{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"MRKT Insights - Football Consultancy Services","provider_url":"https:\/\/mrktinsights.com","title":"Design, Align, Build, Instil - MRKT Insights - Football Consultancy Services","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"h67w8azav8\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mrktinsights.com\/index.php\/2021\/05\/07\/design-align-build-instil\/\">Design, Align, Build, Instil<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/mrktinsights.com\/index.php\/2021\/05\/07\/design-align-build-instil\/embed\/#?secret=h67w8azav8\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;Design, Align, Build, Instil&#8221; &#8212; MRKT Insights - Football Consultancy Services\" data-secret=\"h67w8azav8\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\/* <![CDATA[ *\/\n\/**\n * WordPress inline HTML embed\n *\n * @since 4.4.0\n * @output wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.js\n *\n * Single line comments should not be used since they will break\n * the script when inlined in get_post_embed_html(), specifically\n * when the comments are not stripped out due to SCRIPT_DEBUG\n * being turned on.\n *\/\n(function ( window, document ) {\n\t'use strict';\n\n\t\/* Abort for ancient browsers. *\/\n\tif ( ! document.querySelector || ! window.addEventListener || typeof URL === 'undefined' ) {\n\t\treturn;\n\t}\n\n\t\/** @namespace wp *\/\n\twindow.wp = window.wp || {};\n\n\t\/* Abort if script was already executed. *\/\n\tif ( !! window.wp.receiveEmbedMessage ) {\n\t\treturn;\n\t}\n\n\t\/**\n\t * Receive embed message.\n\t *\n\t * @param {MessageEvent} e\n\t *\/\n\twindow.wp.receiveEmbedMessage = function( e ) {\n\t\tvar data = e.data;\n\n\t\t\/* Verify shape of message. *\/\n\t\tif (\n\t\t\t! ( data || data.secret || data.message || data.value ) ||\n\t\t\t\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test( data.secret )\n\t\t) {\n\t\t\treturn;\n\t\t}\n\n\t\tvar iframes = document.querySelectorAll( 'iframe[data-secret=\"' + data.secret + '\"]' ),\n\t\t\tblockquotes = document.querySelectorAll( 'blockquote[data-secret=\"' + data.secret + '\"]' ),\n\t\t\tallowedProtocols = new RegExp( '^https?:$', 'i' ),\n\t\t\ti, source, height, sourceURL, targetURL;\n\n\t\tfor ( i = 0; i < blockquotes.length; i++ ) {\n\t\t\tblockquotes[ i ].style.display = 'none';\n\t\t}\n\n\t\tfor ( i = 0; i < iframes.length; i++ ) {\n\t\t\tsource = iframes[ i ];\n\n\t\t\tif ( e.source !== source.contentWindow ) {\n\t\t\t\tcontinue;\n\t\t\t}\n\n\t\t\tsource.removeAttribute( 'style' );\n\n\t\t\tif ( 'height' === data.message ) {\n\t\t\t\t\/* Resize the iframe on request. *\/\n\t\t\t\theight = parseInt( data.value, 10 );\n\t\t\t\tif ( height > 1000 ) {\n\t\t\t\t\theight = 1000;\n\t\t\t\t} else if ( ~~height < 200 ) {\n\t\t\t\t\theight = 200;\n\t\t\t\t}\n\n\t\t\t\tsource.height = height;\n\t\t\t} else if ( 'link' === data.message ) {\n\t\t\t\t\/* Link to a specific URL on request. *\/\n\t\t\t\tsourceURL = new URL( source.getAttribute( 'src' ) );\n\t\t\t\ttargetURL = new URL( data.value );\n\n\t\t\t\tif (\n\t\t\t\t\tallowedProtocols.test( targetURL.protocol ) &&\n\t\t\t\t\ttargetURL.host === sourceURL.host &&\n\t\t\t\t\tdocument.activeElement === source\n\t\t\t\t) {\n\t\t\t\t\twindow.top.location.href = data.value;\n\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t}\n\t};\n\n\tfunction onLoad() {\n\t\tvar iframes = document.querySelectorAll( 'iframe.wp-embedded-content' ),\n\t\t\ti, source, secret;\n\n\t\tfor ( i = 0; i < iframes.length; i++ ) {\n\t\t\t\/** @var {IframeElement} *\/\n\t\t\tsource = iframes[ i ];\n\n\t\t\tsecret = source.getAttribute( 'data-secret' );\n\t\t\tif ( ! secret ) {\n\t\t\t\t\/* Add secret to iframe *\/\n\t\t\t\tsecret = Math.random().toString( 36 ).substring( 2, 12 );\n\t\t\t\tsource.src += '#?secret=' + secret;\n\t\t\t\tsource.setAttribute( 'data-secret', secret );\n\t\t\t}\n\n\t\t\t\/*\n\t\t\t * Let post embed window know that the parent is ready for receiving the height message, in case the iframe\n\t\t\t * loaded before wp-embed.js was loaded. When the ready message is received by the post embed window, the\n\t\t\t * window will then (re-)send the height message right away.\n\t\t\t *\/\n\t\t\tsource.contentWindow.postMessage( {\n\t\t\t\tmessage: 'ready',\n\t\t\t\tsecret: secret\n\t\t\t}, '*' );\n\t\t}\n\t}\n\n\twindow.addEventListener( 'message', window.wp.receiveEmbedMessage, false );\n\tdocument.addEventListener( 'DOMContentLoaded', onLoad, false );\n})( window, document );\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/mrktinsights.com\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.js\n\/* ]]> *\/\n<\/script>\n","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/mrktinsights.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/atalanta.png","thumbnail_width":1200,"thumbnail_height":700,"description":"All long-term team performance graphs are produced on FootStats Summary: Design &#8211; What do you want your club to look like in 5 years time? Align &#8211; get the people and processes in place you need to reach that point. Build &#8211; building is disruptive and messy but necessary to create what you want. Instil&#8211; the vision and processes have to outlast the people. The power of long term trends. Everybody in football knows deep down that effective change takes time. Your results are determined by a combination of past decisions and current circumstances.