SCOUTING

[1985CTFC]

Does anyone know on here who scouts the opposition prior to CTFC playing them. Is it Russ? I vaguely remember when Mike Duff was here he mentioned we have a couple of scouts, one north one south. Is that still the case and do they scout opposition as well as new talent. Or has it all changed. Anyone know the setup now?

Whoever scouted Josh Thomas a big well done to whoever. Need a few more this summer like him. Be interesting to have the scouting network discussed on the pod cast and get someone on the club to talk about it, if posssible.
Because getting some amazing talent at the club and selling on is the only way we are going to get the money to push us on.

[Fuller]

Probably helped that ex Robin Jerry Gill is the Bath City manager.

[1985CTFC]

Probably helped that ex Robin Jerry Gill is the Bath City manager.

Of course, but can't rely on Jerry to produce gems all the time for us. I understand we were not the only ones looking at Josh. But we got in there first. Which was good. Going to be interesting the quality of newcomers either signed on or loanees next year. As long as not to many leave we have the basis of a decent team.

A club our size scouting for possible gems is vital, whereas bigger clubs can just splash the cash for ready made players. Hence my question regarding scouting. Wonder if JP knows?

[Jim]

It would be a great next episode of the Trust's Ornithology podcast, but might be a bit of an ask to get a member of the scouting team on.

Thomas looks a great find, but let's not forget that every team is looking in the lower leagues for the next gem, and most have bigger budgets and scouting networks than we do. I think overall we have done very well on recruitment over the last few years when you think about it.

[Shade]

Jordan Thomas.

[1985CTFC]

Jordan Thomas.

Oooops sorry, more lines to do for asi. Think I'll do just the surnames in future.

Still no feedback on scouting at CTFC, not that I expect anything. Will just go in to the big black hole of things we never find out about.

[1985CTFC]

It would be a great next episode of the Trust's Ornithology podcast, but might be a bit of an ask to get a member of the scouting team on.

Thomas looks a great find, but let's not forget that every team is looking in the lower leagues for the next gem, and most have bigger budgets and scouting networks than we do. I think overall we have done very well on recruitment over the last few years when you think about it.

Do we have a scouting team for talent and viewing opposition prior to playing.? Would think Russ would be the go to man. if anyone. But it must be top secret!

[ctfc-fan]

Jordan Thomas.

Oooops sorry, more lines to do for asi. Think I'll do just the surnames in future.

Still no feedback on scouting at CTFC, not that I expect anything. Will just go in to the big black hole of things we never find out about.

You mean in the 5 hours since you first posted?!

[Shade]

As far as I know from bits and pieces I've heard from Micky Moore, Russ and a few things I've watched on YouTube and the like over the years, a scout is a scout, they go out and watch all different kinds of games, looking at players and opposition teams. Russ will have 2 or 3 other scouts working under him, but I think, and I may be wrong here, that you can basically pay companies or freelancers to do scouting work for you/give you their info as well, expanding the network, so to speak. And obviously you'd expect the scouts themselves to build up contacts as they travel around games and be able to have conversations about certain players or a team that a contact may have seen recently, but you might not be able to trust them if they're from a rival club who might be looking at the same player, of course.

For example, if you heard tell of a Jordan Thomas and wanted to get in quick before anyone else does, and you may not have only had chance to watch him other than a highlights reel, and you didn't have a Jerry Gill managing him who could give you the heads up or the lowdown, you could pay a freelancer who has watched several of his games to give you the info he has built up on him.

Upcoming opposition, though, unless you have an underling that you trust highly, you'd expect either the head scout or the team manager/head coach (if he has a chance, I know MD used to go to quite a few oppo games if they were playing on a different day) to watch them.

That's how I see it, anyway.

[1985CTFC]

As far as I know from bits and pieces I've heard from Micky Moore, Russ and a few things I've watched on YouTube and the like over the years, a scout is a scout, they go out and watch all different kinds of games, looking at players and opposition teams. Russ will have 2 or 3 other scouts working under him, but I think, and I may be wrong here, that you can basically pay companies or freelancers to do scouting work for you/give you their info as well, expanding the network, so to speak. And obviously you'd expect the scouts themselves to build up contacts as they travel around games and be able to have conversations about certain players or a team that a contact may have seen recently, but you might not be able to trust them if they're from a rival club who might be looking at the same player, of course.

