PLAYER - Revolutionizing Football Scouting Through Video Technology

During the pandemic, football-tech entrepreneur Tommy Fish had an idea. Why not gather all player material in one place instead of having bits of information on Transfermarkt, Wikipedia, and scattered clips on YouTube or Instagram?

"When you want to look at a player, there's no all-encompassing place where you can see your clubs, your club history, your stats, your video content. I just thought there was never really an adequate digital footballing CV from aspirational players to the very top players," says 36-year-old Tommy Fish as Veo meets him at a training session in Hackney. Here, a group of players outside the traditional academy system meet weekly to train and play showcase matches through the PLAYER platform.

PLAYER functions as a "LinkedIn for footballers," allowing players to share their profiles, highlights, and statistics with agents, scouts, and clubs. The platform serves both established elite players looking to build their digital presence and players actively seeking recruitment opportunities, working proactively with academies as well as independent talents. In addition to Tommy Fish, former Manchester United and France player Patrice Evra is a co-founder of the platform.

Fish himself describes himself as a failed footballer, but he still can't stop kicking the ball.

"I'm 36, and I'm still playing. I don't know what I'm aspiring for, but I love it - I can't stop. For me, it's a tragedy when anyone with the ability stops playing before they need to. I want everyone to elevate their game and reach their potential, whatever that potential is."

Despite having played under-20 Premier League in Costa Rica, Step Six in the UK, and university football, he realized he couldn't break through on the pitch but wanted to work in the football industry - either as a coach, agent or in another player-related role. He obtained his coaching license and, many years later, established the successful club Hammersmith FC. There, he handles the off-pitch activities while his partner Aki takes care of the sporting side.

Alongside football, he has run a recruitment company for 10 years in the Tech and Entertainment industry and has always enjoyed helping people advance their careers. Combining his passion for football with his experience in recruitment to build PLAYER seemed natural.

The idea for PLAYER actually came about eight years ago, but it wasn't until the pandemic that Tommy Fish could really work on it. It was also during this time that he got in touch with Patrice Evra. Through working with Patrice Evra, Tommy Fish showed him some prototypes of the app. He quickly became interested and joined as a co-founder.

"In one meeting, I showed him my latest prototype. He said, 'Wow, this looks amazing. This would be great for scouts. My nephew just got released, it would be great for him.' I told him about my next steps, and he said, 'Why are we not talking about this?' That's when we started working together. I brought him in as a partner and co-founder and then rebranded him as PLAYER to keep it a nice, simple brand."

The development team behind PLAYER

Last year, Tommy Fish and Patrice Evra strengthened the team behind PLAYER when they contacted Neil Harris. After 21 years at Manchester United's academy, where he worked with age groups from U8 to U16, Patrice Evra knew Neil Harris very well, and they got him involved in the new project.

"We seem to marry up in terms of an ethos of wanting to keep players in the game for as long as possible. I'm a massive believer that we need to try to retain that love of the game for players. And I'm also very fully aware that once you've been in an academy club and you get released at academy level, it's very tricky to then get spotted if you haven't got the support network around you," says Neil Harris and continues:

"When Tommy Fish and Patrice Evra outlined to me what PLAYER was about, it certainly fits with my ethos in terms of player development and trying to keep lads in the game, giving kids the opportunity again to stay in the game and obviously grow and make their own journey to whatever level they can be."

One of the things that appealed to Neil Harris about getting involved with PLAYER is the somewhat unconventional approach of having trial games and showcase games.

"We're taking it to the scouts on behalf of the kids, really. We are allowing the players to have a digital football CV that they can own. People can go and see it - it's a LinkedIn model that scouts and recruitment teams can actually search for a particular type of player that they want."

"It allows scouts and recruitment teams to find them, maybe based on position, maybe based on their experience or a club that they've been at. It's just bringing eyes onto them, as opposed to the player having to go out and search for a club or have some form of link with a club or a scout in order to get a foot in the door."

Showcase games, where they play against professional clubs such as Charlton FC or West Ham United, are particularly important for Tommy Fish and Neil Harris. This is where players can prove themselves.