&nbsp; Past decisions: The quality of the squad you have built up, and how well coached they have been to play together.&nbsp; Current circumstance: Losing your two best players for 6 months is going to have an immediate impact on how good your results are.&nbsp; We all should know that making consistently good decisions will improve us in the long term.&nbsp; The purpose of running a data-informed club is that you separate the long term decisions from the short-term noise. This is difficult, football has a combination of time pressure, and emotional investment that very few other businesses do. Fundamentally changing the way you do things as a football club is like trying to rebuild a restaurant whilst still serving up food to customers all observed by super critical reviewers.&nbsp; Which is why most clubs don\u2019t fundamentally change things. Most follow the pattern of outsourcing football to a manager.&nbsp; This can work, the right manager, like the right chef, can produce great work if they are given time and support to perfect what they can do with the ingredients available to them. Alex Ferguson took 6 years, heavy investment, and almost being sacked for finishing just a few points off relegation before winning 13 Premier League titles. David Moyes took an Everton squad from near annual relegation fights to sustained top 7 finishes but it took 5 years of wildly fluctuating form to get there.&nbsp; Everton Goals For and Goals Against on a 38 match rolling average over David Moyes entire time in charge. Being consistently good took around 5 years.&nbsp; The problem with reliance on a single \u201cstar\u201d employee is that when they leave things can fall apart. Post-Moyes Goals For and Goals Against shows the number of goals scored maintained (with Lukaku signed and Barkley\u2019s emergence) but a quick decline in the quality of the defence. Once Lukaku is sold (summer 2017) the number of goals scored drops too and remains 0.5 goals a game worse. Similarly with the end of the Alex Ferguson era at Manchester United there was a steep and sudden decline in goals scored (0.5 per game) when he left in 2013 with the rolling average of goals scored for and against narrowing significantly with the only sign of recovery happening after 5 years of heavily financed squad rebuilding. That happened at big clubs in the Premier League, lower down the food chain managers don\u2019t get 5 years to get things right.&nbsp; There are two reasons for this &#8211; we call it the Goldilocks problem.&nbsp; If a manager does too well then they will get a better paid job at a bigger club. If they suffer poor results for too long they will be sacked or resign due to external pressure. An alternative to the approach of outsourcing to a really competent manager and giving them time to build is to just have loads more money than anyone else. Chelsea managed this from around 2003 onwards. It didn\u2019t really matter whether the manager was Mourinho, Conte, Ancelotti, Scolari they performed fairly consistently until their spending advantage over the other big 6 clubs narrowed.&nbsp; Manchester City is a case in point. The 2008 takeover takes one year to show up in the rolling average of data (as we would suspect with a rolling average) and the gap doesn\u2019t shrink regardless of whether the manager is Mancini, Pelligrini, or Guardiola. But what options are there available to clubs who don\u2019t have unlimited financial resources? There is a 4 step process available to all which, if followed, will maximise the chances of a club doing as well as possible given their resources. Design&nbsp; \u201cHave a plan. Follow the plan, and you&#8217;ll be surprised how successful you can be. Most people don&#8217;t have a plan. That&#8217;s why it&#8217;s easy to beat most folks.\u201d Bear Bryant. It cannot be stated enough that clubs need to have a plan. A plan needs to show where you plan to be in the future and the steps you will take to get there. A high level example might be:&nbsp; Aim: We will reach the top division within 5 years, playing attacking football, and with a young team with a high resale value. How: By providing resources that will be invested in finding the best coaches (who share a vision and providing the best coach development system), recruiting the best young players (through expanding our scouting network), and improving our youth system (upgrading facilities and pathways to improve player retention). The plan needs to come from the owners of the club. Everyone at the club needs to know it exists and be responsible for working towards it, challenging it when necessary&nbsp; Align&nbsp; Once you have the plan you need to align the key people and departments to it. The owners need to be aligned with the leadership group who need to be aligned with the coaches, who need the right players to deliver on the pitch. Build Anyone who has had building work done on their house whilst still living in it knows it is noisy, disruptive, and full of hidden expenses. Sometimes you do have to tweak plans if budgets change and sometimes the personnel involved in the actual building work alters during the project but ultimately you start with a clear vision of what you want and work towards that plan. There is always a stage of a big build where you\u2019ve spent \u00a3100k and are staring"}