James Bord Bored of Blades?

[ThatJa]

The person credited with bringing in the "AI driven" transfers seems to be throwing himself about a bit recently, interested in buying Wednesday and now interested in buying Derby.

Did we bin him off, or did he just get Bord of us?

Either way can't be a bad thing, his idea of how to operate us was never going to work, glad the board have ditched the idea.

Way too many Board, Bord and Boreds in this post

 

[Blademan89]

Good riddance to him.

Seemed a shady character & complete chancer, shouldn't have been any where near our club like he was. Nor his shit data system.

Our owners put too many eggs into his basket and its backed fired massively, now hes seems to have scuppered with tail between his legs, onto next victim.

 

[Cheets]

The person credited with bringing in the "AI driven" transfers seems to be throwing himself about a bit recently, interested in buying Wednesday and now interested in buying Derby.

Did we bin him off, or did he just get Bord of us?

Either way can't be a bad thing, his idea of how to operate us was never going to work, glad the board have ditched the idea.

Way too many Board, Bord and Boreds in this post

Maybe Bord is just borderline bored of being on the board.

 

[Fjortoft's Aeroplane]

Absolute result if he's been sent packing.

 

[metalblade]

It was on the cards.

 

[Nickydblade]

The board need to be all aboard, and if Bord is borderline bored with us (and he has already paid his board and lodgings) he should board a ship, ensuring no one has bored a hole in it, and get back to the chalkboard with lower league club like Boreham Wood, and maybe bring in someone like Peter Bord as manager.

…something about aurora borealis.

 

[SwissBlade]

The person credited with bringing in the "AI driven" transfers seems to be throwing himself about a bit recently, interested in buying Wednesday and now interested in buying Derby.

Did we bin him off, or did he just get Bord of us?

Either way can't be a bad thing, his idea of how to operate us was never going to work, glad the board have ditched the idea.

Way too many Board, Bord and Boreds in this post

I don't think the association with James Bord has ever been formalised and he's certainly not been announced by COH as its beyond their generic statements.

It is widely recognised and accepted that the Data Driven strategy is supported by the Data supplier owned by Bord.

He's the co-owner of Dunfermline Athletic, there is no reference to him being a shareholder at Sheffield United and its hard to know if he's part of the consortium / ultimate beneficiary.

 

[CaptainMorgans]

I don't think the association with James Bord has ever been formalised and he's certainly not been announced by COH as its beyond their generic statements.

It is widely recognised and accepted that the Data Driven strategy is supported by the Data supplier owned by Bord.

He's the co-owner of Dunfermline Athletic, there is no reference to him being a shareholder at Sheffield United and its hard to know if he's part of the consortium / ultimate beneficiary.

Pretty sure Bettis referenced his involvement / software in an interview with Radio Sheffield.

When COH spoke of industry leading AI recruitment technology it seems their eggs were firmly in the basket of the poker player. At least we got to enjoy the pre-season delights of that Peruvian lad that went to Dunfermline and the two from Bulgaria that don't make match day squads.

 

[Berkshire Blade]

Pretty sure Bettis referenced his involvement / software in an interview with Radio Sheffield.

When COH spoke of industry leading AI recruitment technology it seems their eggs were firmly in the basket of the poker player. At least we got to enjoy the pre-season delights of that Peruvian lad that went to Dunfermline and the two from Bulgaria that don't make match day squads.

It's also reported he was behind selles appointment which might be the single worst idea in football since VAR

 

[KMC-1889]

As I understand it he was never an investor, he owns an AI start up one of our consortium has invested into which uses AI to process big data sets to identify undervalued assets.

Home | ShortCircuit Science

www.shortcircuit.science

As with most AI start ups these days, they don’t really work. I think it’s naive that our board were taken in by this but the end of the day they operate in this new start up environment where bullshit sells.

What is more likely is that the board have decided to dispense with Short Circuits services in search of other data driven providers.

 

[SwissBlade]

Pretty sure Bettis referenced his involvement / software in an interview with Radio Sheffield.

When COH spoke of industry leading AI recruitment technology it seems their eggs were firmly in the basket of the poker player. At least we got to enjoy the pre-season delights of that Peruvian lad that went to Dunfermline and the two from Bulgaria that don't make match day squads.

Apologies, you're right, I hadn't listened to the interview on RS, so didn't know he'd referenced him directly.