For example, if you heard tell of a Jordan Thomas and wanted to get in quick before anyone else does, and you may not have only had chance to watch him other than a highlights reel, and you didn't have a Jerry Gill managing him who could give you the heads up or the lowdown, you could pay a freelancer who has watched several of his games to give you the info he has built up on him.

Upcoming opposition, though, unless you have an underling that you trust highly, you'd expect either the head scout or the team manager/head coach (if he has a chance, I know MD used to go to quite a few oppo games if they were playing on a different day) to watch them.

That's how I see it, anyway.

Do we have an underling? DC and Ian and AV all seem to be present match day so they won't be scouting the next team on a saturday. May work for some mid week games but can't imagine any of those 3 treking up to Fleetwood mid week. May be wrong.
Am just curious how we prep before games. I know no doubt you can get vids of teams but that wouldn't be the same as having a presence at the game. Can only think Russ does it. Don't seem to see him on match saturday, unless anyone here does.

[1985CTFC]

Jordan Thomas.

Oooops sorry, more lines to do for asi. Think I'll do just the surnames in future.

Still no feedback on scouting at CTFC, not that I expect anything. Will just go in to the big black hole of things we never find out about.

You mean in the 5 hours since you first posted?!

Yeah I'm an impatient poster. Will soon see if I am right and I don't find out.

[Jerry St Clair]

After the draw at Wigan JP asked DC how'd spend Saturday:

"I'll switch off because we are in training on Sunday to give us a two-day build-up to Tuesday. Some of my staff are going to watch games, so I'll recharge my own batteries as you lose a lot of energy as a manager. I'll be watching the scores and making sure we are well prepared for the next task, which is Wycombe away."

"Some of my staff" could be any of the coaches frankly but, Cheltenham being Cheltenham, I'd expect everyone mucks in and goes off to watch games when the need arises.

[Shade]

As far as I know from bits and pieces I've heard from Micky Moore, Russ and a few things I've watched on YouTube and the like over the years, a scout is a scout, they go out and watch all different kinds of games, looking at players and opposition teams. Russ will have 2 or 3 other scouts working under him, but I think, and I may be wrong here, that you can basically pay companies or freelancers to do scouting work for you/give you their info as well, expanding the network, so to speak. And obviously you'd expect the scouts themselves to build up contacts as they travel around games and be able to have conversations about certain players or a team that a contact may have seen recently, but you might not be able to trust them if they're from a rival club who might be looking at the same player, of course.

For example, if you heard tell of a Jordan Thomas and wanted to get in quick before anyone else does, and you may not have only had chance to watch him other than a highlights reel, and you didn't have a Jerry Gill managing him who could give you the heads up or the lowdown, you could pay a freelancer who has watched several of his games to give you the info he has built up on him.

Upcoming opposition, though, unless you have an underling that you trust highly, you'd expect either the head scout or the team manager/head coach (if he has a chance, I know MD used to go to quite a few oppo games if they were playing on a different day) to watch them.

That's how I see it, anyway.

Do we have an underling? DC and Ian and AV all seem to be present match day so they won't be scouting the next team on a saturday. May work for some mid week games but can't imagine any of those 3 treking up to Fleetwood mid week. May be wrong.
Am just curious how we prep before games. I know no doubt you can get vids of teams but that wouldn't be the same as having a presence at the game. Can only think Russ does it. Don't seem to see him on match saturday, unless anyone here does.

When I say about other scouts info, I don't mean videos. They have very in depth info on everything they see. Well, the good ones do.
No idea if we employ any other scouts full time, but none are listed on the club website's list of football staff, so I assume not at the moment. We don't know what the set up is like since Moore left.

