Alumnus Josh Brown (Politics, Philosophy and Economics 2020)
How I became a football analyst
Alumnus Josh Brown (Politics, Philosophy and Economics 2020) tells us here about his role as Academy Analyst, AFC Bournemouth and offers some tips to others interested in this field.
"Since leaving Exeter, I completed an MSc in Sports Performance Analysis at the University of Chichester alongside work at Millwall Football Club, before being recruited to join AFC Bournemouth as an Academy Analyst. My job essentially is to support academy footballers across the age groups by providing statistical and video analysis of fixtures and training, and with the full-time pros, helping to acclimatise them in an elite sporting environment by providing pre- and post-match analysis of opposition and fixtures. In the future I want to progress into working within an elite first-team environment in the Premier League, or another elite European league.
"I always loved sport, and I knew I wanted a job that was dynamic, fast-paced and rewarding - and football analysis matched this with my academic strengths, so it seemed a natural progression from my undergraduate degree. I love the fact that my work involves such close contact with professional players and coaches; I find myself questioning a lot of what I assumed to be true about football after conversations at work - and as a result, that I can feel myself developing my knowledge of the elite game rapidly. In such a tight-knit environment, relationships with players is fundamental to any success, and I consider myself very fortunate that I've worked with brilliant sets of players across both clubs that I've been at.
"The best thing for me about studying at Exeter was that I could get everything I wanted out of the university experience - the academic side was as challenging as I wanted it to be, but I also had the time to pursue my extra-curricular interests such as playing competitive sport. I was part of Exeter University Men's Cricket Club for two seasons, playing BUCS fixtures in the summer, and was also Sports Editor at Exposé for two years. I was also fortunate enough to work for Exeter City FC in a voluntary media capacity, which was fantastic exposure into professional football, and I was lucky enough to meet people at the Club who shaped my career ambitions.
"Reflecting on my PPE degree, I enjoyed that I was able to study such a variety of modules - I studied everything from the Philosophy of the Body and Mind to the Changing Character of Warfare. It allowed me to pursue my own interests, and studying three academic perspectives simultaneously meant I developed an ability to understand topics through a multi-disciplinary approach - something I've found invaluable in my professional working life.
"Being able to approach topics from a multi-disciplinary perspective has been essential in my work; being able to examine player development across a spectrum of spheres - from sports science, to coaching, to analysis and education - has given me a really well-rounded platform to for my job. I also find the analytical process that my experience at Exeter helped develop has been important in helping me place football in the wider social sphere - it was a topic I explored in my dissertation, but find myself constantly referring to in debates about football.
"My advice to anyone looking to pursue a career in football analysis is to get networking - LinkedIn is absolutely vital in accessing others in elite sport, who typically aren't as publicly available as (for example) big firms in other industries, who likely have graduate schemes or other programmes that provide a pathway into employment. Football can be a very nepotistic industry to work in and without connections it's almost impossible to get anywhere! Secondly, get writing. Football analysis in particular is, for me, about being able to say 100 things about one team, not one thing about 100 teams. The best way to explore these ideas is longer-form writing, ideally integrating data, video and visuals into articles. I read a lot outside of my working hours, and I know staff at other clubs who have been hired off the back of their self-published work - so it's the best way of getting noticed. Most of the time, it's not necessarily about the argument you're making, but how you make it."
Josh recently took part in our Careers Insight Week organised by the Widening Participation team for aspiring 6th formers.
Date: 19 April 2022