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Just listened to the Set Piece Menu episode where Rory Smith claims analytics has an issue because its proponents are too concerned with appearing smart.
I disagree - I think the biggest challenge facing the industry is learning to accept the majority of the football world thinks within a completely different paradigm to them and finding ways to do this.
In part, this is happening slowly through exposure to ideas like expected goals etc. but also because there is a growing realisation just how "professionalised" things are becoming.
Something I've found running a media outlet that focuses on stats and tactics is that the shadow side of Rory's "people want to appear smart" is a refusal by a lot of people in both the media and amongst fan bases to accept that there is a new way to think about football...
...and that way of thinking about football is being implemented in clubs at every level.
The media and fans are welcome to ignore it - but they cannot decry its very existence.
The media and fans are welcome to ignore it - but they cannot decry its very existence.
And that's why what Tom Worville and Mark Carey are doing at The Athletic is so interesting - because they're accepting that fact and shifting their ideas about football writing to include it.
Of course, there are people who do analytics/tactics stuff who want to appear smart (who doesn't?) but I don't think that is a real issue for analytics over above any other aspect of the game. There are journos who want to appear smart too...
