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Reply | QPR have a less than 0.1% chance of being relegated...
at 18:14 17 Apr 2025
I think you need to look at how those numbers really breakdown.
A Bundesliga season has 306 matches.
The Championship is 552 matches, plus playoffs and a Wembley final.
In terms of average attendance we are a lot less than Bundesliga 2 where there are some very big stadiums which regularly get packed out because of reasonable pricing.
Championship average = 24,143
https://footystats.org/england/championship/attendance
Bundesliga 2 average = 34,972
https://footystats.org/germany/2-bundesliga/attendance
The highest attendance for a Championship game this season is Sunderland v Coventry 43,374. That would just about scrape into the top 20 Bundesliga 2 attendances where they have had two attendances over 70,000, six over 60k, and twelve 50k+.
For completeness the Bundesliga average this season is 57,565 with fifteen gates of 75,000+
https://footystats.org/germany/bundesliga/attendance
In fact if you look very hard at the numbers then the BBC's maths starts to look a bit suspect. The Championship gets more bums on seats across a whole season than Bundesliga 2 but is well short of what the Bundesliga gets - at least based on this season.
Lies, damned lies, statistics, and lazy journalism  [Post edited 17 Apr 18:48]
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Reply | Swansea have a new investor and co-owner
at 09:18 17 Apr 2025
"which celebrity would best represent QPR culture by purchasing multiple shares in our great club...."
We've had a few (ahem) colourful characters down the years.
And it has often been said that big characters succeed here rather than quiet types.
So with that in mind it has to be Jordan Belfort
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Belfort
AKA The Wolf of Wall Street |
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Reply | Edwards just makes it look Eze
at 15:06 16 Apr 2025
They've got a website, although it doesn't say much:
https://nonleaguegems.com/
This is from their LinkedIn page:
About us
At Non-League Gems we have coded an algorithm to create the first predictive modelling scouting tool designed to discover emerging talent in the non-league market. Our software offers a unique rating of the 12,000 players competing in the 15 leagues within the non-league pyramid. Our primary objective is to guide clubs' expansion into the non-league market and to unearth undervalued players with first-team potential. We created this tool to offer clubs an edge following the new limitations imposed by Brexit and the outbreak of coronavirus.
https://uk.linkedin.com/company/non-league-gems |
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Reply | Edwards just makes it look Eze
at 14:58 16 Apr 2025
So the recent non-league recruitment for the DS might have been data-led rather than the result of scouting!
Oh well, at least they're looking at non-league. |
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Reply | Edwards just makes it look Eze
at 14:52 16 Apr 2025
Fair point.
But that's for the Development Squad.
Young players won't have much data on them unless they've come through the PL puppy farms.
But it does suggest there is still some sort of scouting operation in place at the club.
That's good to know. It would be even better if someone at the club was willing to talk a bit more about it and explain the processes they use. |
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Reply | Edwards just makes it look Eze
at 14:46 16 Apr 2025
When Southampton signed Ronnie Edwards last summer they had just been promoted playing possession-based football under Russell Martin who has always favoured that style.
Against that background Ronnie Edwards looked like the ideal investment for them
Since then Southampton have spent a season getting monstered in the PL and Martin has been sacked.
Recently Martin told Sky that Southampton had underestimated the physicality and athleticism of the PL.
Now we have Danny Rohl being heavily linked to the Southampton job. He plays a more direct style than Martin and it's quite likely Southampton will change their approach next season.
All of this could mean that Edwards' face doesn't fit at Southampton anymore and they might be willing to let him go out on loan or even cash in on the back of his recent performances with us.
But that doesn't mean he would be coming to us. I'm sure there would be plenty of other clubs interested if Saints decided to move him on. |
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Reply | Edwards just makes it look Eze
at 14:37 16 Apr 2025
That's great, provided the data actually exists.
I don't know what data is collected on non-league football. And I don't know how consistent and extensive data collection is around the globe.
If your starting point is always going to be the data then you are limiting yourself to leagues and clubs who are wealthy enough to invest in that sort of data collection, storage, and sharing.
Maybe the reason Peterborough are recruiting so well from the lower leagues is that they know the wealthier data-led clubs aren't bothering to really look there now. |
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Reply | Corny Joke Warning
at 13:03 16 Apr 2025
A guy walks into a pub and, as he is walking past the jukebox it speaks to him.
"Hey! Did you get dressed in the dark? Look at the state of you - I hope you're not planning on trying to pick anyone up tonight, you won't stand a chance unless they are into unwashed vagrants!"
Somewhat stunned, not only by the fact that the jukebox was speaking but also by what it said, the guy heads to the bar, finds a stool, and orders a pint.
As he picks his beer up for a first sip, a bowl of peanuts on the bar pipes up.
"You want to ignore that jukebox - he's like that with everyone. If you want the truth, I think you look quite dapper, and I just caught a whiff of your after-shave, which is one of my favourites!"
The guy is further stunned, and asks the barman what on earth is going on, or is he going mad?
