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Apples to apples
The European Golden Boot is an annual award recognising the best goalscorer in club football in Europe. It was initially awarded every season to the player who scored the most goals in European first divisions.
The early awardees were a mix of household names, such as Marco van Basten, and relative unknowns, such as Cypriot […]
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The right science
There is a lot that we can learn from seeing how the same challenges are faced and resolved in a different context. We often look to other industries to identify whether there are any approaches that may be applied to football.
An asset management company when hiring an fund manager, for example, will seek out a […]
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The Money League trend
The 21st annual Deloitte Money League report highlights the rate of financial growth at the top of the game, with revenues up 6% in the top 20 and as much as 58% for Leicester City and 46% for Internazionale.
Combined with our own World Super League, which ranks teams globally in one ‘league table’ based on […]
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A year in review
From Mo Salah’s expected impact to the dramatic turnaround in fortunes of Fortuna Sittard, and what Chile should learn from Germany. A few standout insights from 2017:
Of the most expensive Premier League signings, Mo Salah was projected to have a bigger impact than the likes of Morata and Lacazette – but less than Lukaku. After […]
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The cost of January
The January transfer window is well-known to be a chaotic period, with circumstance rather than planning being a key driver of activity.
The general perception is that a good window can turn performance around; we can all think of examples of teams that spent significantly on new players, and saw an improvement in results. The bigger […]
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Finding Marco
We are beginning to appreciate the substantial impact that a good manager or head coach may have on our prospects over a season, and those that have had high-profile success are becoming increasingly desirable. Take Marco Silva for example, who was recently subject to a £10m offer to buy him out of his current obligations. […]
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The right head coach
Barely two months into the season, and ten men have already lost their jobs as head coach or manager of clubs in England, Spain, Germany and Italy’s top divisions. This level of turnover is now an accepted part of the game, despite it being a clear inefficiency.
Recruiting a head coach is a tougher task than […]
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The sport that we think we know
We put the following questions to our team at 21st Club this week:
Though the questions are incredibly simple – and about a sport we’ve each followed religiously for decades – no one got all the questions right to within the margin of error. Many of you will no doubt fail to get one or two […]
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The rule of thumb
Following the 2008 financial crash, Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane looked into what factors caused the crisis. He discovered that breaching the regulations set out in Basel II – a complex 347-page document that attempted to ensure banks remained safe – proved a less effective predictor of failure than a crude rule of […]
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The challenge of scouting Ajax
Ajax’s impressive run to the Europa League final alerted clubs across Europe to the potential of the young players in their squad, and suggested to many that they had the temperament as well as the skill to compete in bigger leagues.
While clubs have access to video as well as the ability to watch Ajax’s players […]
