Ged Searson: Improving the art of football scouting in Australia

The Association of Football Coaches and Scouts (AFCAS) have recently undergone its first recruitment and player scouting workshop, focusing on creating scouting reports while also learning footballing scouting skills and techniques to assess players.

These online workshops are taught by AFCAS Managing Director Ged Searson, who has 15 years of experience to his name as a football scout and almost 30 years of experience as a football coach.

Throughout his footballing journey, Searson got an incredible opportunity to work alongside legendary manager Sir Bobby Robson, while also working in the English Premier League with West Ham United and most recently with the Malawi national team during the 2022 African Cup of Nations (AFCON).

In an interview with Soccerscene, Searson reflects on his experiences as a football scout, what it was like to learn from Sir Bobby Robson, the creation of AFCAS and how he is trying to improve football scouting not only in Europe, but in Australia as well.

How did you start working as a football coach and scout?

Ged Searson: I started coaching when I was 19 due to injury, I wanted to learn and study and hopefully make a career working in football. 

I went to monthly coaching seminars across the UK and Europe and I met up with different coaches at different levels. I just went in with an open book and thought I’m going to learn.

At the same time, I had my own academy in Essex across the road from West Ham’s training ground, working with six-year-olds up to the age of 16. I did that for 13 years, built the program and I had about 350 players a week coming to training at one point.

Later on, I started to work in non-league and semi-professional football. Any club that didn’t have money and was struggling in the relegation zones would ring me up and I would try to get them out of trouble, which was a learning experience.

I didn’t want to continue down the academy coaching route anymore because it wasn’t financially viable for me at the time and then I ended up becoming an opposition scout.

However, I will say to become a scout you must learn and then develop the rest of your career. You must go the extra mile, get off your back and try to learn.

My first opposition report was about Brentford, back when they were in League Two. My friend was working for Barnet and he was doing video analysis and he said can we see your report?

I said I’ll send it over but I’m sure your scouts can do it far better than me and he replied we haven’t got any scouts.

Ian Hendon was the manager at the time at Barnet and just started his coaching career. He said he liked the report and asked me if I could do this every week and that was how I started my career as a football scout.

What were some of the highlights throughout your football career?

Ged Searson: Ian Hendon got his big break where he was asked to become the assistant manager at West Ham United to work under his old manager, Sam Allardyce, and recommended me to the club.

The funny thing was that West Ham was my team as a kid and it was a pure coincidence that I got to work for my own club. I worked as an opposition scout and also did recruitment scouting.

In my first year we got promoted from the Championship, winning the playoffs at Wembley. When you think about it, I won a trophy with the team I support, how good is that?

I spent the next two years in the Premier League which was great and I absolutely loved it.

I left West Ham after three years and was offered to become the chief scout of Grimsby Town. I did the opposition scout reports and the recruitment which I’d learned through my time in the Premier League.

We broke the points tally with the most points in the club’s history within one season and had the best away record of any team in the country. We got to the playoffs finals but lost when it went to penalties, which was hard to take.

In regards to my international career, I got a phone call from the technical director of Malawi at the time, Mario Marinica, who I’ve worked with in the past. He asked if I could come over and do your opposition scouting and create a recruitment and scouting team for us.

Heading into AFCON in Cameroon, we were complete and total outsiders. But because we had put together this recruitment team of the guys I’ve worked with and an analysis team with the scouts that I taught, we had a secret weapon.

We were more organised than any other team going into the tournament and we made history. We beat Zimbabwe and we drew with Senegal, who actually won the tournament that year.

We went through to the last 16 and faced Morocco who beat us 2-1, but it was overall a really good experience.

Ged Searson at Leyton Orient F.C. team photo. (Images supplied by Ged Searson).

What was it like learning from Sir Bobby Robson?

Ged Searson: I was very fortunate to be able to go to PSV Eindhoven when Sir Bobby Robson was coach.

I just contacted him and said, can I come and study with you and learn from you? 

He said absolutely, you’re more than welcome to come over and that was it.

I was 24 at the time and was a young coach. He just took me under his wing.

I was on the training ground with him every day and he had me on the pitch next to him when he was doing his sessions. The supporters thought I was his son or something and they couldn’t work out who this young lad was next to him. 

He looked after me and had quite a few visits there and really got to understand more about the game.

He was very old fashioned, a true gentleman and a football enthusiast. 

There’s lots of lovely tales about him being a nice guy and giving his time to people. I hear those stories and I know they’re true because he did exactly the same as me.

How was AFCAS created and what made you lean into teaching football coaching and scouting to others?

Ged Searson: The English FA started to bring out their Talent ID courses and I saw it advertised and thought I better go and do it. They were doing a scouting course and I was interested.

However, I spent three days on a scouting course that had no scouting on it. It was mainly regulations and safeguarding but there wasn’t any technical scouting in any form. Of course, I learnt some things, but it wasn’t a scouting course.