Here's a 2021 article from JP about the scouting network being strengthened: https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/s ... rk-6038625

Here's a scouting report on us from a couple of months ago: https://totalfootballanalysis.com/team- ... is-tactics

[1985CTFC]

As far as I know from bits and pieces I've heard from Micky Moore, Russ and a few things I've watched on YouTube and the like over the years, a scout is a scout, they go out and watch all different kinds of games, looking at players and opposition teams. Russ will have 2 or 3 other scouts working under him, but I think, and I may be wrong here, that you can basically pay companies or freelancers to do scouting work for you/give you their info as well, expanding the network, so to speak. And obviously you'd expect the scouts themselves to build up contacts as they travel around games and be able to have conversations about certain players or a team that a contact may have seen recently, but you might not be able to trust them if they're from a rival club who might be looking at the same player, of course.

For example, if you heard tell of a Jordan Thomas and wanted to get in quick before anyone else does, and you may not have only had chance to watch him other than a highlights reel, and you didn't have a Jerry Gill managing him who could give you the heads up or the lowdown, you could pay a freelancer who has watched several of his games to give you the info he has built up on him.

Upcoming opposition, though, unless you have an underling that you trust highly, you'd expect either the head scout or the team manager/head coach (if he has a chance, I know MD used to go to quite a few oppo games if they were playing on a different day) to watch them.

That's how I see it, anyway.

Do we have an underling? DC and Ian and AV all seem to be present match day so they won't be scouting the next team on a saturday. May work for some mid week games but can't imagine any of those 3 treking up to Fleetwood mid week. May be wrong.
Am just curious how we prep before games. I know no doubt you can get vids of teams but that wouldn't be the same as having a presence at the game. Can only think Russ does it. Don't seem to see him on match saturday, unless anyone here does.

When I say about other scouts info, I don't mean videos. They have very in depth info on everything they see. Well, the good ones do.
No idea if we employ any other scouts full time, but none are listed on the club website's list of football staff, so I assume not at the moment. We don't know what the set up is like since Moore left.

Here's a 2021 article from JP about the scouting network being strengthened: https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/s ... rk-6038625

Here's a scouting report on us from a couple of months ago: https://totalfootballanalysis.com/team- ... is-tactics

Thanks Shade. The analysis was interesting although probably changed since we lost Goodwin, Street etc etc.

The article on the scouting network was the one I referred to as having one north and one south.So we assume it is not changed? And I will assume Russ goes off on a Saturday to scout the following weeks opposition, until I hear otherwise.
I know we have an analyst which works with Russ to help identify players , but personally I would like to see Russ as a recruitment Manager to do that and have a specialist Opposition scout, assuming we don't have one.
But there again what do I know, we might well have a cunning plan on that front. If cost is an issue, wait until later, I have a cunning plan to maybe help.

[RegencyCheltenhamSpa]

Do we have an underling? DC and Ian and AV all seem to be present match day so they won't be scouting the next team on a saturday. May work for some mid week games but can't imagine any of those 3 treking up to Fleetwood mid week. May be wrong.
Am just curious how we prep before games. I know no doubt you can get vids of teams but that wouldn't be the same as having a presence at the game. Can only think Russ does it. Don't seem to see him on match saturday, unless anyone here does.

When I say about other scouts info, I don't mean videos. They have very in depth info on everything they see. Well, the good ones do.
No idea if we employ any other scouts full time, but none are listed on the club website's list of football staff, so I assume not at the moment. We don't know what the set up is like since Moore left.

Here's a 2021 article from JP about the scouting network being strengthened: https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/s ... rk-6038625

Here's a scouting report on us from a couple of months ago: https://totalfootballanalysis.com/team- ... is-tactics

Thanks Shade. The analysis was interesting although probably changed since we lost Goodwin, Street etc etc.

The article on the scouting network was the one I referred to as having one north and one south.So we assume it is not changed? And I will assume Russ goes off on a Saturday to scout the following weeks opposition, until I hear otherwise.
I know we have an analyst which works with Russ to help identify players , but personally I would like to see Russ as a recruitment Manager to do that and have a specialist Opposition scout, assuming we don't have one.
But there again what do I know, we might well have a cunning plan on that front. If cost is an issue, wait until later, I have a cunning plan to maybe help.

Who exactly are you expecting to hear from, when, and how?

[1985CTFC]

When I say about other scouts info, I don't mean videos. They have very in depth info on everything they see. Well, the good ones do.
No idea if we employ any other scouts full time, but none are listed on the club website's list of football staff, so I assume not at the moment. We don't know what the set up is like since Moore left.

