Article in The Independent

Long read in The Independent today - https://inews.co.uk/sport/foot.....nk_share_article-top


Brighton 2.0? The unlikely minnows shaking up the transfer market
Grimsby CEO Polly Bancroft talks to i's Mark Douglas about transfers, the club's ambitions, investing in the local community and more

Grimsby Town are in an exclusive club in world football, one of just a handful of sides putting their trust in a cutting edge data firm causing an almighty stir in recruitment circles.

The League Two club are only the second English side to partner with Jamestown Analytics, an offshoot of Brighton owner Tony Bloom’s sports gambling firm Starlizard. The other is the Seagulls themselves, whose impressive record in the transfer market is partly down to the edge that Jamestown’s complex algorithms have given them in recruitment.

There is genuine excitement at Blundell Park about what the link-up means for the future of the club. Jamestown’s unique business model means the consultancy are more than just guns for hire – they effectively pick their clients rather than the other way round. And when they first spoke to Grimsby’s forward-thinking co-owner Jason Stockwood, they really liked the message that came back from the technology entrepreneur best known for heading up online dating firm Match.com.

“We’re very early on that journey with Jamestown but we’re excited about it,” Grimsby CEO Polly Bancroft tells i from her office at Blundell Park.

“It’s a big opportunity for us to get a competitive advantage over our rivals.”

It is, at first glance, a strange place to launch a lower league data revolution. Speak to people who know the club and one of the things that often comes up is how “out on a limb” Grimsby is as a town. It sits on the north Lincolnshire coast, 40 miles from nearest rivals Lincoln or Hull City, and the club play in a 125-year-old stadium that has its undoubted charms but has seen better days.

But dig beneath the surface and you will find a story of hope, innovation and a club just as determined to be good people as they are to field a good team. That progressive culture is what made Jamestown regard them as such a good fit.

How it works is this: at the start of the partnership last year Grimsby’s squad was evaluated at length by the firm across a number of unique metrics, comparing their players against hundreds of thousands playing across the globe. The Mariners then provided Jamestown with a detailed shopping list of the sort of players they are require, including everything from age and playing style to favoured foot and the club’s budgetary requirements.

Jamestown then produced a list of players best suited to Grimsby’s playing style, crunching data that insiders believe is richer and more insightful than any of their competitors working in the same space.

Having taken some tentative steps along that path with their summer transfer business, Grimsby now believe they have done the necessary “culture work” to hit the ground running with a proper data-led approach from the January transfer window.

For a club with just one full-time senior employee currently focused on recruitment, it feels like a potential game-changer.

“The reality is we don’t know Jamestown’s secrets, we don’t know the magic, we’re not privy to that but it gives us a top filter we’re able to utilise rather than starting our player search from scratch,” Bancroft says.

“We’re a lean structure here. We have one person dedicated to player recruitment but being able to reach beyond just one person’s ability to go and watch players or filter through data themselves, to have a data company scouring the whole market, internationally and domestically, it’s a massive opportunity for us.”

It requires buy-in, though. There is no doubt that is in place at the top, where co-owner Stockwood has taken to leaving copies of Liverpool data mastermind Ian Graham’s book How to win the Premier League around the club’s training ground.

But it is also in place with the club’s head coach David Artell, appointed last year on the strength of his ability to develop players. Picking hidden gems from the English and overseas market is one thing, maximising their ability when they arrive is seen as the key part of bringing it all together. The Jamestown numbers are no cheat code, just a leg up if they get everything else right.

“It’s a good test for them as well to apply their methods to our context,” Bancroft admits.

“Yes it works in the Premier League and they’ve got clubs in Spain and Italy but does it work in League Two as well?

“We’re in this together to see if models and mechanisms are applicable lower down the leagues.”

If they can model themselves as a League Two Brighton it will be a compelling story, along with a snappy USP to deliver them some coverage if they are successful. But there really is more to Grimsby than just data.

Significant investment in the women’s team – backed by gym memberships, increased training time and a pledge to recruit the best local players – has been matched by sharper emphasis on the academy. Commercial revenues is on the up, with training ground and stand sponsorship deals being worked on.

And, most importantly, they are hugely invested in the community. Bancroft speaks enthusiastically about financial and environment sustainability and lobbying the EFL and new independent regulator for the good of the game. They are currently applying for B Corp, the gold standard for responsible businesses.

