Josh Hobbs

Experience

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  Freelance

  Aug 2019 - Sept 2022

  Football Analyst/Scout

  Alongside all roles up until working at Notts County, I continued to do scouting, analysis and writing on a freelance basis. I am taking freelance roles again since leaving Notts County.These roles have involved:Video scouting for a top championship club full-time for a month in the summer transfer window.Consulting for agencies and players to provide analysis whilst seeking a new club or contract.Providing a full analysis dossier on replacing a club’s number 9. Featuring a profile on the departing player, methodology of analysis and then presenting 5 options with data profiles, reports and data visuals.Notable achievements were presenting a piece of research on player development pathways I wrote for Analytics FC at a Premier League event for academy heads of coaching, as well as playing a role in successfully pairing a free agent with a club thanks to an analysis document presented to the player's agent. I was also published in print in three Scouted Football handbooks, having provided four different profiles for those. I worked most often with Analytics FC in my time as a freelancer, writing a series of articles demonstrating their Transfer Lab product, as well as testing some of the metrics before they were rolled out for use for customers. I also wrote several pieces for them focusing on player development, transfer strategies and profiles of various Directors of Football. In all my freelance work I used Wyscout data for analysis and created visualisations through Excel, Tableau and Python. Show less

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  FC Groningen BV

  Sept 2020 - May 2021

  Video Scout (consultancy)

  I provided reports on PL2 players for Groningen. This was before Brexit affected rules over player transfers so all players in the division were possible for the club, if the financials worked.

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  FIVEYARDS

  Sept 2020 - Sept 2021

  Player Analyst

  Played a part in launching this start-up as one of the original 'scouts' in a player trading game where customers tried to test their knowledge of players against real-world performance. My responsibilities were to track 150+ players through data and video and maintain ratings. This would involve meetings with the rest of the player analysts and the founder of the company to determine prices.

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  Reach plc

  Aug 2021 - Jul 2022

  Trends writer - Leeds Live

  This role involved me pitching and writing daily news pieces on Leeds United as well as other teams in the Yorkshire & North-East regions for other Reach titles. Many of the pieces involved working with quotes but also wrote stories on team news, explainer pieces, ran live blogs and features.

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  Willem II

  Sept 2021 - Dec 2021

  UK Scout (consultancy)

  Live & video scouting on EU passport-holding PL2 players of interest to the club. Uploaded all reports to 4Scouts platform.

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  StatsBomb

  Jul 2022 - Sept 2022

  Football recruitment scout

  At StatsBomb, I acted as the eye-test part of the process as the pro-services department provided recruitment services for a client. My job was to write detailed reports on players which were previously identified by data analysts and give them a rating and recommendation. I also maintained a Shadow XI of players best-suited for the client, as well as a record of 'players of interest' noted in games watched. These players were then subsequently tracked in the data in case they became targets worth doing an in-depth report on. Show less

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  Football Radar

  Sept 2022 - Jul 2023

  Recruitment Analyst

  In my role at Football Radar I was considered part of Notts County's first-team staff as a recruitment analyst, due to the relationship between the company & the club.

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  Notts County Football Club

  Sept 2022 - Jul 2023

  Recruitment Analyst

  My primary responsibility in this role was to use Football Radar's proprietary data, alongside detailed watches of players to create video & written reports on players of interest to Notts County first-team. Additionally, I would report on players on request from the Director of Football or Head Coach. During my period at the club, we signed several of the players that I provided analysis for, leading to a record-breaking season and winning promotion back to the EFL, whilst I also worked on all of the signings for the next season in League Two. Show less

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  Leeds United

  Oct 2023 - now

  Technical Scout

  My role involves video & live scouting, working with data, creating videos & presenting to senior recruitment staff. I am involved in targeted player watches as well as tracking leagues to identify talent through wider scouting with data and longterm match reporting.