Just done an ChatGPT search and it brought this up

• In an interview carried by the Yorkshire Post (17 Oct 2025), Bettis said:
  
  

  “James has a data and AI model around identifying talent… He heavily influenced some of the young, emerging talent we signed and the owners were willing to take that risk… We identify a number of players… we send them to James and his team to run them through their AI and data machines… It’s a kind of sense-check.” Yorkshire Post

• A write-up of the same BBC Radio Sheffield appearance quotes Bettis along similar lines:
  
  

  “I think he heavily influenced some of the young, emerging talent that we signed… it’s more a check and double-check to make sure what we’re thinking is right… James is just reviewing it… giving an extra level of confidence to what we’re doing.” View From The John Street

In short: Bettis publicly frames Bord as an external data/AI layer that flags and validates targets; club scouts and the manager still make the final call.

What i'd understood previously from talking to people at the club was that the model identifies targets and then the work is done by the recruitment team on top of that to do a sense check on what the data model provides... Bettis' quotes seem to suggest that the players are identified first and then put through Bord to approve...

Interesting that the last statement from ChatGPT suggests that it's the other way around

It's also reported he was behind selles appointment which might be the single worst idea in football since VAR

I'd heard the same. It made zero sense

 

[dexter101]

My understanding is he is used as a consultant by the board. Bettis said in his last interview, his AI firm is part of the recruitment process, although more heavily involved with "potential" signings rather than first team signings.

Whilst there is no formal conflict of interest if he did buy a championship club, it would look odd, even though I am sure NDAs etc would be in place around use of potential signing data.

If he bought them lot in south Barnsley, you would think club would come before business and we would cut ties.

 

[CaptainMorgans]

Apologies, you're right, I hadn't listened to the interview on RS, so didn't know he'd referenced him directly.

Just done an ChatGPT search and it brought this up



What i'd understood previously from talking to people at the club was that the model identifies targets and then the work is done by the recruitment team on top of that to do a sense check on what the data model provides... Bettis' quotes seem to suggest that the players are identified first and then put through Bord to approve...

Interesting that the last statement from ChatGPT suggests that it's the other way around



I'd heard the same. It made zero sense

I'm speculating, but it doesn't feel likely that what Bettis is saying is true.

I don't remember us bringing in an international scouting network when COH arrived. The change was James Bord and his magic software.
The thought that we identified Caceres and he just rubber stamped it doesn't ring true.
A couple of his statements sound slightly contradictory.

And yes, the rumour was that it was James Bord that decided we needed to hire Ruben Selles without a proper recruitment process.

When you consider the head start we had on the division, and you look at the sides occupying the top spots... it's hard to quantify the level of damage this unknown has done to this club under COH instruction.

I've been criticised for being critical of Stephen Bettis in recent weeks.
Personally, I'd like a CEO to lean on his experiences of running a football club to influence better decisions than the above.

 

[blade_ben]

Not on the board, never has been.

 

[Fjortoft's Aeroplane]

The data driven approach is fine if the data is accurate. But all evidence points to some really sloppy "data" being provided. How do they trust what some random Bulgarian data provider says is true?

 

[CaptainMorgans]

Not on the board, never has been.

I don't think anyone believes he is, but his influence seems to have been pretty huge for a non-board member (based on media / 'ITK' info).

 

[Silent Blade]

I don't think anyone believes he is, but his influence seems to have been pretty huge for a non-board member (based on media / 'ITK' info).

His name not even in the SUFC Companies House.

 

[Zipwire]

I think this summers activities involving United certainly hint towards Bord having a lot of involvement in the decision making at boardroom level.

Regarding the sacking of Wilder. I was against it on the basis he deserved to start the season and my preferred scenario would have been giving him the first 2 or 3 months of the season to see how we started. If we had dropped off it would have time to take the change. However playing devils advocate he did lose a very valuable game at Wembley worth £100m+ after being 1 up at half time and his tactics did get brought in question and that would have weighed heavily in the decision making process. The appointment of Selles was in vogue with the current climate too of appointing young foreign coaches who arrived arms with football philosophies about playing out from the back. I can see why the change was made even though I didn’t necessarily agree with it.

I also think the AI might not have been such a disaster if it had complemented the existing recruitment plan. If we had brought in the AI signings from Peru and Bulgaria and arranged loan moves to clubs where they could develop and learn the England game it would have worked. Bringing them in and giving them an endless diet of U23 at Shirecliffe won’t. Relying on them to be the core of the recruitment plan won’t either.

