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Re:Rafa Benetiz: A title winning soccer manager who codes by atticusfinch on Saturday March 31, 2012 @03:59PM (#3781352)
Things have been changing really fast in the last couple of years in the football world and nowadays most clubs use all kinds of tools at their disposal. Some examples I can think of: GPS technology to track the training sessions, relying on OPTA to provide detailed statistics about matches/opponents/players and even using the database of a game such as Football Manager for their scouting network. Rafa Benitez is an example of a coach who takes it one step further but there a loads of other coaches who rely heavily upon statistics. It's an industry where there are still a lot of opportunities for entrepreneurs.
Re:Rafa Benetiz: A title winning soccer manager who codes by philwelch on Saturday March 31, 2012 @08:43PM (#3782098)
Prozone (http://www.prozonesports.com/index.html) is a big factor as well. (And as much as I love Football Manager, I'm dubious of its value as a scouting tool. It seems more a compilation of conventional wisdom, and is just plain wrong often enough that it's hard to manage any team you follow or know well in real life.)
Re:Rafa Benetiz: A title winning soccer manager who codes by atticusfinch on Saturday March 31, 2012 @09:55PM (#3782303)
Prozone! When I was typing the comment I was also thinking about them but couldn't remember the name. They're also a major player.

Football Manager relies on a network of 1000 scouts in 50 countries monitoring 20,000 teams. It's a useful first step in the search for the next star. Everton are the first club who signed a deal to get access to the full database.

Re:Rafa Benetiz: A title winning soccer manager who codes by philwelch on Saturday March 31, 2012 @10:15PM (#3782377)
I'm sure they do, but the flaws in the database are very noticeable to the observant fan. I haven't gotten around to buying FM12 yet, but in FM11 they got a lot of big things wrong: Philipp Lahm is rated as a natural right-back even though he's a natural left-back, Gareth Bale's pace is underrated, Lionel Messi is rated almost as a pure right winger even though he plays effectively in a more central role, Sergio Busquets is underrated (Sergio Busquets is always underrated though), and a lot of wingers are very underrated playing in inverted positions compared to their real-life counterparts.