11 Questions with Oli Walker

The pursuit of wisdom in any walk of life quickly reveals that what you think you know is not nearly enough to get you to where you want to go. As I'm starting out in my football scouting journey I challenged myself to reach out to those already working in various roles in football to answer a short list of questions. My goal wasn't to get answers but relevant perspectives on the game within the game.

Here is Oli Walker, match analyst

How did your first opportunity in football come about?

My first 'football' role was actually working for one of the major data companies as a data collector. It was a very casual task but one that enabled me to get out to a lot of games at a variety of levels across England. Most weekends I'd watch 2 if not 3 matches; a Premier League development fixture on the Friday night, an U18 fixture at Cat 1 academy on the Saturday morning, then a 3pm kick off from the senior leagues, usually the Championship or League One, in the afternoon.

What attracted you to scouting/analytics?

It's a cliched answer but I played a lot of Football Manager when I was growing up, so I've been implementing a sound recruitment process and succession planning into my teams since the age of 13!

Who/what is the first player/concept you "found"? What caught your eye?

I saw a lot of Arsenal's age group squads whilst working in the job mentioned above and you always went to those games, particularly the U18's, wondering how many Eddie Nketiah was going to score. A complete natural as a finisher, great awareness inside the box, scored a wide range of goals, quick off the mark.

Who/what is the player/concept you "missed" on? What did you learn from it?

One of those Arsenal matches was an U23 game vs Liverpool at the Emirates. I came away from it having been most impressed by Jeff Reine-Adelaide and Krystian Bielik, in a game that featured Trent Alexander-Arnold at right back for Liverpool...

If you could start over what skill would you build on first?

I'd watch as much football as possible at a more varied spread of levels than I used to when I was growing up. Always reading the work of other people is crucial to learn from and develop your own ideas. I'd also learn to code, key to being able to work with data but also just a useful skill in general.

Do you see player development as more of an art or a science?

This is not my wheelhouse at all but it's surely both. The science of knowing what skills and elements to coach into a players game, the art of being able to identify which of those elements specifically needs adding or developing in an individual players game as well as the art of communicating those ideas effectively.

What is your favorite sports moment? Why?

Off the top of my head, the England vs New Zealand Cricket World Cup final last summer was an unbelievable watch. Also Liverpool's Champions League semi-final 2nd leg comeback vs Barcelona, and Barcelona 6-1 PSG in 2017.

What coach/player/team inspires you? Why?

Jurgen Klopp and Chris Wilder. Both for similar reasons; being demonstrably good coaches with distinctive styles and having a track record for improving their teams year on year with a clear idea of what players and player types will improve the team in their style of play.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to get into scouting/analytics?

Watch as much football as possible, on screen and in person, at as many different levels as possible. Watch the Champions League, get out and watch development games that are local to you, go and watch second or third tier league matches. It really sharpens your eye to the ability range between development and senior football, and between the different tiers of senior football. 

Also, be open to interesting opportunities and do work because it's interesting to you, not because you think it'll be interesting to others. Don't be afraid to ask for help but be polite and respectful of other people's time.

What is your favorite app/tool to use (for work or fun)?

Has to be InStat, WyScout, or any other medium that makes the watching of football matches easy and accessible. I haven't used it myself but I'm told footballia is a great repository of football matches that can be accessed for free.

What other sport/hobby/discipline do you feel improves your work as an analyst/scout? Why?

Having worked in the gambling space for a few years now, I've found being able to think critically and probabilistically to be a really useful frame of thought in a lot of situations, not just football. 

Being open to a range of outcomes and the likelihood of those outcomes occurring can be helpful for communicating your opinions and the strength of them, as well as keeping you mindful of what information you've used to form that opinion and cautious of anything you might've missed, or perhaps whether you've given a certain factor too much (or too little) weight.