I think the route the board need to go down is firstly appointing a Sporting Director who will oversee all the football operations, develop a long term plan and work with the manager to develop a long term plan and some direction for the future. It’ll free up Bettis to get on with the stuff that he is good at, and take away a bit from the manager giving him time to focus on what he is good at.

Secondly AI is the future, we don’t want to be writing it off but take time time to set up and develop a plan to use AI and using it to dovetail what we already have with recruitment. At the minute Brighton are the best in class at this, and they are miles in front of anyone, they’ve got it all planned out for the next 5 years, but also have the flexibility to change the plan and also work alongside a conventional recruitment plan (James Milner and Danny Welbeck two players who are enjoying a swan song at the back end of long careers certainly wouldn’t have got through AI filters)

The one thing the board can take credit for is quickly identifying the AI approach that Bord wanted to implement and the appointment of Selles was a crock of shit and they swiftly corrected this mistake where it might have been easier for them to stick with the same course and hope something drops to save face.

This season we won’t go up, and anyone who thinks we will get a play off spot needs to stop sniffing glue, but we are playing some good stuff now, and there is plenty to build on over the next two transfer windows to give it a real go again next season.

And a lot of credit has to go to Wilder as it would have been a tough decision for him to swallow his pride and it would have been easier to tell COH to fuck off when they realised they had fucked up and they pretty much admitted it by asking him to return

 

[SwissBlade]

I don't think anyone believes he is, but his influence seems to have been pretty huge for a non-board member (based on media / 'ITK' info).

I think there is needs to be an element of caution here.

First thing is that whilst a lot has been made by COH, Wilder last season, Selles and now Bettis with regards to this AI / Data driven analysis, it is neither new nor unique to Sheffield United that we're using data to scout players. Every club will be doing something similar at our level.

James Bord and his Data models will be one of many different models available on the market. I'd hazard a guess that this isn't just some pals agreement between the club / COH and Bord, but contracts or service agreements will be in place for this service to be provided.

The problem seems to be that COH seem to want to highlight that we're using this unique system and, crucially, for whatever reason, it's not worked, at least so far. Unless that's how we identified Riedewald and Bamford... Data was mentioned in the recruitment of Cannon though and up to a week ago he'd been a failed signing... 3 performances and 2 goals in a week though have tinted that conclusion a little more rosy...

On the whole though, we have problems in scouting and recruitment, the fascination at both COH and fan levels is intriguing and so Bord has come in for some criticism, if, as we believe his role has been to provide more than just data models, which would make the criticism of his service justified. But as you point out, there needs to be further criticism of the recruitment / scouting team in the club, ultimately Bettis and COH.

I guess it depends on your agenda, in the politest sense of the word as to where you will think the responsibility lies...

I've been meaning to start anther post on the Sheffield United v Pafos FC models for a few months now, but our story and theirs keeps growing (seemingly in different directions) that i've just not got around to it. They use a different concept and its something which is very interesting. I was intending to go to the Pafos FC seminar on scouting, coaching and Analysts a few weeks ago, held before the Pafos v Villareal Champions League game, but I had to change my travel plans.

 

[DI36O]

The appointment of Selles was in vogue with the current climate too of appointing young foreign coaches who arrived arms with football philosophies about playing out from the back.

There's a lot to be said for not following trends. People will walk around wearing their pants on their head just because others are doing it and call you out of touch for doing otherwise.

Secondly AI is the future

There's a lot to be s

 

[Lord Eddard Muir]

What i'd understood previously from talking to people at the club was that the model identifies targets and then the work is done by the recruitment team on top of that to do a sense check on what the data model provides... Bettis' quotes seem to suggest that the players are identified first and then put through Bord to approve...

Interesting that the last statement from ChatGPT suggests that it's the other way around

Hmmm, which is likely to be more reliable? Something you got directly from talking to people at the club, or a ChatGPT search result?

Quite the conundrum.

 

[BangorBlade]

Whats needed is a proper & effective scouting team that is fit for purpose IF a player is identified by AI he should be scouted and watched for months before any movement to buy.

 

[MayorOJC]

The data driven approach is fine if the data is accurate. But all evidence points to some really sloppy "data" being provided. How do they trust what some random Bulgarian data provider says is true?

His company is Bangladeshi (which if our Facebook is anything to go by, should prompt a £50 million bid for Hamza in January).