That comes from the boardroom. Stockwood and his co-owner Andrew Petitt, a successful venture capitalist and scion of high-profile local butcher John, are both homegrown success stories who invest significant time and money into Grimsby. Owning the club is absolutely part of that plan and what tempted Bancroft, one of only five female CEOs in the EFL, to leave her previous role as head of women’s football at Manchester United.

“They really understand the power that badge has,” she says.

“It’s so important in a town this size. We’re the only professional club in the town, we’re on the north-east Lincolnshire coast, we’re out on a limb to some extent so we really recognise the importance and benefits the club can have for the community.

“Jason sits on the board of the foundation, I work super closely with them as well. Football clubs are institutions that need to be in the fabric of the community. We open up our spaces for whatever the community thinks is important.”

Convincing supporters that things are on the right track hasn’t always been easy as Alex Green, presenter of the popular Grimsby podcast DN35, explains.

“We’re a hard bunch to please, there’s a sort of ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’ approach,” he explains. A recent league table spaced over the last 10 years saw Grimsby placed 93rd out of 118 teams in terms of points won over the last decade so you can see his point.

“I think most proper fans can see this is really exciting. I think we can see what they’re trying to do and the progress they’re making and you can’t but be impressed by the ownership’s attitude to the town. Grimsby does have poverty, not just of resources but also of inspiration as well, so what Jason and Andrew are doing is just fantastic.”

Last season the club narrowly avoided relegation from the EFL, a sobering reminder of how far they still have to travel. But there is a conviction that they are on the right path.

“No-one finishes fourth from bottom of League Two and is happy with that,” Bancroft admits.

“We didn’t need to reset, everyone wanted to do better. I think we started to understand in February, March time that we needed to change and I worked really closely with David on the process of player recruitment from that point so we’re in a much better place on that. The biggest change from last season to this is the style of play. We’re a lot more progressive now, playing through the thirds.

“We might need to mix it up from now and then depending on the opponent, position in the game so there is that flexibility within the game plan but hopefully the fans have seen it’s less direct, it is more progressive and hopefully easier on the eye.”

Green concurs. “One of the interesting things was they talked about picking David Artell because he can develop players and I think you can see the sown oats of that now,” he says.

“Kieran Green was so not wanted that he’s not even in this year’s calendar but he assisted a wonderful goal last weekend and has become a sort of lynchpin in midfield. He was a bit of a brute, comes on after 65 minutes, picks up a card, but now it’s totally different.”

They sit seventh in League Two heading into this weekend’s trip to Newport County. Tentative talk of a promotion push will increase in volume if positive results continue.

“Our ambitions are to climb to through the leagues and we don’t want to put a cap on it either. We’ll continue to try and get better each year,” Bancroft says.

“The men’s team finishing fourth from bottom of League Two last year means we have a lot of headroom to do that. Seventh is great so far but we’re only in November. We’re confident that with working smartly and the resources they’re putting in, on and off the pitch, we can steadily improve year on year.”

It feels like something is stirring at Blundell Park and it might not be long before their reputation extends beyond Jamestown’s data geniuses.

Quoted from ska face

Long read in The Independent today - https://inews.co.uk/sport/foot.....nk_share_article-top


Brighton 2.0? The unlikely minnows shaking up the transfer market
Grimsby CEO Polly Bancroft talks to i's Mark Douglas about transfers, the club's ambitions, investing in the local community and more

Grimsby Town are in an exclusive club in world football, one of just a handful of sides putting their trust in a cutting edge data firm causing an almighty stir in recruitment circles.

The League Two club are only the second English side to partner with Jamestown Analytics, an offshoot of Brighton owner Tony Bloom’s sports gambling firm Starlizard. The other is the Seagulls themselves, whose impressive record in the transfer market is partly down to the edge that Jamestown’s complex algorithms have given them in recruitment.

There is genuine excitement at Blundell Park about what the link-up means for the future of the club. Jamestown’s unique business model means the consultancy are more than just guns for hire – they effectively pick their clients rather than the other way round. And when they first spoke to Grimsby’s forward-thinking co-owner Jason Stockwood, they really liked the message that came back from the technology entrepreneur best known for heading up online dating firm Match.com.

“We’re very early on that journey with Jamestown but we’re excited about it,” Grimsby CEO Polly Bancroft tells i from her office at Blundell Park.

