Diary of a Scout: Pre-season confusion  | OneFootball

Longmeade Stadium. Photo credit: author.

Tonbridge Angels vs Bromley

It was nice to not have to travel to any matches for a while, but as we moved into July; I was itching to get back to some scouting. Sometimes there’s nothing better than the smell of the grass in the air (even though Tonbridge Angels have an artificial pitch) and the sizzling of the cheap meat in the burger van.

Horses for courses

Satisfaction is a feeling that’s hard to come by doing this kind of work… especially with no financial gain. That’s why I’m constantly looking at ways to better myself. As a result I paid for the Level 1 and Level 2 Talent ID courses with the PFSA. I’d already done this with the FA, but I thought it wouldn’t hurt to complete some more with a different organisation.

I also submitted my application for the advanced level 3 course with the FA. This required a letter of recommendation, along with my CV. I’m still waiting to hear back from them to see if I’ve got a place, so fingers crossed! Failing that I’ve also had conversations about doing a Masters degree in Performance Analysis in Football. Maybe I’m getting a bit ahead of myself here, but why shouldn’t I consider all options available?

Scouting senses

Much like Peter Parker himself, my scouting senses must’ve been tingling; just as I was thinking of messaging my head of recruitment at Harrogate, he sent me a WhatsApp. Pre-season was here and there were friendlies beginning to take place up and down the country. It had been a busy time for me personally, as I’d just moved house. I was back in my home town of Tonbridge and there were a few matches coming up at the Longmead Stadium.

The most appealing of the bunch was against Bromley, from League 2. They were also due to play an under 21 Crystal Palace team at home, but had another eleven coming to Tonbridge. I was very familiar with the Tonbridge set-up, so I arrived in good time and was feeling rather relaxed.

Flustered and frustrated

The team sheet was displayed in the usual place and I took a photo of it and sent it over as usual. I didn’t realise the opposition was written down as Bracknell Town. This was bought to my attention and I began researching the new team. After a while I realised the date on the team sheet was old and this was actually the previous game. I rushed around trying to find someone to get a team sheet for the match on the night, but there wasn’t one.

Luckily Tonbridge had names on the back of their shirts, but Bromley didn’t. So I had no idea who the players were for the visitors. I managed to eventually find the line-ups on social media, but there was another twist to the tale.

The Tonbridge players listed to play on an X post didn’t correspond to the names on the shirts! So they must have been borrowing or wearing the shirts of the first team players. There were quite a few trialists in action, so this just made things even more confusing. Who would’ve thought having no team sheet would cause so much chaos!

Not feeling it

Things felt disorganised on the night and I felt stressed. I couldn’t relax and concentrate on the game. I’d hardly made any notes and I really wasn’t feeling it. I was getting simple information mixed up and I was getting distracted by silly little things. This hadn’t happened before but I was struggling to focus or see anything noteworthy. Was this because there wasn’t much to see, or had my scouting brain been rattled?

Whatever it was, the experience of the Football League side shone through and they raced into a 3-0 lead quite comfortably. My strange defensive tractor beam was sucking me into the seasoned pro barking orders at the back. Other than that there wasn’t much ink going on to paper.

A bright spark

Just as I was clicking my pen down and thinking of packing up my bag, Bromley made a substitution. A fresh faced youngster entered the field with his hair slicked back. He looked no older than around 12 years old to me. He was bright from the off. Chasing down everything, quick and enthusiastic. His touch was class and he looked dangerous. My eyebrows were raised and I was suddenly invested again straight away, no questions asked.

He was wearing the number 24 shirt and listed as a trialist on the subs bench. I’d never seen so many people with the surname ‘Trialist’ and the initial ‘A!’ How could I find out who this wonder kid was!? He could be the next Michael Owen and certainly had similar characteristics to the ex-England international.

Head in the clouds

Tapping away on my phone I tried to find any information that could lead me to this kids name. No joy. How could I find this information? Not having a detailed team sheet was really debilitating. It was bugging me that something so easy to find out was proving so problematic. Pre-season felt almost too relaxed, with a lack of attention placed on the smaller details of the match. I know it’s non-league, but I could be missing out on the next Cristiano Ronaldo here!

An expensive mistake

Trying to find out who this player was had really buckled me. What if someone else reports on him from this match and takes all the glory? I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I stopped at the petrol station on the way home as I was low on fuel. With my head in the scouting clouds thinking about this player mystery, I filled up my tank and suddenly thought “oh shit.” I had just filled up my diesel van with unleaded petrol. What an idiot!

I had always dreaded breaking down on the motorway coming back from a match late at night, but this was just pure stupidity! I’d never done this before and I was kicking myself. All because I was thinking about that number 24 for Bromley. A call to my breakdown company followed. Then the stress of an overnight wait, no transport for work the next day and a fuel drain.

This all cost me £200. No reports were written that night and on top of that I was still waiting for my PFSA assessment to be graded. I felt drained before the season had even started and once again I found myself questioning if any of this was worth it. This feeling was compounded by the news that I didn’t have a place on the FA level 3 talent ID course. Where would I go from here?

JP Scouting player in Focus: Connor Teale

Coming from the Leeds United academy, Teale progressed through the ranks to be a member of their under-18 squad, featuring in the U18 Premier League and FA Youth Cup. When his contract expired he joined Fleetwood Town looking for first team experience. During his time there he had loan spells at Marine, Curzon Ashton, Farsley Celtic, Alfreton Town and Arbroath.

He was released by Fleetwood at the end of the 2023-24 season and joined Altrincham in October 2024. This didn’t last long and he made the permanent transfer to Boston at the end of November after only 1 appearance for Altrincham. He looks fairly settled at the moment and has contributed 2 goals for Boston so far.

Previous Diary of a Scout Stories

Part Nine: Video Games and Trial DaysPart Eight: April Scouting ShowersPart Seven: Hindsight SatisfactionPart Six: New Year; Same Goals