There was a small section on opposition scouting, but the guy teaching hadn’t really done any opposition scouting and I think I’d done about 650 games as an opposition scout.

Then there was something setting in motion and in the back of my mind I was thinking, I could write something here that could be helpful for scouts.

It was maybe two or three years later I decided to put something together that was technical and could teach the skills that scouts do need.

I thought I’m going to teach this from a chief scout’s view and we started off at Emirates Stadium in London, where I taught my first class.

I had 15-16 people there; whether that would be coaches, agents, scouts or anyone who’s just interested in football.

I started teaching tactical scouting, then was asked to teach recruitment scouting and that’s where it took off.

Ged Searson and the coaches winning an award. (Images Supplied by Ged Searson).

What made you decide to provide these online workshops for people in Australia?

Ged Searson: I did a few morning sessions during lockdown and there seemed to be an awful lot of coaches that were quite interested in the Melbourne area.

The guys seemed desperate to do something and they thought coming to do a workshop seemed to be appropriate.

I met a really good group of guys and they did about three levels with me as well.

For whatever reason, I drifted away and I didn’t do the UK morning workshops. Then recently, I had a few people asking if I would do those workshops again and it was actually agents from Australia.

I said I was happy to do that and so I started lining up the morning sessions again.

From conversations I’ve had with agents, there seems to be players at the moment that are slipping through the net and are being missed out.

They said there’s a need for scouting here to help players get identified and move them into clubs and progress from there.

That’s why I’m trying to help scouting develop in Australia and maybe clubs could use scouts more to try and make sure players don’t slip through the net and help those guys get an opportunity with clubs.

What will we see next from AFCAS moving forward and will we see you make an appearance in Australia?

Ged Searson: The next stage for AFCAS is to now get these courses across the world. 

We’ve created an interactive course where you are learning the necessary skills to observe techniques and assess performances as a scout and a coach.

It would be nice to go over to Australia and do a workshop there if there was any interest by a club. It would be a fantastic opportunity.

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PFA Annual Report Highlights Key Concerns for A-League Players

The Professional Footballers Association (PFA) have released their 2024 Annual A-League Men’s report. This analysis has highlighted key successful areas of last season and importantly areas of growth in the league.

This review uses a wide range of data but importantly uses a strong player-based approach.

A key tool for data collection for this report is the A-League Men’s end-of-season survey conducted voluntarily online between May 7-31, 2024. This survey received 191 player responses, a record number with at least 13 players from each club.

The survey provides a comprehensive and representative source of player insights for policymakers, offering robust comparisons across the league.

Categorised below are some key factors of the report.

International Benchmarking

The Twenty-First Group’s World Super League model provides insights into the A-League Men’s (ALM) competitive positioning.

The analysis employed a machine learning approach, rating team strengths based on performance and player movements from ten relevant leagues over six seasons. The ALM ranks eighth among these competitions as a second-tier Asian league.

The salary cap system contributes to the consistent team strengths, with a slight overall decline in score over six years likely attributed to league expansion. Despite this, the ALM’s league ranking remained stable.

From a player development perspective, the analysis offers guidance for international transfers to leagues that offer promising development pathways for Australian players looking to progress in their international careers.

Transfer Revenue

The Australian A-League Men (ALM) has experienced a remarkable transformation in its transfer market dynamics as a significant talent production and export market over recent years.

In 2024, ALM clubs received at least $17.5 million in transfer fees, with the total value potentially exceeding $20 million, significantly up from the approx. $10 million in 2023 and the $2.5 million average in past seasons.

This growth represents a fundamental shift in the domestic men’s football economy. For the first time, transfer revenue is now surpassing broadcast revenue.

In the context of the broader market, while ALM revenues have grown quickly, they remain a fraction of those in slightly more advanced leagues.

AFC Club Competitions

Previously, AFC competitions were often more costly than beneficial.

However, in the new 3-tier continental club competitions for 2024, the AFC Champions League Elite (ACLE) qualifying for the eight-match group stage guarantees $1.23m, with an additional $150k per win. Champions can earn at least $18.5m.

The ACL2, Which CC Mariners won last season, provides $462k for group stage participation and $77k per win, with champions potentially earning up to $5m. ALM clubs receive one berth in both the top two tiers.

Under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, players will receive an increasing share of prize money from the Round of 16 onwards.

Player Profiles

The PFA conducted a comprehensive analysis of match minutes across six leagues: A-League Men (ALM), J1 League, K League 1, MLS, Scottish Premiership, and Belgian Pro League.

The analysis revealed that Australian and Belgian leagues stood out, with over 10% of match minutes played by under 20s, compared to less than 5% in the other four competitions.

The introduction of scholarship players outside the salary cap has notably reduced the league’s average age, emphasizing its commitment to youth development.

Attendance

Average attendance for regular season matches has increased to 8,076 from 7,553 in 2022-23, but crowds have still not recovered to their pre-COVID levels.

