The most common request we get at the APFA is for advice in finding a full-time job as a professional football Analyst.
Career progression is a major area in which we strive to help our community, so we spoke to a number of current & former Analysts, Sporting Directors and other key employees about what people can do to help themselves to break into the industry.
There’s a number of different avenues and areas you could choose to focus on:
Consider a niche discipline
This comes first, because it might impact what you do about other areas highlighted later. Building a niche was highlighted in our webinar about public vs professional analysis with Jon Mackenzie.
Specialist coaches and analysts are becoming more prominent and sought after by clubs as they look to gain a competitive advantage. Set piece coaches & analysts, goalkeeper-specific, individual-development and even position-specific recruitment analysts are now established roles in football. Almost anybody who fully committed to these areas a few years back has successfully landed a role at a club. In comparison, there are many ‘generalists’ who continue to struggle to break in, and find themselves, unfortunately, much more replaceable than the specialists.
Back when I was finding my place in football there was so much competition for places at clubs. People were doing fantastic work on blogs and social media (as well as competition from people already inside the game and getting their qualifications through formal education).
Whilst I had faith in my ability – I liked the idea of being able to directly contribute to goals (whenever one of my teams scores from one of my routines I still celebrate like I scored the goal myself!) and offering something few others could provide was also an attractive idea.
It definitely “fast tracked” my career in finding paid work and due to the competitive nature of football, I’m not fully convinced I’d have ever found paid work in the game had I not specialised into set-pieces
Stuart Reid – Head of Set-Pieces at Casa Pia and Spezia
It doesn’t have to be a specific area of the game, either. How many freelance recruitment analysts specialize in niche leagues where you might find a hidden gem? Would being one of a hundred people writing about Man City would help you in the same way as being one of just a handful of people writing in depth about the Danish, Swedish, Belgian and Dutch second division? While this may limit which clubs find you interesting, once you’ve been ‘found’ you stand a far greater chance of opening a dialogue with a decision-maker at a club.
Education
You’re obviously going to need to be able to do something useful for a club. In the UK, specialist Performance Analysis degrees are 3-4 years in length and expensive. The benefit to them is they help you with many of the pieces referenced in this article (network, portfolio of work, formal proof of education & potentially work experience).
On the other hand, 3-4 years is a long time, and you’ll likely be investing as much as £20,000 in your education and limiting your ability to work while learning. For some people that’s just not an option.
There’s a large number of analysts who’ve successfully found themselves jobs in important roles at clubs, especially on the data side, who didn’t specifically do so thanks to their degree. Jay Sokic, Aswin Raman, Stevie Gerive, Lee Scott, Tom Worville & Sam Gregory are great examples.
There’s also number of online courses that do a great job of providing a base level of education in relevant areas as a starting point. These include ones provided by the APFA, that are built by professional analysts working in the job you may want!
A qualification from a recognised body gives employers a level of confidence that your work will be a certain standard, and it’s a good, affordable way to fill out your CV/Resume.
We featured some success stories from analysts who took APFA courses before landing a full-time role here:
Build a portfolio of work
You’re going to need proof you can deliver good work on projects when you’re hired. Plenty of people can talk a good game, but showing your previous work gives a crystal-clear indication of what people can expect when you work for them. The APFA courses mentioned above include a final project designed to help with this exact need, so you can show an example opposition report, individual development & analysis plan for a player or a post-game analysis workflow for your own team.
The path from amateur analyst/blogger to paid employment is a proven one, and most of the time good work will find it’s way onto the desk of the right people eventually. Remember – clubs are looking to win at all costs, so very few people will make themselves weaker on purpose by ignoring things that can help the team. The ones that do will eventually lose their jobs and make way for the cream to rise to the top.
Related to the ‘niche’ category, tagging an analyst, coach etc. at a smaller club is going to stand a far greater chance of being seen vs trying to get a post-game report in front of Pep Guardiola. Even if the person themselves don’t see it, the smaller the club, the easier it is for things to be passed up the ladder.
Some examples of what can be put in a portfolio:
- Example opposition reports
- Example post-game reports
- Off-season recruitment strategies
- One off player recruitment pieces (replacement for player x etc.)
- Individual player ‘improvement’ or Individual Development Plan’s
- Set piece reports
- Goalkeeper analysis
If you don’t want to build your own blog, you should think about writing guest articles for others with a larger reach. If you’d like to propose something to the APFA, please get in touch with us here and we’d be open to reviewing it and seeing if it’s a good fit to publish on our site, or through someone in our network.
We mentioned Lee Scott earlier as an example of somebody forging a career for themselves. He spoke with us here about building his own personal portfolio, which led to him finding a role in professional football.
Have we directly hired someone based on their blog or portfolio alone? No. Obviously there’s an interview process where you want to feel someone out and if possible get them in the building to meet the staff. But have we invited someone in because of what we know they can do? Because we know they are smart and can add value? Or because another member of staff has noticed their work online and we think it can help us? Definitely yes.
MLS Sporting Director
When you recruit a player, it’s based on what you see on the pitch. Well, not totally, but you definitely don’t sign a player purely on their CV or where they’ve been. Anyone in that sort of category is a youth player who’s invited in for a trial. Maybe you call someone who might know them, too.