Here's a 2021 article from JP about the scouting network being strengthened: https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/s ... rk-6038625

Here's a scouting report on us from a couple of months ago: https://totalfootballanalysis.com/team- ... is-tactics

Thanks Shade. The analysis was interesting although probably changed since we lost Goodwin, Street etc etc.

The article on the scouting network was the one I referred to as having one north and one south.So we assume it is not changed? And I will assume Russ goes off on a Saturday to scout the following weeks opposition, until I hear otherwise.
I know we have an analyst which works with Russ to help identify players , but personally I would like to see Russ as a recruitment Manager to do that and have a specialist Opposition scout, assuming we don't have one.
But there again what do I know, we might well have a cunning plan on that front. If cost is an issue, wait until later, I have a cunning plan to maybe help.

Who exactly are you expecting to hear from, when, and how?

just wondered if anyone on here had info on our pre game scouting, ie if Russ does the job. Or maybe JP knows or maybe a topic to discuss on a pod cast, or like a few years ago the scouting was mentioned in an article by JP. Perhaps and update due?
Was just a curious inquiry that's all, probably due to the way we played against Exeter during the first 30 mins. We looked totally all at sea by the way they started off against us. Just felt we were not prepared for their game plan, and were lucky to survive. Admittedly once we got the goal we started to get a bit of a grip of the game.
Living near Exeter I take a little interest in Exeter Fans Forum and I mentioned pre match that one thing we needed to do is to ensure we gain control of the midfield, which is a strong point in the passing game Exeter usually employ.
As it was we survived more by luck than judgement to take the lead and eventually throw the lead away.
Maybe it was football being what football is, s#!t happens sometimes.
But that was the thought behind how we prepare for matches. Not criticizing anyone just a curious inquiry as a long time fan who wants the best for CTFC.

[everyman]

Does anyone know on here who scouts the opposition prior to CTFC playing them. Is it Russ? I vaguely remember when Mike Duff was here he mentioned we have a couple of scouts, one north one south. Is that still the case and do they scout opposition as well as new talent. Or has it all changed. Anyone know the setup now?

Whoever scouted Josh Thomas a big well done to whoever. Need a few more this summer like him. Be interesting to have the scouting network discussed on the pod cast and get someone on the club to talk about it, if posssible.
Because getting some amazing talent at the club and selling on is the only way we are going to get the money to push us on.

Thomas was being watched all season by many clubs including Bristol city/Swansea along with plenty of clubs,it appears we took the gamble which might pay-off ?

[everyman]

Does anyone know on here who scouts the opposition prior to CTFC playing them. Is it Russ? I vaguely remember when Mike Duff was here he mentioned we have a couple of scouts, one north one south. Is that still the case and do they scout opposition as well as new talent. Or has it all changed. Anyone know the setup now?

Whoever scouted Josh Thomas a big well done to whoever. Need a few more this summer like him. Be interesting to have the scouting network discussed on the pod cast and get someone on the club to talk about it, if posssible.
Because getting some amazing talent at the club and selling on is the only way we are going to get the money to push us on.

Thomas was being watched all season by many clubs including Bristol city/Swansea along with plenty of clubs,it appears we took the gamble which might pay-off ?

[Robin]

I'm sure Micky Moore had a team our scouts under him, whether they went with him to Shrewsbury or not I don't know. The cynic in me suspects we didn't scout a lot of our signings last summer so they probably did.

[everyman]

After the draw at Wigan JP asked DC how'd spend Saturday:

"I'll switch off because we are in training on Sunday to give us a two-day build-up to Tuesday. Some of my staff are going to watch games, so I'll recharge my own batteries as you lose a lot of energy as a manager. I'll be watching the scores and making sure we are well prepared for the next task, which is Wycombe away."

"Some of my staff" could be any of the coaches frankly but, Cheltenham being Cheltenham, I'd expect everyone mucks in and goes off to watch games when the need arises.

Even directors sometimes scout for the club !

[Robin]

Regarding Thomas I suspect his move was at least partially influenced by the fact our former chairman has been a sponsor down at Bath and been quite involved with the club. It seems we didn't pay a big fee for him either.

[Malabus]

No one going by tonight’s shambolic performance.