(ENG) Why Define Your Own Scouting Methodology?

Scouting Methodology: Learning Different Styles to Create Your Own

The word "methodology" is certainly one of the most overused terms in modern contemporary football: many professionals use it to give themselves an air of importance when they are simply proposing a program, a work schedule, or a simple notebook organized with some scattered ideas. At first glance, it seems to be a high-ranking term associated with advanced research doctorates, but in scouting, it simply refers to a modus operandi for organizing any type of work by following a personal line and having the professional staff working with us on the project/program follow it. It's not something for scientists, alchemists, or budding wizards: we are simply talking about what we believe needs to be done to complete a task assigned to us.

Why is this Important for Scouting?

Why is all this important for working in scouting in a direct manner towards a specific objective? Because it will always allow us to follow a "script" to start working on any request or proposal that may be presented by the club we work for, adapting the requests to our predefined vision, born from the experience gained in this sector and from everything we will have been able to learn from all the professionals we will meet along our journey to our final goal.

Creating Your Own Scouting Methodology

What are the points or rules to follow to "shape" our scouting thoughts and apply them to everything we face in our long journey along the winding roads of scouting? First rule: there are no rules. Second rule: every context is useful to enrich and challenge any thought or idea that can enrich, improve, or disprove what we have believed so far.

Speaking from my experience, I have been fortunate to know many football cultures, long-standing professionals at different levels, and to learn many little secrets and pieces of the puzzle to create my "universal mosaic" which is and will always be a Work in Progress, always centered on what I started to learn at the beginning of my career, namely at the Italian football school which, for all the changes and modifications I may make to my vision, will always be present in the foundations of what I carry forward today. This can apply to any context that has "initiated" us into the world of football, simply because the context in which we grew up will mark us indelibly over time, even if over time we develop diametrically opposed ideas, a tangible trace will always influence our way of seeing and thinking about football. And this is not a bad thing, on the contrary, it is something that should give us the opportunity to consider this type of vision as a way to smooth and improve what we do not agree with, towards the very opportunity to set up something personal but above all functional to our way of operating in scouting.

The Continuous Development of Methodology

It may seem complicated to achieve, but it is simply an aspect that will develop and grow over time. Starting from what has just been said is the first step to implementing the standard aspect of our vision. Each of us, in terms of opinions, ways of evaluating, analyzing, and viewing football in its entirety, has a personal belief that will be subject to continuous changes over time. This is directly linked to the context, the mentor, the professional who will allow us to learn secrets and implement our scouting conception and/or theory.

As I mentioned earlier, during my career, after starting in Italy and training on purely Italian scouting and selection principles influenced by what I was able to grasp while in our country, my methodology has had the opportunity to develop and shape itself through the various experiences I have had over all these years. Since residing in Spain, I have inevitably been heavily influenced by all the professionals I have had the chance to encounter, enriching and broadening my horizons. What I had firmly in mind at the beginning had already been inevitably compromised by what I was learning on the opposite side of the Mediterranean: from organizing a season to structuring a scouting department to defining data collection in all phases of scouting. From this point of view, I can certainly say that my concepts have been irreparably improved by what I have seen in Iberian land. Furthermore, all the football cultures I have frequented assiduously in recent years (German, French, Dutch, American, and South American) have led me to create a cauldron made of different situations that have only improved over time, thanks also to the ability to weigh what could be right or wrong against my main and basic concepts.

Recognizing and Refining Your Vision

When we realize that we can recognize, from the words of an even more experienced professional, what "clashes" with our thinking, while always maintaining humility, we will realize that our vision has grown and at that moment has found its definition. This does not mean we have lost humility, but simply that we have defined our thinking. There will always be time for modifications and arrangements of sorts, and it will become mandatory to adapt our methodology to all the contexts we will have to measure ourselves against over time, but without distorting our belief.