“It’s a big opportunity for us to get a competitive advantage over our rivals.”

It is, at first glance, a strange place to launch a lower league data revolution. Speak to people who know the club and one of the things that often comes up is how “out on a limb” Grimsby is as a town. It sits on the north Lincolnshire coast, 40 miles from nearest rivals Lincoln or Hull City, and the club play in a 125-year-old stadium that has its undoubted charms but has seen better days.

But dig beneath the surface and you will find a story of hope, innovation and a club just as determined to be good people as they are to field a good team. That progressive culture is what made Jamestown regard them as such a good fit.

How it works is this: at the start of the partnership last year Grimsby’s squad was evaluated at length by the firm across a number of unique metrics, comparing their players against hundreds of thousands playing across the globe. The Mariners then provided Jamestown with a detailed shopping list of the sort of players they are require, including everything from age and playing style to favoured foot and the club’s budgetary requirements.

Jamestown then produced a list of players best suited to Grimsby’s playing style, crunching data that insiders believe is richer and more insightful than any of their competitors working in the same space.

Having taken some tentative steps along that path with their summer transfer business, Grimsby now believe they have done the necessary “culture work” to hit the ground running with a proper data-led approach from the January transfer window.

For a club with just one full-time senior employee currently focused on recruitment, it feels like a potential game-changer.

“The reality is we don’t know Jamestown’s secrets, we don’t know the magic, we’re not privy to that but it gives us a top filter we’re able to utilise rather than starting our player search from scratch,” Bancroft says.

“We’re a lean structure here. We have one person dedicated to player recruitment but being able to reach beyond just one person’s ability to go and watch players or filter through data themselves, to have a data company scouring the whole market, internationally and domestically, it’s a massive opportunity for us.”

It requires buy-in, though. There is no doubt that is in place at the top, where co-owner Stockwood has taken to leaving copies of Liverpool data mastermind Ian Graham’s book How to win the Premier League around the club’s training ground.

But it is also in place with the club’s head coach David Artell, appointed last year on the strength of his ability to develop players. Picking hidden gems from the English and overseas market is one thing, maximising their ability when they arrive is seen as the key part of bringing it all together. The Jamestown numbers are no cheat code, just a leg up if they get everything else right.

“It’s a good test for them as well to apply their methods to our context,” Bancroft admits.

“Yes it works in the Premier League and they’ve got clubs in Spain and Italy but does it work in League Two as well?

“We’re in this together to see if models and mechanisms are applicable lower down the leagues.”

If they can model themselves as a League Two Brighton it will be a compelling story, along with a snappy USP to deliver them some coverage if they are successful. But there really is more to Grimsby than just data.

Significant investment in the women’s team – backed by gym memberships, increased training time and a pledge to recruit the best local players – has been matched by sharper emphasis on the academy. Commercial revenues is on the up, with training ground and stand sponsorship deals being worked on.

And, most importantly, they are hugely invested in the community. Bancroft speaks enthusiastically about financial and environment sustainability and lobbying the EFL and new independent regulator for the good of the game. They are currently applying for B Corp, the gold standard for responsible businesses.

That comes from the boardroom. Stockwood and his co-owner Andrew Petitt, a successful venture capitalist and scion of high-profile local butcher John, are both homegrown success stories who invest significant time and money into Grimsby. Owning the club is absolutely part of that plan and what tempted Bancroft, one of only five female CEOs in the EFL, to leave her previous role as head of women’s football at Manchester United.

“They really understand the power that badge has,” she says.

“It’s so important in a town this size. We’re the only professional club in the town, we’re on the north-east Lincolnshire coast, we’re out on a limb to some extent so we really recognise the importance and benefits the club can have for the community.

“Jason sits on the board of the foundation, I work super closely with them as well. Football clubs are institutions that need to be in the fabric of the community. We open up our spaces for whatever the community thinks is important.”

Convincing supporters that things are on the right track hasn’t always been easy as Alex Green, presenter of the popular Grimsby podcast DN35, explains.

“We’re a hard bunch to please, there’s a sort of ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’ approach,” he explains. A recent league table spaced over the last 10 years saw Grimsby placed 93rd out of 118 teams in terms of points won over the last decade so you can see his point.

