Jason Gonsalves

@Tactx_ @BNZSY Agreed, I think Alonso is good enough to “mask” some of the deficiencies from above and get results with the current group of Chelsea players too. Can’t say that about too many of the other options out there that were being reported.

@BNZSY Chelsea. Little flexibility in current Liverpool squad. Better structure behind the scenes at Anfield though.

The next manager's status is crucial for Chelsea. Crucial because they need to come into the club with leverage to be a major decision-maker in the recruitment process. Alonso has the status to demand this. Rosenior didn't, and Maresca looked elsewhere as he wasn't part of it.

“Systems don’t define great players, great players define the system”

@JDumasReports Very interesting Jason, if you had to guess, who do you think Myers would recommend to Harris as the new GM for the Sixers?

Bob Myers’ involvement w the Sixers seemed to be inevitable the moment he left tv and began working with Josh Harris. I covered Bob for seven years in SF. Sixers fans can expect a guy who cares about relationships. Here’s a story I did on him when he retired w the Warriors:

All these things can be true in the Draymond Green-Austin Rivers situation: - Rivers was incredible in High School and College, he was better than Green during that portion of his career - Green had a substantially better career than Rivers as a pro - Green is lucky to have been drafted by the Warriors - The Warriors were lucky to have Green too - Green is an all-time great defender and worthy of the Hall of Fame - Rivers had a long career because he was a very talented basketball player, not because of his dad - Green’s numbers probably would have been better if Steve Kerr called plays for him - It wasn’t in the Warriors best interest for Steve Kerr to call plays for Green - Basketball needs both of them to analyze the game, not each other

I voted for Bruno Fernandes. Well deserved. The best player doesn’t always play for the best team.

@jonathanstoop Do you think this could have an impact on how clubs hire coaches moving forward? I.e. their willingness to utilize an AI model in this fashion?

Headline: Getafe's points per game rose from 0.89 to 1.37 since working directly with an AI model in January 2025. Let's break down what's actually happening, without assuming the stat proves causation. A large language model works alongside the coaching staff, synthesizing data at scale to surface relationships and patterns across variables that human attention can't hold simultaneously. The density of information available to a coaching staff - especially on matchday - is enormous. The application of AI can synthesize the data in real-time and identify patterns that are predictive, not just descriptive. The final decision is still human. Thinking can be outsourced with AI but understanding cannot - the staff are still the understanders. But the human decision-maker now sits above the data layer with an information edge that improves the raw material used to make decisions. I'm bullish on AI in football for its fundamental ability to surface patterns at scale. Not because it replaces judgment, but because it improves the quality of information judgment works from.

@shaunconnolly85 Equally poor considering United are in the top 3!

Benjamin Sesko has nine Premier League goals from 15 appearances since the turn of the year. They don't even attempt to hide the deliberate shots at sensationalism anymore.

Looking forward to seeing what Ujiri will do in Dallas. Still think he’s easily one of the best in his role in basketball, so with a great project on his hands in the Mavs, I’m excited.

NEW: Former Knicks president Dave Checketts warns the rise of sports betting—and leagues' growing comfort with sportsbooks and prediction markets—isn’t healthy. “I’m not sure that’s a good thing, this coziness that we’ve established,” he told @FOS. frontofficesports.com/former-knicks-…

@Sarfo15M Using Sesko as the example is a weird one, given he was a unique market opportunity, but on principle it makes sense - United have the chance to contend on multiple fronts next season. Adding PL proven talent helps to speed that up, considering the impact Cunha and Mbeumo had.

But he’s settled now so what does it matter loool using sesko as a case study is silly. If anything it just shows get the player and platform them correctly

Commercial deals starting to roll in now that CL is confirmed for United. Great news considering the Tezos partnership ended after the 24/25 season, but don’t think betting companies are what MUFC should be pursuing. Not sure how that “fits”.

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That comment of how “team and humility” are values that are crucial to rugby really sticks out. Understanding your sport and what makes it unique is key to driving positive engagement and fan experience. Not all leagues understand that. Need to listen to the full interview!

@israel_ajoje All really great points, but your take on “cultural obsession” is spot on. Sport is very much engrained in every culture in some way, and tapping into that is not something that can just happen at the drop of the hat. Awesome post!

