Blades get a mention in Forbes

[cooperblade]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/zachslaton/2013/03/06/the-ssac-interview-of-chris-anderson-david-sally/

ZS: Same question to you, Dave. Any special experiences outside of the data?

DS: Yes! As part of our research gathering we tried to visit as many clubs as we could. We visited Sheffield United in League 1. As we tended to do, we walked up as two academics conducting some research. We’d loved to see the stadium, and it was not a match day. It was midweek. We walked up to the reception area and a guys was there talking to a receptionist by the name of Steve Bailey. Steve Bailey, I think, turned out to be head of operations for the larger entity and not the club. Or do I have that backwards <looking at Chris>
CA: He was in charge of the stadium operations.
DS: But there was an attached hotel.
CA: But he was not responsible for that.
DS: So he was not responsible for that. Safe to say, he had the keys to the stadium. He opened up all the doors. He took us into the home locker room. All the jerseys were hung up for the next come game. Just chatting our ear off, just eager as he could be to tell us about United’s history and the great players that had been in the locker room. He then took us out of the locker room into the hallway and up the stairs to the field pointing out all of the key team photos and the place where all the players touch. Then he took us out onto the pitch and stood there. At this point we’re now up to an hour, just chatting on the pitch.
CA: Yeah, we’re just standing in the middle of the pitch in a really lovely stadium that holds about 35,000 people.
DS: It’s a great stadium for The Blades. We’re thinking, “Oh, this poor guy. We’re taking up his whole day.” And he says, “You guys want to go see the training facility?” So we say, “Yeah!” So he took us to the academy, and introduced us to the people at the academy.
You couldn’t feel better as a human being because he was the nicest guy. Everybody he introduced us to at United was offering us coffee, and they were just the most open people.
CA: There were the ladies ironing the shirts, and then we hung out with Mike Allen.
DS: Oh yeah, Mike Allen, who is United’s one and only match analyst. A clearly overwhelmed guy who couldn’t be more chipper about sharing his time and hearing about our research project and what we were working on. It was just a lovely afternoon.
ZS: Totally unplanned?
DS: Yes, totally unplanned. For me, sometimes from the analytics point of view or from people coming from the outsider point of view we dump on football people. We dump on football people at times. Especially when we might not be right in front of them. These people that we met, you couldn’t feel better about that particular club and what they’re trying to achieve. What kind of people they are. It was just a joy. It made me feel really good about having a small role and being a part of an industry that can have an organization like that within it.

 

[ZoneManWilf]

See here football gods. It's like kicking a puppy what you do to us...