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The Impact Of Jamestown Analytics On World Football

06 Nov, 2024
The Impact Of Jamestown Analytics On World Football

Much has been said about the ever-increasing role of data and analytics in professional football. From the employment of vast in-house data teams by top-level clubs like Manchester City or Bayern Munich, to the growing opportunities for individual sports analysts to rise up the ranks and work with the world's best coaches and strategists, this area of the game has expanded massively, and the average football fan now has a decent grasp of how important data is in the modern game.

Despite this widespread knowledge, arguably the most effective and influential data company operating in football right now is a company most people have never heard of: Jamestown Analytics. Over the last few years, this highly secretive organisation has been working with some of the most innovative clubs in Europe, identifying and helping to harness star talent from all over the globe. And until very recently, almost nothing was known about the company.

However, an exclusive piece published in The Times this month shone a light on the operation, speaking to key figures involved and examining those who have benefited from Jamestown's expertise. In this article, we'll be explaining what Jamestown Analytics is and detailing the pioneering work this company has done, which has caused other data companies and clubs around the world to sit up and take notice.

What Is Jamestown Analytics?

The nature of player recruitment in professional football has shifted dramatically in recent years. Gone are the days of old-school managers and first-team coaches driving all over the country watching different games each night to try and scout out the best unearthed talent they can find. These days, most top clubs have dedicated teams of analysts and scouts whose job involves a huge amount of data and video analysis, supplemented by in-person player observations to help flesh out a broader picture of a player's strengths and weaknesses.

That being said, some modes of scouting work better than others, and over the last few years certain clubs have shown themselves to be ahead of the game when it comes to identifying and unlocking talent. While clubs like Manchester United have splashed big on high-profile players and struggled to get consistent returns from them on the pitch, clubs with smaller budgets, who are forced to scout more innovatively and buy in different markets, have plucked players from relative obscurity and developed them into world-class stars.

The obvious example here is Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion, whose outside-the-box recruitment strategy has helped them unearth gems like Moises Caicedo, Marc Cucurella, and Kaoru Mitoma, who have in turn allowed them to consistently challenge at the top end of the Premier League, and in 2022/23 qualify for European football for the first time ever.

There's a company separate from the Brighton & Hove Albion football operation that deserves credit here: Jamestown Analytics. Described by The Times as "the most cutting-edge data company in football", they keep an extremely low profile, operating from a small office in Camden, north London, and refusing to discuss their methods in any real detail (understandably, given how far ahead they are of the competition). "I believe what we have is the best out there, so it's important that the integrity of our data and what we do is upheld," managing director Justin Said recently told the aforementioned newspaper. So what exactly is it that this company, relied on by clubs like Brighton & Hove Albion, can provide?

How Jamestown Analytics Works

Brighton owner Tony Bloom has catapulted the south coast club up the English football pyramid thanks in large part to his extensive sports betting knowledge. Bloom made most of his wealth as a bettor, first as a poker player and then through the use of analytics to identify discrepancies in sports gambling markets and win big as a result. He has been closely involved with the gambling consultancy company Starlizard since 2006, working as its main client, and the company's predictions have helped him amass a whopping estimated fortune of £714m.

Jamestown Analytics was founded in 2017 as an offshoot of Starlizard, and is owned by fellow sports bettor Johan Sten Mahmoud Moazed. Up until 2023, Starlizard provided data directly to its two core affiliate clubs, Brighton & Hove Albion and Union Saint-Gilloise, the Belgian club that Bloom holds a minority stake in.

But last year Starlizard decided to focus on "core activities" and stop working directly with clubs; it appears that following this decision, multiple staff members chose to move over and join Jamestown Analytics as a separate operation. Since then, the company has moved outside the realm of Bloom-affiliated clubs and began working with other teams in Europe (more on this shortly).