India has 1.4 billion people. They are ranked 136th in the world by FIFA. They are not very great at football. There was a time when it was rumored that they are bad at football cos they dont have athletic genes. But that's not true. At least I don't believe it cos they are great at cricket. There has to be another explanation. To understand why football does not thrive in India, you have to understand what actually builds a nation that is great at a particular sport. It has very little to do with population, geography or even money alone. It is a combination of cultural obsession, grassroots infrastructure, youth development, good governance, investment, and a clear pathway for a talented kid to go from a street in a poor neighbourhood to a professional contract. India is missing most of those things simultaneously. Take a look at Cricket for example. The 1983 World Cup victory did something irreversible to the Indian sporting psyche. Cricket became the national religion and the IPL turned it into an industrial complex. Every sponsor, every athletic kid with ambition, every parent dreaming of social mobility for their child, they all look in one direction. In India, football cannot compete with that. You see where cultural obsession contributes to the success of a sport in a country. In India, grassroots football exists in pockets. According to reports, it is predominant in Kerala, the North-East, Kolkata. Outside those communities it is patchy at best. The Indian Super League has grown but it remains modest, underfunded relative to cricket, and unable to generate the kind of role models that make a generation of children pick up a football instead of a bat. Then there is governance. The lack of political will, weak scouting systems, and underfunding mean talented players are rarely identified early enough or developed properly when they are. Now you may try to disprove my point with Nigeria and Ghana as a counterargument. Both nations deal with poverty, corruption, and weak domestic leagues. Nigeria sit 26th in the world. Ghana are 74th. And both have produced superstars in times past. The difference is not in resources. It is cultural in priority. Football is non-negotiable in West Africa. It is played on every street, embedded by colonial history, and fed by European scouts who have built pipelines producing the likes Osimhen, Ndidi and Kudus. In places like that, passion overrides federation failures when the obsession runs deep enough. In India that obsession runs elsewhere- Cricket. And until football becomes a genuine cultural priority with investment following behind it, the ranking will not move. Generally speaking, population is not destiny. Culture is. My name is Ajoje. I am a FIFA Licensed Agent and International Sports Lawyer. I write on the Law and Business of Football, a lot. Repost and Follow if you want to read more posts like this.

@XxAdamKhanxX That’s awesome Adam, I think your first point is spot on, especially from the agent side! What would you say has been your biggest challenge getting scouting roles with clubs?

For almost 2.5 years, I worked relentlessly on my social media presence in scouting before ever landing a paid role at a professional football club. Today, I’ve spent nearly 18 months working full-time inside that environment. Experiencing both sides has been eye-opening — and it’s highlighted some clear gaps between how scouting is portrayed online and how it actually operates within clubs. Here are three of the biggest differences: 1. Identification is a piece of the puzzle 🧩 Online scouting content often revolves almost entirely around player identification — spotting talent early and, months later, pointing back to it as proof of expertise. Identification matters. It’s exciting, rewarding, and a key part of the job. But in reality, it’s just one step in a much more complex process. A strong identification alone doesn’t get a deal over the line — it’s everything that follows that determines whether a player is actually signed. That reality can be frustrating. You’ll often see players you’ve flagged fall short somewhere in the decision-making chain and go on to succeed elsewhere. But that’s an unavoidable part of the process. ⸻ 2. Aesthetic ≠ Insight 🎨 There’s a growing trend where data analysis on social media feels more like a design competition than a pursuit of insight. Clean visuals and eye-catching graphics perform well online — but they don’t drive decisions inside clubs. What matters is clarity. Relevance. Actionable conclusions. That might take the form of a detailed 2,000-word report — or a sharp, three-sentence verdict with a clear recommendation. It can be presented as a polished, multi-colored chart — but more often, it’s a simple red flag in the model, backed by a single, decisive line of justification. Ultimately, the value lies in helping decision-makers decide. ⸻ 3. The job is unpredictable 🌪️ When building an online presence, consistency is everything. Weekly reports. Structured output. A clean rhythm. Inside a football club, that structure rarely exists. Some weeks are quiet. Others demand multiple decisions within hours. You might have time to analyze several full matches — or you might have 12 hours before a deal disappears and need to deliver a clear judgment with limited information. The reality of scouting is adapting to both extremes — and still being decisive. ———- I still believe the gap between perception and the reality of scouting is wide — and it creates an environment of both exceptional demand and, at times, real frustration, disappointment, and resentment for those trying to break into the field. I want to use this page to help close that gap — by being more transparent, more honest, and more reflective of how the job actually works.

