11 Questions with Stuart Reid

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 Stuart Reid of @From_The_Wing

How did your first opportunity in football come about?

I had decided to specialise in set-pieces and had been writing articles analysing teams set-pieces. I then met Nick Gearing who was head of analysis at Leyton Orient on a course, I spoke to him about my love for set-pieces and he offered me a unpaid role for the season to see what I could do!

What attracted you to scouting/analytics? What’s more intriguing now names or numbers?

I really wanted a job in football and explored plenty of different options to see if anything really caught my fancy: I did a bit of youth scouting, I did my coaching badges and managed a Sunday league side for a couple of seasons (with back to back promotions!) then moved onto coaching youth football (which I really didn't enjoy!), but analysis had always resonated with me as I liked the idea of being able to affect the game.

I then specialised into set-pieces as that had been a long-time interest of mine (and part of my managerial philosophy for when I coached) and saw it as a niche that would likely be an area of focus for clubs in the future - so I decided to get in early and try to establish myself in that field - plus if your corner routine leads to a goal then you definitely have an impact on the final score which I thought was very fulfilling.

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

I would definitely have learned Python (I still don't know it, but  I am nifty in Tableau) but Python allows a lot more flexibility.

What is your favorite sports moment? Why?

As a Watford fan I'd have to say the Troy Deeney goal against Leicester in the Championship play-off semi-final. It had everything - despair, hope then pure joy, all in the space of 30 seconds. I was there in the ground for it as well, although missed the goal as me and my mate were too busy going mad that Almunia had saved the penalty and it took us a little while to realise what had just happened. Then more going mad ensued.

What coach/player/team inspires you? Why?

Pep Guardiola. I had a casual interest (basically an armchair fan) in football around the time Pep was managing Barcelona. Pep's Barcelona team when I saw them blew me away in how different they were to anything else I'd seen. That inspired me to take a deeper look into football and so I began reading books about football and watching more and more of it. That all ultimately lead me on the path I'm on now, so without Pep I most likely wouldn't be working in football now. 

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

Learn as much as you possibly can, read every blog/book that you can. Most importantly - get work out there. There's a huge amount of people in football who are reading articles or scouring social media for things that could interest them and their respective clubs - make sure your work is seen and hopefully people will like it, allowing you a good base to build upon.

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

I do love WyScout, it makes watching clips of teams set-pieces ridiculously easy and is a huge timesaver for me. I also love my corner goal database I've built which is great for seeing trends and doubles as a playbook of routines so I like to flick through them to see if I can find any cool routines or ideas that I'd like to implement in the future.

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

A desire to learn and improve, I have a huge football library (I think I've got over 150+ football/coaching/mentality books) that I'm steadily working through. I read 20 or so books last year and I've finished 3 books in January so far this year, so hopefully I'll be able to eclipse last years number!