FOOTBALL PROGRESSION PATH Helping you create opportunities in football Hey Reader, Most people think lower league clubs operate the same way. They're wrong. After hosting Jack Coles (head of recruitment at Lincoln City) and Jacob Newman (recruitment analyst at Barnsley) in the Recruitment Room this month, one thing became crystal clear: League One is the most diverse recruitment landscape in English football. The Reality Nobody Talks About Some clubs have 10 live scouts. Others have zero....
13 days ago • 2 min read
FOOTBALL PROGRESSION PATH Helping you create opportunities in football Remote work in football sounds perfect, doesn't it? Work for your dream club from anywhere. Better work-life balance. No commute to the training ground. Post-COVID, these opportunities exploded across the game. But here's what nobody talks about: the hidden cost of being the person who isn't in the room. The Integration Problem I've experienced this myself, and industry experts in my membership community echo the same...
20 days ago • 3 min read
FOOTBALL PROGRESSION PATH Helping you create opportunities in football Hey Reader, Most job adverts in football tell you everything except what matters most. The role description runs for paragraphs. The requirements list stretches longer than a Championship season. But the salary? "Competitive." "Dependent on experience." "To be discussed." You apply anyway. You research the club, perfect your portfolio, and make it through multiple rounds. Then, three weeks later, you discover the role pays...
27 days ago • 3 min read
FOOTBALL PROGRESSION PATH Helping you create opportunities in football Hey Reader, Most scouts would have passed on him. Average data. Playing for one of the weakest sides in the league. A left-back with numbers that barely registered above the median. On paper, he looked like every other forgettable defender struggling in the bottom half of the table. Twelve months later, he's moving for €3 million. The Numbers Told Half the Story I was part of the process that brought this player in on a...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
FOOTBALL PROGRESSION PATH Helping you create opportunities in football Hey Reader, Most people enter unpaid football roles thinking the experience alone will open doors. They're wrong. I've watched countless analysts and scouts spend months - sometimes years - working for free, believing that dedication equals progression. They write reports, attend matches, complete projects. Then they wonder why that promised "next opportunity" never materialises. Here's what they miss: unpaid doesn't mean...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
FOOTBALL PROGRESSION PATH Helping you create opportunities in football Hey Reader, Most people get it wrong. They obsess over their Tableau skills, spend months perfecting Python code, or chase another qualification. Meanwhile, someone with half their technical ability walks into the role they wanted. I’ve seen it happen repeatedly. Brilliant minds with impressive portfolios sitting at home whilst others with seemingly less on paper are thriving inside football clubs. Here’s what clubs...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
FOOTBALL PROGRESSION PATH Helping you create opportunities in football Hey Reader, This week's newsletter has got a different feel to it. So here's my key message. Build something they can’t take away. Football’s exciting. It’s also brutal. You can be doing great work one week, then packing up your desk the next. Not because you failed. But because strategy shifted, a new owner came in, or a manager changed. That’s what happened to me recently. I left my previous role after a change in...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
FOOTBALL PROGRESSION PATH Helping you create opportunities in football Hey Reader, You’re not stuck because you’re lazy. You’re stuck because you think you need to know everything before you begin. That belief quietly paralyses aspiring or new analysts and scouts. They wait. They prepare. They read and plan and scroll. But they don’t move. When I first started, I thought the same I assumed I needed paid data. I thought I had to do a course before I could visualise anything. I believed I had...
2 months ago • 2 min read
FOOTBALL PROGRESSION PATH Helping you create opportunities in football Hey Reader, A few years ago, I thought I was doing networking right. I was sending DMs. Reaching out to Heads of Recruitment, senior scouts, sporting directors, anyone who looked like they had influence. I thought: “If I show them I’m keen, they’ll help.” They didn’t. And when I finally figured out why, everything changed. The Shift: Networking Isn’t a Transaction The mistake I made, and the mistake most people make, is...
2 months ago • 3 min read