It’s new manager time again at Hearts, which seemed inevitable given their wretched start to the season.
Steven Naismith‘s coat was on the shoogliest of pegs after losing eight straight and it finally fell to the floor on Sunday afternoon as the Jambos asked him to clear out his locker. Coaches Frankie McAvoy and Gordon Forrest followed him out the door and now the search begins for his successor.
Liam Fox has been placed in temporary charge in the meantime with Lee Wallace and Angus Beith at his side. Already, the bookies’ lists have emerged, full of the usual suspects with one or two more interesting names sprinkled in, as well as some absolute non starters that always seem to get a price regardless of their chances.
But there are things afoot in the background at Tynecastle that could make this recruitment drive a bit different. Brighton owner Tony Bloom is in talks over an investment deal that would see him pump £10million into the Gorgie club, and it’s now being reported by the Daily Mail that it will be Bloom’s company Jamestown Analytics leading the hunt for a new manager. Perhaps more crucially, the investment will also give them access to his much vaunted but not widely understood recruitment algorithms.
A poker player turned billionaire, Bloom is a gambler at heart, but he does his research in a bid to win big. There’s no better illustration of that than Brighton’s player trading model. The Seagulls have raked in hundreds of millions in transfer fees after forking out a relative pittance on targets identified using his analytics companies Starlizard and Jamestown Analytics.
The Daily Mail say it will be the latter company leading the recruitment drive for the new boss but it’s all based around the same model that has worked wonders for Brighton, and seen their recruitment staff poached by bigger fish. But they just keep finding unknown gems and polishing them up. Hearts have already benefited, with Kenneth Vargas and Gerald Taylor flagged and suggested to them by the good folks at the Amex, where Davie Weir provides a friendly off-field link between the clubs.
If an agreement can be reached quickly with Bloom, then it’s likely (and probably imperative) that the Jambos make use of his tech immediately to find a new boss. And that’s an area where Brighton have done not too badly either.
Graham Potter had made a name for himself in Sweden by taking the route less travelled and while he wasn’t an unknown after initially getting a chance with Swansea, he ticked the boxes Brighton look to tick using Starlizard and took them to the Premiership before being headhunted for an ill-feted spell at basket case club Chelsea.
Roberto Di Zerbi was quickly drafted in as a replacement from Italy via Shakhtar Donetsk. Paul Merson famously wrote him off due to a lack of Premier League chops, but that lazy argument was blown out of the water as Di Zerbi guided Brighton into Europe with style, surpassing Potter in the process.
Things went a little sour towards the end last season but that’s never a big deal at Brighton. They’re always looking for the next guy and make their move when the time comes. This time it was St Pauli’s 31-year-old boss Fabian Hurzeler. He arrived to the usual English shouts of “who?!” but has made a fine start to life in the Premier League.
But how will Starlizard work for Hearts? The actual methodology is fiercely guarded by Bloom and they won’t simply allow the Tynecastle club a shot to see how they get on. They will be guided through it’s use by the consultancy, who charge Brighton £3million a year to use it.
it still has to work commercially for Bloom after all. Starlizard are already gathering the same data as everyone else to try to compile the best gambling odds. They do however, add extra info at the point of gathering – and this is key – which no-one else has. This is a sort of quality indicator on top of the raw data and stats that are recorded for every player.
That allows for a wider net to be cast as it speeds up the process, adding in a step that would usually be included after scouts have be sent to wherever you can practically send them to get eyes on a player. Applying the same to searching for managers allows for a speedier yet farther reaching recruitment process, which will be music to fans’ ears.