"To properly evaluate a player, you need to see them in person or at least see a 90-minute game. Being able to play against professional academy under-21s allows them to show that they're actually capable. We went to Charlton and played their under-18s with a group of the same age, and we had boys absolutely ripping it up. Now they've shown they can do it, and we can confidently talk to clubs about them," says Tommy Fish.

Lack of networking is one of the biggest challenges for players outside the academy system, points out Neil Harris. PLAYER's strength lies in bridging the gap between talent and opportunity:

"These players might not have the contacts to be able to write to clubs or just have that access to people who are able to do it, and it just allows us to bring the scouts to them. At some of the recent showcase games, we've had lots of professional scouts there."

Neil Harris explains how the platform facilitates direct contact between scouts and players. Both on match day and afterward, scouts can communicate with players they find interesting.

"It allows, potentially, for a scout to literally speak to the player on that day, or remotely if they aren't able to attend the game. They can watch the player and then contact that player through the PLAYER app straight away."

The former Manchester United academy coach concludes that this creates unprecedented accessibility in an environment where it has typically been difficult to get a foot in the door.

"It's a wonderful opportunity to bring eyes and scouts to a game and to support players in terms of trying to get that foot in the door, which can be very difficult when there are so many games of football at so many different levels. It's just a fantastic arrangement for everybody."

The importance of video technology

For all showcase games, PLAYER uses its Veo camera, which plays a very important role in recruitment and in contacting scouts and clubs. Video is the crucial technology behind PLAYER's concept. Tommy Fish sees Veo as an essential tool that has completely changed the game in talent spotting.

"Veo is essential for us. Take our showcase game at West Ham last summer, for example. We had about five or six players getting signed directly off the back of the video that we filmed with Veo in those games," he explains.

Success stories are lining up for PLAYER. Several players have had the opportunity to play semi-professionally, and one female player has even secured a professional contract in Cyprus after previously playing at the fourth level in England.

"We've got players who've now been given their platform for playing semi-professionally. One player has a professional contract on the back of that. That player has now got a pro contract in Cyprus, after playing tier-four women's football over here," Tommy Fish highlights and adds: "It's completely transformed the game. Transformed the lives of these people, and we're just on the ground floor."

The evololution of video scouting

Tommy Fish has closely followed the development of video technology in football over the years. He noticed early on that while the technology and hardware were present, and players at all levels were being filmed, there was a lack of a central platform for the content.

"Around the time I came up with the idea, Veo was already started. I found that the technology's there, the hardware is there now - players of every level are getting filmed, but there isn't somewhere for it to live," he explains.

With a background in the recruitment industry, Tommy Fish saw parallels to his own professional experience: "As someone who's run a recruitment company for so long, there was always a LinkedIn tab open on my computer. So for me, I was always thinking, 'Where is the LinkedIn for football?'"

The COVID pandemic became a decisive turning point for technological development in football. Players trained from home and filmed their routines, and clubs began to invest significantly more in video technology.

"COVID was a real turning point. There became a lot more focus on technology. A lot of players were working from home, training from home, and filming their routines. In the last four or five years, there's been an explosion in these platforms filling massive gaps - football's been living in the dark ages," says Tommy Fish.

The benefits of video in talent spotting

One of the most significant advances in video technology for talent scouting is scalability. Traditionally, scouts have spent countless hours on football fields, potentially returning home without having discovered new talents.

"Scalability is the key advantage. If you speak to a scout from Manchester United, and they've gone and watched three grassroots games on a Sunday - and it's raining most of the time in Manchester, so they've been getting soaked all afternoon - they might not find a single diamond and go home frustrated. If you can watch those games on video, it's much more efficient," emphasizes Tommy Fish.

He adds: "Obviously, being in person helps - you can't just kill that off. You're always going to need human interaction. But I think the scale is crucial. A player could send their content to a scout, who can get a look at them and decide whether or not it's worth going to watch them in person."

Neil Harris, with his extensive experience from Manchester United's academy, brings another perspective on video analysis:

"As a scout, you might just watch a game and try to spot a player, maybe looking for the best three players on each team, or potentially you're actually going to watch a specific player. I think the opportunity with video for players is that reaffirmation," he explains and continues:

"To have the power of rewatching the game again... I did that recently with the player showcase that we had at Charlton and Reading, and it does give you those fresh eyes. You may pick up something slightly different that you didn't notice on the day."