"Ah yes, sir - that gets a lot of people, but you don't want to worry about it. The peanuts are complimentary, and the jukebox is out of order ..." |
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Reply | Charlie Kelman’s Leyton Orient
at 12:48 16 Apr 2025
"I'm no sports scientist but I do think it's often dangerous and counter productive to force physical development of youngsters."
Fair point.
But Kelman is 23 now. If the plan was to increase his body strength it could surely have been done before this season. |
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Reply | Edwards just makes it look Eze
at 12:08 16 Apr 2025
Not playing centre forward.
Or at least they're not meant to be!
Nor do we have any shorties at centre back. So Paul Parker is another we wouldn't even look at in this brave new data-led world. |
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Reply | Edwards just makes it look Eze
at 11:31 16 Apr 2025
"And that frustration does become particularly acute when the players are there in plain sight on our doorstep. As said above, Edwards played three times against us 21/22 for a relegated team that beat us three times. He was playing non-league football at the end of the Northern Line - Peterborough saw him, we didn't."
This is what happens when you root your recruitment in data analytics without backing it up with scouting.
If you base your recruitment on data then you end up focusing on leagues where there is extensive data collection. I don't know how that works in non-league but I doubt there is as much data being collected as there is in the professional game.
And even in the professional game there is so much data being collected across the globe that you have to make decisions about where you are going to look and what sort of attributes you will be looking for.
The FIFA Football Report in 2023 said:
"Based on the report, there were 128,694 professional male footballers at 3,986 clubs in 135 countries around the world. Mexico had both the most professional players (9,464) - with Spain (8,560) and England (5,582) next - and the most clubs (244), followed by Türkiye (136) and Argentina (118)."
https://inside.fifa.com/legal/news/fifa-publishes-professional-football-report-2
Then think about how much data is being generated from that. Every player, every match, every data point.
That's a mahoosive amount of data. Even with sophisticated models and powerful computers you are not going to keep across all of it.
And all of this data. the models, the processing, and the nerds who are looking at it cost money. Money that is probably found by cutting back further and further on scouting.
But when you make decisions in advance about what sorts of attributes you want then that's what the data ends up giving you.
There's a danger you end up with identikit footballers.
If a young Les Ferdinand was starting out in non-league now he wouldn't have a chance of coming to QPR's attention. And even if he somehow did they would just look at his attributes on paper and say "not tall enough." |
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Reply | Jimmy Dunne Will he stay or will he go
at 10:12 16 Apr 2025
It was a young team against Bristol City.
And you're not going to make one of the loan signings captain.
So that just left Dunne, Colback, and Nardi to choose from.
But it's a straw. I'll clutch at it. |
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Reply | The season 25-26 squad thread
at 17:11 15 Apr 2025
"Got his first South Korea cap a few weeks ago and they are not short."
Perhaps we could sign some of his taller buddies coz we definitely are short! |
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Reply | We're the handsomest football team......
at 21:03 14 Apr 2025
I like Cook. He brings some essential street smarts to the group and could be a good minder. But at times this season he has looked more Gerry Standing than Terry McCann.
WLS are saying Dunne could be off in the summer. And I wouldn't be surprised if Fox also got moved on. |
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Reply | We're the handsomest football team......
at 20:37 14 Apr 2025
M'Lord Derry and Kaspars might have sneaked in if Nourry had the sense to hire a couple of minders for his boys. [Post edited 14 Apr 20:48]
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Thread | We're the handsomest football team......
at 10:37 14 Apr 2025
Handsome Ronnie
Hunky Harrison
Cute Kaddy
Shy Koki
Merchandise shifting Yang
I'm starting to wonder if Nourry is putting together a boy band rather than a football team.
Maybe it's a cunning plan to fill the School End Lower with bona fide schoolgirls. The merchandise will be flying out the door. Although the mass hysteria every time Ronnie flashes a smile in their direction might give the Loftus Road regulars the sort of PTSD not seen in these parts since Old Man Asmir was auditioning for the Craggy Island Over 75's.
But then pretty much all of Nourry's recruitment has veered towards the sort of clean-cut types you'd be happy for your daughter to bring home. From little Joe Hodge and The Lurpak Jesus all the way through to Hunky Harrison and Handsome Ronnie.
How do we explain this?
Did Nourry receive the wrong software package in the post. Has he been analysing performance metrics from Dapper Bastards R Us the whole time?
There's only Uncle Fester Frey to prove that even the best data will throw up the odd anomaly.
But at the end of the day how many of these pretty boys would ever have got into a Neil Warnock team!? |
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Reply | Charlie Kelman’s Leyton Orient
at 12:16 13 Apr 2025
Nothing is ever 100% certain at QPR. Even for a striker with four goals in a week and eight in his last six games.
David McIntyre has said in each of the last two West London Sport podcasts that he suspects Kelman will be sold.
DM doesn't get much wrong. But given our lack of senior strikers and Kelman's hot form it would be very strange if we didn't at least take a look at him next season to see what he can do. |
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Reply | A recipe for success – Preview
at 14:15 12 Apr 2025
"Marti Cifuentes, we’re told, is a Catalonian tapas enthusiast"
Shouldn't that be 'paella enthusiast!?'
Otherwise pukka. [Post edited 12 Apr 14:25]
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