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@premdebrief Interesting perspective, but I think United could actually hold on a LW this year, shore up CB, and go all in on a LW next year. From a project perspective, I think their attacking options are their strongest and can get creative with existing options.

Not perfect but this challenges on numerous fronts: Lammens Dalot Maguire Heaven Hall Tchouameni Mainoo Bruno Mbeumo Sesko Cunha Depth: Vitek Yoro MDL Dorgu Shaw Maz Baleba M Fernandes Thwaites Godts Zirkzee Amad Mount

Dumb people are impressed by complexity. Smart people are impressed by simplicity.

@tobyasky 100% - having that identity in place is massive for the direction of any club, regardless of league/level. Foley has done a proper job of imprinting this through and through, from Pinto to Iraola to the players. Awesome write up, definitely earned a follow!

Iraola leaves Bournemouth at the end of the season. Guess what, they’ve employed someone who plays similar style. Marco Rose, the real definition of gegenpressing😅 Same style with Iraola…you can see what the management does in getting the right people. Some clubs just look for the next-available big name, these ones are very deliberate.

When you see clubs succeeding, never think it’s a fluke. Get your 🍿 Bournemouth are currently 6th in the Premier League, all thanks to their visionary owner, Bill Foley. I watched an interview with Peter Crouch where he was asked why he sacked Gary O’Neil after he saved them from relegation, this interview was in 2023, his response described how pragmatic he is. He appreciated Gary O’Neil but said he wanted to take the club to a new level, they wanted the club to play in a particular way, and the best person for the job was Andoni Iraola. They’ve been monitoring Iraola and luckily for them, he became available. If you guys remember Iraola’s Vallecano team, they were known for high-intense organised pressing, also played a vertical and direct style with priority in winning balls in the final third and quick transitions. This was what Bill Foley wanted. In fact, he said, if they didn’t get Iraola, they would have kept Gary, bt they couldn’t miss that opportunity. Here’s one important thing he said in that interview, he said if Iraola didn’t work, HE WILL TAKE THE BLAME, hence, they supported him with the right players that’ll fit his style. For example, Semenyo. They signed him from Bristol City after they saw his intense pressing in the EFL, perfect for Iraola style. Bill Foley also describes himself as a business man before any other thing. It’s clear what Bournemouth’s business model is, "buy low, develop, sell high", while still staying competitive. This is evident in how they sign players, Zabarnyi from Kyiv, sold to PSG, Huijsen, Kerkez from AZ (Truffert replacement), Kroupi, Rayan, etc. If you have time, please read about Bill Foley, he’s also a funny man. He’s been asked in several interviews that, “why Bournemouth?”, he said because the club was on sale😂. He had the opportunity to buy minority stakes at different clubs but he wasn’t interested. Bournemouth was 100% ownership and that’s why he was keen. Also, they just promoted to the prem in 2022, perfect for him. Remember Bill has one of the most successful hockey teams in the US, he’s very successful in Sports. He also describes himself as a BUILDER, his goal is to elevate Bournemouth. A new stadium is on the way because we all know Vitality Stadium is the smallest, 11k capacity, he wants more fans, especially young fans, to be able to attend games, they’re building crazy training centres for women’s football, the academy and the first team. He’s also leading community initiatives within Bournemouth, same as what Ryan and Rob are doing at Wrexham. They don’t want to be seen as arrogant Americans taking over, they want to integrate with the community as much as possible. Lastly, Bill works with a tightly-knitted team, he doesn’t want a crowd, that’s why Bournemouth are one of the few clubs without an official Sporting director, they’re a very strategic club. I know a club that has like 3 Sporting Directors😭 One of his team member, Tiago Pinto, President of Football Operations, describes Bournemouth as a “peaceful planning environment” compared to bigger clubs like Roma. Pinto came from Roma as their SD, don’t forget he signed Huijsen on loan to Roma from Juventus, and he also signed him for £12m to Bournemouth on a permanent basis. He knew the guy well. There’s Neill Blake, a Bournemouth guy through and through, has been there for long through League Two down to prem, he was CEO for a long time before Bill took over and made him MD of the Multi-Club scheme they’re running, known as Black Knight Football Club (BKFC). The clubs under BKFC are Bournemouth, FC Lorient (now you understand how they got Kroupi), Moreirense, Auckland, Hibernian (I think this was recently sold). I wrote all of these just to show you guys that lots of work go on BTS. Bournemouth are in that position by proper planning. Hope you enjoyed the read?