David Pleat explains shortcomings of Tottenham’s data-led recruitment
Tottenham’s former recruitment consultant David Pleat has been speaking about the shortcomings of data in recruitment and the importance of having eyes and ears on the ground to watch players.
David Pleat recently left Tottenham Hotspur
David Pleat worked as a scout and a recruitment consultant for Spurs for a long time, helping the club identify the best emerging talent in the English Football League.
However, he vacated his role earlier this summer, with Tottenham’s new regime going for a more data-based approach to identifying players.
It has been well documented that the club’s technical director Johan Lange and his recruitment team use data analysis to narrow down their list of targets and identify players with the specific attributes that Ange Postecoglou is looking for (GiveMeSport).
Pleat says data is incomplete without scouting
Pleat has now acknowledged that while data is an increasingly more useful tool in recruitment, he insisted that the numbers cannot tell you certain things about a player.
He insisted that you need scouts doing the painstaking work on the ground in order to develop a more complete understanding of each potential transfer target.
Speaking about his exit from Spurs, the 79-year-old told Sky Sports: “They are more data-driven now, all clubs, not just Tottenham. There is still room for the eyes and ears, for men that go on with the cloth caps on a horrible evening to wherever to look for talent.
“Data is a massive help to people who are out scouting, but they still need the scouts. They still need to know certain things. You might find out something more about the player by speaking to a manager of another club.
“You might find out if the player is particularly popular with his teammates, whether he is a good trainer – all sorts of things that data cannot tell you.”
Scouting has to accompany data analysis
I do not think you will find a single top club in Europe that has done away completely with scouting and relies purely on data.
Tottenham will have a trusted network of scouts who will run the rule over players after the club initially uses data to narrow down their search to a set of names.
Johan Lange also made it clear in the recent fan forum that the club do not sign players without doing considerable background research on their personalities, and analysing whether they would fit into the team’s ethos.
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