behind Coach ID and how we developed the service. If you would like to speak to us about how Coach ID can help your club, please get in touch.
Header image copyright IMAGO / News Images / Mark Cosgrove