In the FT Weekend Magazine distinguished football writer Simon Kuper provides an in depth profile of the success of Everton FC. Quite a lot of article is about how much use the club makes of performance analysis and how demanding manager David Moyes is in his demands for data. This is translated into very detailed instructions to players that anticipate the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition.
In the FT Weekend Magazine distinguished football writer Simon Kuper provides an in depth profile of the success of Everton FC. Quite a lot of article is about how much use the club makes of performance analysis and how demanding manager David Moyes is in his demands for data. This is translated into very detailed instructions to players that anticipate the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition.
Kuper notes, ‘Everton were – and are – the second club of Europe’s poorest city. No sheikh or oligarch will fund them. Their 121-year old stadium, Goodison Park, has little scope for VIP boxes, and there aren’t many corporations in Liverpool to hire them anyway. [Yet] year after year, Everton finish above much richer clubs.’
Five of the clubs in the top seven in the Premier League pay two or three times more in salaries. Yet Everton, with about the Premier League’s 10th-highest wage bill, have finished eighth or better every year since 2007.
Player recruitmet is key. They have made good use of signings from Ireland and have also targeted under utilised markets such as Croatia, Poland and Switzerland. But Everton’s Dan Hargreaves admits that they may have concentrated too much domestically on working class neighbourhoods. He told Kuper, ‘There’s a growing middle class, there are more green spaces in middle class areas.’ Whether middle class parents want their children to become footballers is an interesting question.
Everton need to outsmart richer clubs and David Moyes and his attention to detail has been vital. For example, he insisted that one of the training pitches at the custom built Finch Farm facility should have the exact dimensions of Goodison. It looks as if he is going to stay.