Discussing the information they provide with their affiliate clubs, Said told The Times: "It's our own bespoke data… the algorithms and how they come to form, I can't talk about… But once it gets to us, we refine it and tailor it really carefully for every single club so, in theory, it should only be useful to them. And we're very selective about the clubs we want to work with." Once a partnership with a club is confirmed, Jamestown will conduct a squad appraisal taking into account numerous categories and ranking each player against those who play in a similar position. Clubs will typically provide Jamestown with criteria when looking to sign a new player (age, budget, playing style, characteristics) and the company will go through their data and create a shortlist, considering a range of key factors with a particular focus on predicting player development.

There's a real emphasis on searching for players that competitors haven't discovered yet, and this knack of Jamestown's is evidenced by the meteoric rise of some of Brighton's marquee sales. Moises Caicedo was plucked from Ecuadorian side Independiente del Valle for £4m and sold to Chelsea for £115m after less than two years; Alexis Mac Allister was brought in from Argentinos Juniors for £6.9m and later sold for £35m to Liverpool; Kaoru Mitoma signed for only £2.6m and is now valued at over £50m.

Before they started lighting up the Premier League with electric performances, these players were totally unknown to most European football fans, and they'd been overlooked by other recruiting clubs. It's clear, then, that Jamestown's global scope — with Brighton technical director David Weir explaining that they "have access to all the information from every league in the world" — has benefited the Seagulls immensely.

Which Clubs Are Partnered With Jamestown Analytics?

Brighton aren't the only club to have gained a lot from the work of football's most secretive data company. As well as sister club Union Saint Gilloise, who have helped develop talents like Mitoma, Denis Undav and Teddy Teuma, multiple other clubs are now getting in on the act. Recently, Jamestown Analytics partnered with Serie A side Como (managed by Cesc Fabregas) and Spanish outfit Castellon, owned by Greek-Canadian businessman Haralabos Voulgaris, and soon after the partnerships came into effect, both teams enjoyed impressive promotions, Como reaching Serie A for the first time since 2003 while Castellon gained promotion to the second tier.

According to Como director Mirwan Suwarso, the clubs working with Jamestown aren't given access to the whole analytical process. "They will say, 'Here are 10 guys who would be in the top 30 per cent of your league'. Then we start digging down into each one to try and see why," he said. "It's a leap of faith, but, more often than not, whatever they recommend is good. This season, I think we've signed 16 players and we haven't had a dud yet. Using them is a no-brainer. It stops you wasting money and you make a profit in the long run."

A couple of new UK-based clubs have started benefiting from Jamestown's expertise lately; Hearts (judged the third-best run club in the UK by 2024 the Fair Game Index) used them to identify and hire Neil Critchley as their new manager, while League Two outfit Grimsby Town, chosen because they are not a direct rival to Brighton, also partnered with the data company as part of co-owner Jason Stockwood's drive to create an "evidence-based culture on a shoestring budget". As well as putting together a playing squad, the partnerships are designed to help streamline the process of hiring coaches, ensuring that there is alignment between the hierarchy of the club and those in charge of managing the first team squad day-to-day.

The Broader Role Of Data And Analytics In Football

The impact of Jamestown Analytics on world football has been impressive, and numerous clubs and data companies around the world have been looking enviously at what they've been doing since their first interactions with Brighton several years ago. With the company now involved in the recruitment processes at several clubs across Europe, it will be interesting to see how their pioneering techniques carry on shaping the modern sport.

Meanwhile, the role of data and analytics in football continues to develop. As part of our Career Interviews series, analysts like Burnley's Jonathan Hill and Hearts' Liam Henshaw have opened up about the changes that have taken place within this area of the game in recent years, with Hill explaining how "in 90% of football clubs, the people that spend the most time with the manager now are the analysts… analysis meetings and team meetings are where you get all your detail across, and the level of tactics, detail, and preparation that goes into trying to win a game is huge." Check out the full interview here if you'd like to find out more about exactly how modern football analysts work.