Diary of a Scout: Hindsight satisfaction  | OneFootball

Courses continue

Going into February I found myself constantly wanting to learn and participate in various Talent ID courses. Live matches were fairly sparse, but there were still plenty of games to watch online.

Having completed some self-paced online courses with the good people at AFCAS (The Association of Football Coaches & Scouts) I signed up for the module 1 workshop in London. I felt this would be a good opportunity to network with fellow scouts and do some learning outside of my own house confined to my laptop. I was looking forward to the day, well, until I found out the venue of this live workshop….

Into the enemy’s lair

Of all the football stadiums in London this event just happened to be at The Emirates. As an avid Tottenham supporter this was a bitter pill to take! It was quiet on the streets around the ground on the day, but the Arsenal club crest was EVERYWHERE! Not only that I could see a massive poster of Judas himself out of the classroom window. Sol Campbell aside the course was a great experience and I have every intention to continue my learning with this great organisation. Even if I did feel fairly nauseous for the entire day!

Another stadium, another course

All professional and elite football clubs will want you to have your Talent ID certificates with the FA. They’re the official organisation for the sport in England after all. The level 1 course is easy enough to navigate and complete online in your own time and it’s free of charge. The level 2 is a bit trickier. With thousands of people on the waiting list I wasn’t optimistic about doing it anytime soon. Then the beauty of connections on LinkedIn paid dividends. A coach at MK Dons put up a post about the course being held in Milton Keynes. After a few emails back and forth I paid the £220 and got a place on the two day course. I couldn’t quite believe it!

An early Sunday morning call

The FA course was over two Sundays in February. It’s bad enough getting up for my day job when it’s cold and dark, but to be on the road even earlier to get to Stadium MK shows some real dedication! I left at 6am for a 9am start and both days were great. I made more connections and a certain Will Grigg was on the same course as me. There were coaches from Manchester City in full tracksuits, so I felt a bit out of place. However, it was another certificate under my belt and I was hoping it would lead to bigger and better things.

MK Stadium (photo by the author)

Video games

On top of all my learning I was still scouting players, but mainly via Wyscout. It’s amazing to have this tool and to be able to write reports in the comfort of your own home, but it comes with limitations. Sometimes the camera work for lower league games is pretty bad. Zooming out too much, not following the ball. You also can’t track your man off the ball much. I guess there are pros and cons to everything, but I also find it hard to concentrate when the game is really boring. Maybe I shouldn’t say that, but it can difficult.

Picking a winner

One of the matches I watched online was a routine victory for Fleetwood Town over Cheltenham Town. They won 2-0 and I was actually watching the Cheltenham centre-back, Tom Bradbury. It was a solid performance and I’ve probably already mentioned that I seem to have an attraction to defenders. So I wrote my report, submitted it and thought nothing of it. Anyway, fast forward to pre-season and Harrogate actually signed him. It didn’t click for a while, but I wrote a player report that could’ve potentially influenced that deal. I was over the moon and felt a sense of satisfaction and pride in my work. This was the first time this had happened and hopefully not the last.

Injury inconvenience

Another match I watched online involved a talented young striker on loan from Brighton at Gateshead. He was really bright, but an injury on the hour mark meant he had to come off. This is just as frustrating as an injury at a live match that you attend, because it ruins their momentum. I meant to come back to this forward and check on his progress, but I got side tracked with other targets. In fact I might go back and check his stats now….

JP Scouting player in Focus: Louis Flower.

A real handful before coming off injured on the hour mark. Frustrating because he was having a very good game and the 60 minutes he played was an impressive performance. I’d like to see more of his finishing and variety of shooting going forward, but at only 20 he looks to have the makings of an all-round centre-forward. He may have to work on the timings of his runs, but his starting position and instinct to get in behind is already looking to be second nature to him. Mix this with his ability and he could have a really promising future ahead of him.

Flower joined Brighton from fellow Premier League side Chelsea in September 2023, having progressed through the ranks from U13 to U21 level after joining The Blues from Cambridge United. The forward has made 6 first team appearances for The Seagulls in the Vertu Trophy, in addition to scoring 8 goals in 22 Premier League 2 appearances across the last two seasons.