Excluding the lowest attended teams of Western United and Macarthur FC the average attendance last season was 9,232, 14% higher than the 8,076 overall average.

Though the overall bias against crowd attendance can be assumed to be not as prevalent as people think, identifying this can help deal with the situations that hinder attendance.

Competitive balance

Competitive balance overall was strong with 7% of matches featuring a margin of four or more goals and 7% decided by three goals.

There was a tight race for the top 6 and the bottom two teams from 2022-23, Macarthur and Melbourne Victory, both made the finals, demonstrating the strong competitive balance of the ALM across seasons.

CBA Progress

Total player payments were around $57.8m in 2023-24, down slightly from the all-time high of $58.8m the previous season with the average payments per club being around $4.8m. This was well above the salary cap of $2.6m.

The vast majority of exempt payments from the cap were those to Marquee and Designated players. The average spend on Scholarship Players was just under $300k per club.

This report describes how revenues from transfer fees and a more lucrative AFC Champions League present new financial opportunities for our clubs.

Player Perceptions

According to the PFA end-of-season survey, 50% of ALM players were dissatisfied and 27% were very dissatisfied with how APL has performed in its management of the competition.

46% of players had ‘low trust’ in APL regarding developing a vision to improve the league.

The PFA was rated highest by the players, with 91% satisfied with its performance regarding ALM and 64% having high trust in the PFA to develop a vision.

In issues of the league, trajectory players outlined fan core experience as a centre stage with more than half including Broadcast (58%) and Atmosphere (51%) in their top three with Visibility and Branding/Marketing coming in second.

Workplace Safety

The PFA end-of-season survey uncovered concerning findings regarding the safety of ALM players’ workplaces.

11% of ALM players felt their club environment was either physically or psychologically unsafe and one in five players (20%) said they or a team-mate were unwilling to discuss issues with coaching staff and 16% with club management. 7% of players reported instances of players being forced to train alone at their clubs.

Though only a few clubs were reported on this, is still regarded as an industry issue.

Extreme weather

Last season one in six ALM matches was impacted by extreme weather with extreme heat the main culprit. 58% of players indicated the conditions impacted the players’ performances and 9% of player performances were hindered overall.

Club Index

Sydney FC was rated as the league’s best-performing club in the overall Club Performance Index, after placing in the top three for the sub-indices for Operations, Facilities, and Culture.

Pitch and atmosphere ratings

A-League players rated Wellington’s Sky Stadium with perfect marks for its pitch quality also and a four-star average for the match atmosphere.

Adelaide’s Coopers Stadium, AAMI Park, where also highly rated by ALM players with an average around the 4 stars mark. Victory home matches received an average of 4.4 for atmosphere.

The lowest rated were Newcastle’s McDonald Jones Stadium and Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium, averaging just 2.1.

Though other factors are included for pitch quality like other events, Players should still not be subject to substandard and potentially dangerous conditions.

Conclusion

Though the report shows that in many aspects the sport is moving in the right direction, the responses from players on their welfare and on the need for more attendance is a worrying sign for the management.

This assessment is a strong example of the PFA’s dedication towards the sport in Australia and maintaining the strong relationship between the Football industry and the players themselves.

The key points of this report should be central to plans within A-League and Australian Football itself.

Football NSW hosts inaugural futsal expo

On Thursday November 21st, Football NSW held its inaugural Futsal Expo at Valentine Sports Park, drawing over 100 coaches and members for a highly successful evening celebrating the sport.

The event featured an impressive line-up of international keynote speakers, including Vasco Da Gama’s Technical Director Gabriel Bussinger, former English FA Technical Lead and National Futsal Team Coach Peter Sturgess, and current Futsalroos coach Miles Downie, who all took centre stage during the evening.

Football NSW Futsal Manager, Jordan Guerreiro, said at the event.

“I think we all had an amazing opportunity to witness what great minds were able to provide through their advice and wisdom to our coaches in Gabriel Bussinger, Peter Sturgess and Miles Downie,” he said.

“The ideas and concepts on coaching at the younger phases of development of players and the importance of what we teach and how we coach is so crucial at this stage of development.”

Gabriel Bussinger provided valuable insights into the culture of Brazilian futsal, highlighting the significance of 1v1 situations and fostering bravery and creativity in players. He urged coaches to build players’ confidence in challenging defenders and unleashing their creative abilities.

Peter Sturgess delved into the rising trend of the Flying Goalkeeper in modern futsal, offering strategies for training goalkeepers to effectively use their feet in different scenarios—a crucial skill in today’s game.

“Key takeaways from the event included the potential for football clubs and coaches to incorporate futsal into their overall coaching strategy,” Guerreiro continued.

“By doing this, they can offer a broader range of learning environments and scenarios that nurture the adaptability, bravery, and creativity in players. The global impact of futsal on player development is undeniable, and it should be an integral part of football programs.”

Miles Downie shared his coaching philosophy and player development strategies, providing an in-depth account of his experiences with the national team and recent international competitions.

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