The same goes for staff. If you can’t find someone who’s worked with them or knows them, then you need the staffing version of your game film. You need a body of work to show what you’ll bring. Do you know how many hundreds of CV’s we get a year? How can we sort through them all and know who’s actually going to be good, or who’s good at marketing themselves? Seeing some previous work is massive here. That’s what I challenge my Head’s of Department’s with every time they bring me an interesting CV to look at.
Sporting Director – English Football League Club
Social media
We’ve already mentioned the social media pathway from an amateur blogger to a paid role. Some people might not want to use their social accounts for this purpose. If this is your choice, at least make sure your social media is somewhat professional. Clubs review players social media accounts when recruiting them, and most will be checking them for potential employees too. There’s nothing wrong with using it as most others do, for social interactions with friends etc. but anything controversial or unprofessional could be a red flag to a club.
If you do want to use social media as a tool to get yourself noticed, think of it as your personal brand. How does it make the reader feel if they scrolled through your timeline? Are you a specialist or a generalist? Is your tone argumentative and abrasive? Or is it open-minded and inquisitive, showing the ability to learn from others? Do you promote good work from elsewhere?
Remember, a skill set may get you interest, but most clubs won’t hire someone who they worry might be difficult to work with day in day out.
100%. We check the social accounts of people we’re going to bring into the building as an employee to be around the players and staff. We’ve passed on good candidates for getting into arguments on Twitter about Messi vs Ronaldo, saying gaffers should be sacked etc. First, it shows you don’t know the realities of life inside a club, but second, it shows you’re unable to manage your time and energy. You’ve just spend 30 seconds of your life arguing with someone on Twitter and for what? No thanks.
Head of Analysis – Premier League
Networking
Having a network of contacts is extremely powerful. Football is a small world, and it’s rare an employer can’t find out about someone within a couple of phone calls. From the other side, if you’re looking for an inside track on a job posting, a reference to put on your CV/Resume or to visit a club to help learn your trade, you’re going to need to make some acquaintances.
You’d be surprised how approachable a lot of people are in football, and sometimes we overthink the negative consequences of asking for help.
Try reaching out to someone on Linkedin, or ask for an introduction if you have a mutual connection or friend. Be transparent from the beginning too. People in football are busy, and generally don’t have time for small talk, especially when they know a request for a favour is coming later in the conversation. People will respect being direct as long as the way in which it’s asked isn’t rude or disrespectful.
You wouldn’t believe how many texts and calls I get daily. Mostly from agents and people from other clubs about industry stuff, but sometimes it’s an old friend or colleague asking for something. I’ll always do what I can to help, but the reality is that I can’t do things that means my family or club has to sacrifice. If you want help, just ask for it, but do absolutely everything you can to make it easier for me to help you. In the nicest possible way, please don’t waste my time with 3-4 emails or wishy-washy texts when we both know what you really want is to ask me for advice, a connection, favour etc. lets just get to the point!
Head of Recruitment – English Football League Club
Work experience
This is arguably the toughest part of finding a job. For someone to trust you with an opportunity, they ideally would be able to see a previous track record from a previous job. On the other hand, how do you get your first break?
Many people volunteer or take an internship, which has been a very controversial subject over the years in the analysis industry. While these can definitely be beneficial in the right circumstances, they can also be exploitative. We suggest you read this piece on it.
Finding a smaller club where you’ll be valued and an important piece of the puzzle can often be more valuable than being just a tiny part of a huge machine, so think carefully about how you position yourself. Having a Premier League tracksuit when all you really did was film training may not set yourself up as well as being one of only a two person analysis team lower down the pyramid. Head Analysts who employ people know this, too. That chances are they’ve been in those shoes themselves a number of years ago.
If I can find someone who’s been at a lower level, smaller club, with little to no resources and managed to add value, then that’s a huge ‘green flag’ for me. I know they’re going to squeeze every bit of juice out of our budgets and strive for more. That’s not to say there isn’t value in being at a big club, of course there is. But everybody knows you weren’t in the meeting with Klopp or Guardiola and the players. You were likely clipping little bits like set pieces and filming training. But could I believe you were talking directly with the gaffer in League 2, offered insights and learning some valuable lessons. Yeah, definitely.
Head of Analysis – English Football League
Applying for jobs
The final piece of the puzzle is the application process itself. Did you know the average Resume or CV is only reviewed for 6 seconds? What does yours look like to make a positive first impression? In only six seconds, the fine details of what you’ve done really won’t be noticed. It will be about previous job titles & clubs, educational background and the feel it gives off to the reviewer.
Some companies charge a large fee to write your resume/CV for you. If you can afford it, this might be a worthwhile investment, but for a lot of people this isn’t financially viable.
We recently released a number of downloadable templates, created by a professional designer and reviewed by a HR specialist. Alongside the best practice guide that comes with any CV you download, you might it a great way to promote yourself as the professional you know you are.
The APFA also offers a free to access jobs board where clubs and companies regularly post opportunities. Our analysis-specific user base means clubs know the audience will be relevant and teams from the Premier League, Football League, Major League Soccer and elsewhere post opportunities regularly. Make it a frequent visit if you’re looking for work as it’s rare more than a few days go by without a new job being posted.
Conclusion
There’s no black and white formula for success, and everyone has their own journey and pathway into a paid football analysis role. We hope the information above has helped provide some ideas and clarity on areas you can target and land a job.
The APFA works daily on providing more job opportunities to the people we serve, as well as education to help them deliver more value to the teams they will eventually work for. If you have any ideas or feedback for us please get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.
