11 Questions with Ryan Quinn

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 Ryan Quinn:

How did your first opportunity in football come about? I haven't worked in football in any direct sense as of yet, but my first opportunities to set up a website and write about football (http://theconventionalplaymaker.wordpress.com) came about simply from being encouraged to do so by peers. I started to share my work on Twitter and gather reads for my tactical analysis (if you can call it that) of matches and from there, my 'connections' have grown. This means that I am often able to ask people that actually work in the game e.g. coaches and data analysts questions about certain concepts and receive information that I can then apply to my own thinking in my own work. What attracted you to scouting/analytics? What’s more intriguing now names or numbers? That's a very interesting question! I write about tactics, so finding out about a new player and how they fit in their sides system, or watching a side with their new head coach for the first time to gather how their tactics may have changed from their previous head coach is always interesting. I do like the idea of noticing a raw talent and keeping tabs on their progress. But, the influence of numbers in analysing football has changed the way many perceive certain concepts in football; creating chances etc and this is rather staggering. I honestly think Ashwin Raman, who's really good in the analytics side of things could explain that better. Who/what is the first player/concept you "found"? What caught your eye? Never have I discovered a player before anybody else, but I remember watching a couple of UEFA Youth League games during the 2016-17 season, one in particular being Barcelona v Manchester City and a young winger by the name of Jadon Sancho really caught my eye; his change of direction and willingness to take players on really impressed me. I don't think I have found any particular concepts, either, but I do remember writing a piece about how I thought wide players and the use of width would play a big part in the tactical outlook of the 2018 World Cup. And although not necessarily a concept, I like how when you watch a specific team regularly, you begin to notice trends and can then create a model of that teams tactics and/or decipher how you think the side could develop/change. Who/what is the player/concept you "missed" on? What did you learn from it? I do wish I had watched more of upcoming players in countries outside of Europe, it's only when players move to Europe that I have really begun to take notice of their quality/watch them regularly. I think that it's important to keep track of as many talents across the world as possible. I think that you can't subject yourself to a certain league, for example. If you could start over what skill would you build on first? I think if I had the opportunity to go back, I would maybe focus on a coaching course of some description. I am a writer rather than a coach/scout/data or tactical analyst which is suited to my strengths and what I can offer, but I think that having that experience would open up so many more avenues on top of writing. Do you see player development as more of an art or a science? Is development on the club or the player? Why? Although I am not in a position to state anything as undeniable truth, when you notice the intricacies of how coaches work out how to hone a player's strengths and how there are so many ways as to how a player can develop; tactically, technically, physically, psychologically, the at times microscopic detail of it all with then statistical information also used to help with these aforementioned aspects at least give off the idea that player development is in some sense scientific. So considering the efforts required to develop a player, is the club more important in bringing out the qualities of a player than the player themselves? But, I do think that there needs to be a level of humanity, too. Players need to be able to communicate with their coaches in order to improve in a functioning environment. What is your favorite sports moment? Why? Manchester United winning the Champions League in 2008. I was ecstatic, it was a great game between United and Chelsea with some good individual duels; Cristiano Ronaldo v an out of position Michael Essien at right-back being one of them, Ronaldo even beat Essien to head in the opener, and a game that went all the way to nail-biting penalties. Fortunately for me, the side in red ended up winners. And from a neutral standpoint, Leicester City winning the Premier League in 2016 was an astonishing achievement. What coach/player/team inspires you? Why? Great question! I take inspiration from watching various teams with players and coaches who offer something in particular that not only give me enjoyment when watching, but also encourage me to write. Players who get you off of your seat with their style, or a player who has went under a change of approach due to tactics or has simply developed their game also makes something report-worthy; something with relevancy and bold to grab the readers attention with is always key when writing, in my opinion. I just take a great interest in football and in the last few years it's tactical trends and it gives me an opportunity to express my thoughts in an in my opinion well-researched fashion. Reading interviews with players/coaches and articles from tactical analysts can offer a lot of insight, too from which I have learned a great deal. What advice would you give to someone wanting to get into media/analytics? From a personal viewpoint, I think it's good to build a portfolio of work over time; set-up a blog/YouTube channel or whatever form of medium fits your preference and do work you enjoy doing and hopefully you are found by like minded people again and again. Create a social media such as Twitter to help promote your work. Keep going at it and don't be afraid to ask questions to increase your insight and try to build contacts. I found it helpful to help out other writers by accepting offers to write guest pieces for their sites as then I had built contacts. Be open to feedback and suggestions, as well as keeping up to date with trends in the game. I think most importantly enjoy what you're doing whilst you're doing it! What is your favorite app/tool to use (for work or fun)? I tend to create diagrams to create a visual representation of a point I am making in a piece. For this, I have used sharemytactics which is very easy to use (on PC!) and PowerPoint - yes it's good for tactical diagrams. For relevant statistics to help back up a point being made, Whoscored, Sofascore and Understat have all proved rather useful. What other sport/hobby/discipline do you feel improves your work as an analyst? Why? I think reading; articles, books both fiction and nonfiction - not just for its subject matter, but I really like the language techniques used in and the style of Nick Tosches' Hellfire: The Jerry Lee Lewis Story, bolsters your use of language and it has helped me with my writing skills which I think have improved over time.