“I think most proper fans can see this is really exciting. I think we can see what they’re trying to do and the progress they’re making and you can’t but be impressed by the ownership’s attitude to the town. Grimsby does have poverty, not just of resources but also of inspiration as well, so what Jason and Andrew are doing is just fantastic.”

Last season the club narrowly avoided relegation from the EFL, a sobering reminder of how far they still have to travel. But there is a conviction that they are on the right path.

“No-one finishes fourth from bottom of League Two and is happy with that,” Bancroft admits.

“We didn’t need to reset, everyone wanted to do better. I think we started to understand in February, March time that we needed to change and I worked really closely with David on the process of player recruitment from that point so we’re in a much better place on that. The biggest change from last season to this is the style of play. We’re a lot more progressive now, playing through the thirds.

“We might need to mix it up from now and then depending on the opponent, position in the game so there is that flexibility within the game plan but hopefully the fans have seen it’s less direct, it is more progressive and hopefully easier on the eye.”

Green concurs. “One of the interesting things was they talked about picking David Artell because he can develop players and I think you can see the sown oats of that now,” he says.

“Kieran Green was so not wanted that he’s not even in this year’s calendar but he assisted a wonderful goal last weekend and has become a sort of lynchpin in midfield. He was a bit of a brute, comes on after 65 minutes, picks up a card, but now it’s totally different.”

They sit seventh in League Two heading into this weekend’s trip to Newport County. Tentative talk of a promotion push will increase in volume if positive results continue.

“Our ambitions are to climb to through the leagues and we don’t want to put a cap on it either. We’ll continue to try and get better each year,” Bancroft says.

“The men’s team finishing fourth from bottom of League Two last year means we have a lot of headroom to do that. Seventh is great so far but we’re only in November. We’re confident that with working smartly and the resources they’re putting in, on and off the pitch, we can steadily improve year on year.”

It feels like something is stirring at Blundell Park and it might not be long before their reputation extends beyond Jamestown’s data geniuses.

The future is black and white and we're on the move, going up.

UTM

Bit of basic forum etiquette mate, you don’t need to quote the whole thing. I’ve been scrolling down nearly an hour now.

Very interesting i must say! Hmm

I'm excited but I would like to know the answers to two questions

1 How much is the data costing us
2 How much does the women's team cost us

It's fine reading soft soap stories like this but without any figures it's hard to understand what's genuinely going on.

This scenario can make the January transfer window a VERY interesting period, with some unknown surprise packages emerging?

If the window finds 2 solid , speedy full backs for both flanks, and a potential goal scorer, then I will believe that data works !!
  
I can see more young foreign players with future sell on potential being signed, more Conteh types with quick progress for summer sell ons after helping.the team move forward !

Worked for Brighton !!

Quoted from acko338

This scenario can make the January transfer window a VERY interesting period, with some unknown surprise packages emerging?

If the window finds 2 solid , speedy full backs for both flanks, and a potential goal scorer, then I will believe that data works !!
  
I can see more young foreign players with future sell on potential being signed, more Conteh types with quick progress for summer sell ons after helping.the team move forward !

Worked for Brighton !!

Are you not impressed by Hume? Seems to me he’s been good this season. Also Warren looks like he’s settling a bit better now?

Quoted from Yarborough Vaults

I'm excited but I would like to know the answers to two questions

1 How much is the data costing us
2 How much does the women's team cost us

It's fine reading soft soap stories like this but without any figures it's hard to understand what's genuinely going on.

No idea about both to be fair. However, the article read to me that it is more of a “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” type of thing as they’re looking at seeing if the method works in the lower leagues. As a consequence I expect it’ll be discounted, or maybe even working like an agent does and we pay a percentage of any fee but without them pushing the price up to get more money for themselves.

Quoted from Yarborough Vaults

I'm excited but I would like to know the answers to two questions

1 How much is the data costing us
2 How much does the women's team cost us

It's fine reading soft soap stories like this but without any figures it's hard to understand what's genuinely going on.

Someone could tell you both and you still wouldn’t know what’s genuinely going on unless you knew the full finances of the club. You’d have about as much idea if someone told you it cost £10k as if it cost £100k.

Quoted from ska face

Someone could tell you both and you still wouldn’t know what’s genuinely going on unless you knew the full finances of the club. You’d have about as much idea if someone told you it cost £10k as if it cost £100k.

And what something costs is very different to what the value of something is. Our former owner knew the cost of everything and the value of nothing.