The art of scouting to spot the next Premier League superstar has changed dramatically over the past 20 years.
Gone are the days when the old school scout would watch from the touchline or sit at the back of the stand, notebook in hand trying to identify the next Harry Kane or Raheem Sterling.
UEFA are now offering an Elite Scout Programme which is designed to marry old school methods together with data and analytics and is being run by the vastly experienced and respected former scout and technical director Les Reed.
Reed, 69, said: “This doesn’t mean the old school scouts, with the notebook and the dog on the lead, are no good because they’ve had years of experience and practice.
“On the other hand, the analysts with the technology, software and stats have something to offer and if you can bring the two together then you have a powerful tool.”
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Reed has worked at all levels of the game including eight years at St Mary’s where spotting youngsters as well as identifying emerging talent is crucial to the club’s make-up.
Southampton ’s legendary scout Rod Ruddock helped identify the likes of Gareth Bale, Luke Shaw and James Ward-Prowse while the recruitment department tracked Dusan Tadic as a potential replacement for Adam Lallana.
Reed said: “Rod is in his 80s, we use him on the course now, he would go out in a flat cap, spot the players and come home and input all of his info into a laptop on a Sunday.
“I brought him back to Southampton, he became head of academy recruitment and yet said to the younger scouts: ‘If you don’t modernise and move with the times, then you’ll never work.’
“At Southampton, we had Adam Lallana who was so good, we knew he’d play for England and a huge club would come in and buy him sooner rather than later.
“Now, we could wait until he goes and then find a replacement to feed Rickie Lambert or we could prepare for his departure and track a player which is what we did with Dusan Tadic.
“Look at clubs. Every manager talks about needing more time because of having to correct the previous manager’s mistakes. You have to break that cycle by scouting and identifying players.
“It has to be a happy marriage about getting the right manager, recruiting a manager, helping him to understand how the whole thing works so you are recruiting players for the long term and not just for each manager. You have to get the whole thing right.”
This course is about helping scouts use technology, write reports and also fit into a modern club structure so everything is in tandem and even if a manager leaves then the club does not fall apart because they have a long term vision.
Reed now works as a freelance consultant, also doing two days a week with Wrexham’s star owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney and has clear ideas on the future of European super clubs.
Reed added: “The future of ownership is in Group ownership like Red Bull, the City Group, other big clubs will have to do similar or not be able to live with their resources.
“If you look at Manchester City. They’ve got the right manager, the right backing, the right set-up and within a group of clubs. Scouts have to report into and identify players into that set-up.
"More clubs will go in that direction, in my opinion. Top clubs will try to follow the City example if they want to finish in the top two or three.”
