The Association of Professional Football Analysis is delighted to announce the takeover of hosting duties for the content, courses and jobs board from Rob Carroll at TheVideoAnalyst.com
In November, 2022 the APFA learned Rob was looking to step away from actively running the site, which as a result would eventually cease to exist. The decision to preserve the legacy of a historic site in the football analysis industry was not a particularly hard one to make.
The football analysis industry has grown exponentially over the past decade, thanks in part to the foundations built by some of the industry’s earliest champions. Rob and TheVideoAnalyst.com, in the opinion of the APFA, is a major factor in the vibrant community we now experience online.
That is why we will continue to host many of the important services initially provided by TheVideoAnalyst.com
Find the archive of more than 350 articles here
Find the courses here
Find the jobs board here
Career progression
Aiding current or aspiring Analysts in progressing their careers is a core objective of the APFA. We believe keeping TheVideoAnalyst.com’s blog content and jobs board is crucial because of its place in setting so many current professional Analysts on their career path.
“It was quite literally the only website you could go to, to look at analysis in football and search for a job,” says the APFA’s Oliver Gage.
“Many of the pioneer Analysts at clubs probably went through that website to get their first job, or to kind of learn on the job, because there was nowhere else to go.”
“So many really important people in the industry – Heads of Premier League Analysis Departments, people running university courses – owe their career in some part to the website.”
“Maybe they got their first job in football through the site and then they’ve moved their way up, but it all started there.”
“Without it, I don’t think the industry wouldn’t be where it is today, purely because not so many people would have been learning about analysis, getting their first jobs etc.”
In the early days of analysis, there just weren’t the same spaces to discuss and share ideas that have formed in the intervening years. The Video Analyst gave people a space to write about new thoughts and processes that were being discovered on the job.
A Visionary
Oliver points to the idea of ‘flipping’ whereby players take post-game analysis into their own hands. Written in 2013 by rugby Coach, Ross Munro Williams, the article discussed having players code their own performances to empower them to generate their own insights, rather than just listening to coaches.
A testament to Rob’s service to the industry, this is one of over 350 articles the APFA has archived from TheVideoAnalyst.com.
“Now this idea is very common,” explains Gage. “You see pieces all the time on players doing this and telestration and bringing them up at the front to walk through video analysis as a team.”
“But when this piece came out, it was mostly unheard of.”
We’re proud to help people continue to discover or revisit, the formative thoughts of the analysis industry through our collaboration with The Video Analyst.
Rob jokes “I once got absolutely battered online for suggesting Coaches needed to start talking with more analysis language, as well as Analysts speaking theirs. Sort of meeting each other half-way. At the time it was considered ridiculous, but now we see interviews with xG, packing, and analysis references all the time.”
One thought provoking piece that still stands out today is ‘Are you really a Performance Analyst?’ Discussing how an analyst can actually have real impact within their role vs simply performing menial tasks most people could complete is a conversation that remains relevant, despite also originally being written in 2013.
Leaving a Legacy
“Rob’s and thevideoanalyst.com’s contribution to the Analysis industry cannot be overstated, and ensuring his legacy is maintained with the articles, and the service the site, and jobs board in particular provides the industry is too valuable to lose,”
“We’ve spoken many times privately over the last couple of months while coordinating the merger and onboarding of TheVideoAnayst.com to the APFA. But, we’d like to take this opportunity to formally and publicly thank Rob for his work over the years, as I’m sure would so many in the industry.”
