11 Questions with Blair Newman

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 Blair Newman, creator of the Second Ball Newsletter

How did your first opportunity in football come about?

My first opportunity came through Lee Scott over at Total Football Analysis. I did some writing for the website during the 2018 World Cup and after that Lee put me in touch with Martin Christie, who he worked with at St Mirren. Martin was St Mirren’s Head of Recruitment at the time, and I scouted a game for him before the club changed manager and backroom staff. Martin then joined Partick and he got me involved there last year after I’d done some opposition scouting for Edinburgh City. My first paid work in football came about a year after I’d started, when I covered opposition scouting for Kilmarnock.

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

I just love football and want to work in the sport someday. I’ve been writing about the game for about five years and during that time I’ve realised I’d like to be more involved. I really enjoy analysing matches, teams and players, and I’ve deliberately incorporated that passion into my writing in recent years, so scouting just seemed like a sensible first step. As for analytics – it’s definitely a subject that interests me, but my main focus is improving my tactical understanding of the game.

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

While opposition scouting in Scottish League Two last season I saw Scott Banks come on for Clyde a couple of times. He was on loan there from Dundee United and I thought he looked a potential class act. He’s just signed for Crystal Palace, which is quite cool.

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

I wouldn’t say I’ve missed out on any players, because I’ve mainly done opposition scouting. As for concept – I don’t know if it counts but probably the technology teams use in the analysis process. I’ve heard of things like Sportscode and Hudl, but not had the chance to use them as yet.

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

Probably coaching. I’ve done a couple of courses and want to get involved in it. If I started over I would probably approach the game that way first before getting into scouting. I imagine having first-hand knowledge of how coaches and players communicate and prepare for a match can only help when it comes to writing opposition reports.

Do you see player development as more of an art or a science? Is development on the club or the player? Why?

To get a good answer you’d have to ask coaches. From my outsider’s perspective I’d say it looks like a collaboration between player and club, with probably more responsibility on the coach the younger the players they are training. As players grow up and become adults, I imagine they then naturally will take more ownership of their own development.

What is your favorite sports moment? Why?

I’m based in Scotland, but I was born in England and spent a good part of my childhood in Yorkshire. While I was there I became a Leeds fan, and I still try and keep up with the team’s results to this day. So my favourite moment is probably watching Jermaine Beckford score at Old Trafford to give Leeds a win over Manchester United at Old Trafford in 2010.

Leeds almost never beat Man U when I was growing up because that was the Alex Ferguson era where they won everything all the time. On top of that, we were in the English third tier at the time of that cup game, so nobody gave us a chance of beating them. Even now when I watch replays of Beckford scoring that goal it gives me chills.

What coach/player/team inspires you? Why?

The first team that really caught my eye was Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona. They dominated matches in a way I hadn’t seen before, so that got my attention and made me want to read and learn more about tactics.

Since then the teams that have really inspired or interested me have been Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid, Max Allegri’s Juventus, Antonio Conte’s Italy at Euro 2016, and Jill Ellis’ USA team at the 2019 Women’s World Cup. All of these teams showed incredible passion, togetherness, organisation and a winning mentality, which are things I love to see.

I’m also inspired by people like Dougie Wright, Alex Lawrence, Stevie Grieve, Rene Maric, Tom Payne and others who worked their way into football in coaching or analysis roles. As someone who has no playing background beyond local youth level, it gives me a lot of hope to see people breaking into the game. Hopefully I can follow in their footsteps.

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

I’d say watch as much football as you can, take notes on the games, learn from people with expertise wherever possible, and don’t be afraid to promote yourself.

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

WyScout makes it really easy for me to watch all the Scottish Premiership games. From that I can write articles, do reports, and build my knowledge base of the league I hope to work in. I’d also recommend Top Coach notepads, which I use to keep a log of all the games I’ve analysed.

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

I like watching some other sports, particularly tennis. There’s always tactics or strategy to be found there that can be related back to football analysis in some way. I also love reading books or blogs that are focused on tactics.