Player development through video

One of the central challenges in traditional talent spotting is that players naturally highlight the best moments on their profiles. However, clubs also want to see how players react to adversity.

"The players aren't going to show their worst bits, right? They're going to show their best bits on their profile. So naturally, clubs want to see where they make mistakes, how they react to their mistakes," points out Tommy Fish and adds: "We will obviously look to find a clever way to integrate that onto the platform, but we're able to marry the physical with the digital through technologies like Veo in Player."

Video technology has also revolutionized the training and development process itself. Neil Harris highlights how video recordings enable both individual development and tactical understanding.

"If you look at it from an individual perspective, it allows you to work with the player on his or her Athlete Development Program. And from a team tactical perspective, it allows you to show pre and post-match some things that you're going after in terms of your game methodology or your game model," he explains.

Neil Harris particularly notes that visual learning is crucial for many players:

"It's really powerful now that all clubs - grassroots clubs, professional clubs - are using Veo. It's just so powerful, again in the right hands, to be able to show people because people and kids learn in different ways. There are certain people that just learn from a visual perspective. Being able to show them individually, or them within the team structure, can be really powerful."

Global reach

Video technology has broken down geographical barriers in talent spotting. This has become particularly valuable after Brexit, which has limited English players' opportunities to move to clubs on the continent.

"Beyond scale, it's also about reach, particularly international reach. We've got players who have EU passports. Brexit has killed English players moving to the continent if they're not internationals with a certain number of appearances," says Tommy Fish.

He continues: "But there are a lot of players in our ecosystem who have dual nationality or heritage from Spain, Sweden, etc. So we're sending their videos out to clubs, and clubs are asking for our showcase matches. There's going to be a bunch of players from our community going and playing on the continent, and that's purely because of video."

Neil Harris elaborates on how technology has brought the world closer together for scouts and coaches:

"It obviously brings the world closer together. I could literally now be sitting in Manchester and watching a game from Mexico. From the data-driven side of things, it just allows people to tag and to really hone in on the specific details at both a team and individual player level."

Feedback from clubs and scouts

Initial feedback from clubs and scouts has been extremely positive. Neil Harris highlights both the players' professional approach and the high sporting level.

"The first thing is the respect with which the players have treated the games when we've played against clubs. From simple things at Reading, where subs were warming up, and they went and shook hands with scouts on the touchline, to the way that we've left dressing rooms - the feedback I would give is about the stuff that doesn't require any talent," he says.

The results speak for themselves:

"In terms of the standard, it's been good. We've had a couple of players already who have gone in on trial or signed with clubs off the back of these showcase games. It's been really positive."

For the participating clubs, the events are also valuable:

"It's great for the club because if they wanted to do their own individual talent ID, we're bringing the best players from a certain area, or from two or three regions, or from the whole country at times, onto their premises. It's wonderful talent ID for them."

A central focus for PLAYER is quality assurance. Neil Harris emphasizes that they are very conscious of not diluting their product.

"We're very mindful that we don't want to dilute our product. We want to give players an opportunity, but at the same time, we've got to make sure that we're fair to clubs and to scouts. If they are traveling to watch our games, we need to ensure that it's competitive and that these players are of a level where they're able to compete with the players they're playing against."

‍

The future of PLAYER

Tommy Fish has a clear vision for PLAYER. For established top players, the platform should be a place for their memories, their game, and their connections. For aspiring players, it's about being part of an elite football network.

"For the top players, the aspiration is for them to just have somewhere for their memories, for their game to live, and for their connections. For the aspirational player, it's about being part of an elite football network, somewhere to get visibility and opportunity to climb," he explains.

Tommy Fish expresses a deep personal motivation behind the project:

"So many players won't get the visibility, and they'll just fall out of the game, which for me is a tragedy. I want everyone to elevate their game and reach their potential, whatever that potential is."

With technology, including the Veo camera as a central component, PLAYER is well on its way to democratizing talent recruitment in football and giving players at all levels a chance to be seen and develop.