How Analytics And Digital Are Powering Man City’s Quest For Success

Future recruitment

Despite having all the coaches and facilities in place, City’s recent success has unarguably been fuelled by lavish spending funded by the bottomless pockets of the club’s owners. But this model is clearly unsustainable, hence the emphasis on youth.

It is hoped that analytics can help City identify players much earlier in their careers, eliminating the need to spend £49 million on Raheem Sterling, the most expensive English player of all time, for example.

“Top talent at every age is becoming more expensive,” said Brian Marwood. “Being first in the market is key.”

CFG also uses data to monitor its youth squads, using cloud technology to store 2,000 coaching sessions and 900 matches to generate game plans and is also using technology, such as heart rate monitors, GPS and sleep monitors to assess injuries and player health.

Fan engagement

Manchester City have always been one of the biggest clubs in England but it’s not unfair to say their worldwide appeal has been lacking when compared to others (aside from when Sun Jihai catapulted the team to popularity in China in the 2000s).

That’s all changed and City is desperate to increase its fan base using digital technology and social media.

“The simple thing we’re tasked with is helping to grow Manchester City and our other football clubs’ fanbase, ” Manchester City director of marketing, media and fan development Diego Gigliani told Silicon at the club’s Etihad Campus in Manchester.

“The scale [of his department] grows every year. It’s definitely a place where the organisation doesn’t sit still much. It always has a big vision and ambition to grow and put this club where we think the fans want it, which is competing on the pitch and off the pitch.”

City were the first football club in the world to launch a chat bot on Facebook Messenger, providing news, highlights and other content, while it redesigned its website to focus on mobile, video and deliver better content that would encourage repeat visits.

Read more about social media and the ultimate goal on page 3…