How Young is making the most of data and analysis at Sunderland
Sunderland have been busy restructuring their off-field set-up in recent months following Kyril Louis-Dreyfus’ takeover – with a renewed focus on data one of the key changes.
Theclubcreatedanewrole, with James Young appointed to the position of head of data and analysis in March, and he hasnowprovidedsomeinsight into the work his team does in abidtohelpLeeJohnson’sside on the pitch.
Young had previously worked for Deloitte – whose client-base includes the FA, UEFA and Premier League – for six years prior to his move to the Stadium of Light.
A key part of his role is to help the recruitment, performance and coaching teams to make ‘evidence-based decisions’.
Sunderland have enjoyed a strong start to the new season and have also progressed to the third round of the Carabao Cup.
Speaking to the Training Ground Guru site, Young offered an insight into some of the changes they have made.
He said: “You can do the best analysis in the world, something totally groundbreaking, but if the club can’t pick it up and do something with it, it’s meaningless.”
A lot of initial work has been going into how the data isstored,withanewplanning andcommunicationplatform (Kairos)introducedwhichthe likesofNorwichCityandScotlanduse,whileAkhilShahhas beenappointedasthenewdata scientist.
Young added: “We were previously working off PDFs for schedules and as soon as that changed, you had to send a new PDF to a massive group of users.
“It was an inefficient process, especially when you're trying to get that short feedback loop. Even something as basic as the time of lunch changing-youwantthewhole club to know about it straight away.
"Extrapolate that out to training, travel arrangements-theabilitytodothings instantaneously and to keep people up to date in real time is very powerful. That’s why Kairos was a no-brainer for me.”
Sunderland’s new structure includes head coach Johnson, sporting director Kristjaan Speakman, Stuart Harveyasheadofrecruitment and academy manager Lewis Dickman.
Young added: "All these things are coming together really nicely now.”