Scouting: Manchester United make drastic reduction to scouting network

dinostar77 said:
There were some stories under the glazers that we had so many scouts on the books that we would have multiple scouts turning up to matches to scout the same player and not being aware that their fellow scouts were there for the same reason. Madness.

There was also a story that so many scouting reports were being submitted, that they weren't being read.

Hopefully it's quality over quantity now.
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Feels as if those running the club just didn't put much thought into how to actually run the club.

"We're Man Utd, we make a lot of money, we can afford to pay for all these people, even if they're all kind of doing the same jobs."
 
I always found it laughable that we had like 4-5 people at the club during the Woodward days where their job title was essentially ‘Chief Scout’. It’s like in American Psycho where everyone’s a vice president.
 
You don't need an army of scouts to sign players from top European clubs such as Atletico or Atalanta. It's their job to spot raw talent at the roots of football so that the club doesn't have to pay top dollar when the said talent is already recognised in Europe. Thats generally how it works.
 
Chairman Steve said:
I always found it laughable that we had like 4-5 people at the club during the Woodward days where their job title was essentially ‘Chief Scout’. It’s like in American Psycho where everyone’s a vice president.
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if it's just a title that doesn't matter too much. Can basically just be a fancy alternative to senior or something.

Lots of scouts doesn't have to be a problem either, comparing notes on a single player or a set of them could be useful in eliminating blind spots among each other.

But if no players break through to the first squad, or look to be good enough that it is at least easier to point to stubborn managers or something, it's really just money thrown away, especially if notes can be compared with basically open source data. And if the current and coming results prove to be promising regarding new talents (but also incoming transfers in general, regarding analyses of the way players fit and a more thorough look at their play styles, etc, beyond Opta stats). So for players like Amad and Garnacho you still need scouts, but the same for the Brunos and De Ligts. But a lot of players seemed to just not even use the scouts. Pogba and Ronaldo were most likely marketing signings, perhaps the first was a mix, but the latter was also clearly still good enough but also a huge mismatch to the direction they were trying to move towards even under Ole.

So even if the scouts did a good job in actuality behind the screens, if you have a 100 scouts but only check their analyses once every 3 years to get one, maybe two players during that time, then yeah, that's bad business. I can imagine that this could have been a good structure to set yourself apart from the digital analysts, but if you try to do it all, you eventually don't do any of it completely or even at all really.
 
ThereOnceWasAShip said:
Garnacho was signed from Atletico's academy. And he was born in Spain if I am remembering correctly.
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What is your point?

You asked when was the last time a player was scouted and brought in. Garnacho was scouted and brought in to the academy to guide him into the first team.

Not entirely sure what you are trying to debate.
 
appleman said:
if it's just a title that doesn't matter too much. Can basically just be a fancy alternative to senior or something.

Lots of scouts doesn't have to be a problem either, comparing notes on a single player or a set of them could be useful in eliminating blind spots among each other.

But if no players break through to the first squad, or look to be good enough that it is at least easier to point to stubborn managers or something, it's really just money thrown away, especially if notes can be compared with basically open source data. And if the current and coming results prove to be promising regarding new talents (but also incoming transfers in general, regarding analyses of the way players fit and a more thorough look at their play styles, etc, beyond Opta stats). So for players like Amad and Garnacho you still need scouts, but the same for the Brunos and De Ligts. But a lot of players seemed to just not even use the scouts. Pogba and Ronaldo were most likely marketing signings, perhaps the first was a mix, but the latter was also clearly still good enough but also a huge mismatch to the direction they were trying to move towards even under Ole.

So even if the scouts did a good job in actuality behind the screens, if you have a 100 scouts but only check their analyses once every 3 years to get one, maybe two players during that time, then yeah, that's bad business. I can imagine that this could have been a good structure to set yourself apart from the digital analysts, but if you try to do it all, you eventually don't do any of it completely or even at all really.
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Its been widely reported how disorganised and contradictory our scouting was, but that comes from the top. Scouts going to see same player without knowing it and sending in contradictory reports. Poor use of data etc. Also as you suggest we had no football transfer process other than Woodward listening to the leading agent of the day and then blowing huge sums on their latest offerings. Most of whom proved poorly suited to United and/ or the PL. I remember an article saying how impressed Woodward was because Ole showed him a white board where he had updated his starting 11 with a few signings. I mean the guy was an idiot.
 
Who knew that the latest route to success was more cuts? I’d say by September we’ll be starting with ten players each week to be more streamlined. Insert your own Hojlund joke here.
 
"I think I've found you a genius,” said scout Bob Bishop in a telegram to Sir Matt Busby after seeing
15-year-old Best.
 
MJ1511 said:
I wonder how many United scouts would be happy to add: "I was the person who scouted and recommended......"

Not many I'm guessing. Most will probably try to erase any reference to working as a scout at United, which is embarrassing in itself.
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Most of the stories we hear are… ‘I advised of player X, was overlooked/ignored and now player X is smashing it and worth 3x his original value’
 
ThereOnceWasAShip said:
You don't need an army of scouts to sign players from top European clubs such as Atletico or Atalanta. It's their job to spot raw talent at the roots of football so that the club doesn't have to pay top dollar when the said talent is already recognised in Europe. Thats generally how it works.
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At clubs who have left the last century behind, how it works is that analytics is doing that, whether it's ecuador or Germany. Find it baffling that this whole discussion largely ignores that, as if scouting was still the major part of the process.
 
The Firestarter said:
Literally could have used FM for better results.
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Yep.
Based on the last 10 years, our scouts have been next to useless.
Which scout for example suggested that we should spend big money on Hojlund, Antony and Zirksee?

We could've completely got rid of the scouting network, hired a 16 yr old kid who is a whizz at Football Manager and asked him for player shortlists for each position. We'd have saved a bunch of money and likely got better results from those players.
 
sunama said:
Yep.
Based on the last 10 years, our scouts have been next to useless.
Which scout for example suggested that we should spend big money on Hojlund, Antony and Zirksee?
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The scouts warned against signing Antony
 
MJ1511 said:
I wonder how many United scouts would be happy to add: "I was the person who scouted and recommended......"

Not many I'm guessing. Most will probably try to erase any reference to working as a scout at United, which is embarrassing in itself.
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Haha.
So true.
The scouting network should've been dismantled a long time ago.
 
ThereOnceWasAShip said:
You don't need an army of scouts to sign players from top European clubs such as Atletico or Atalanta. It's their job to spot raw talent at the roots of football so that the club doesn't have to pay top dollar when the said talent is already recognised in Europe. Thats generally how it works.
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I mean we literally can’t sign young players from those clubs any more right? Players have to be over 18 to join United from an EU country.
 
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