New interim Data Analyst - Jim Lovell.

[Lighthouse]

Lovell has been at the club since 2011, serving as the first team performance analyst at Motspur Park.

However, for the past three seasons he's been an integral part of the first team performance department.

Although working heavily in pre-game, in-game and post match analysis delivery for the first team, Lovell has been involved in the development and use of data in the club's scouting process to help identify players of interest and influence the scouting process at the club.

He has been heavily involved with the club on a number of levels - ranging from analysis of data to helping managing teams of interns so that Fulham continue to have a wealth of analysts across the club.

Before working with the Cottagers, Lovell was a performance analysts at Wolves for three years and helped to create an analysis support department at the Molineux outfit as part of the 2008/09 Championship winning side.

As part of his work at the club, Lovell upgraded and improved the club's analysis systems to ensure they were at the level required of a Premier League club, making sure both the reserves and academy games were also covered.

Lovell has also worked at QPR from 2006-07 as a match analyst at the west London club, where he analysed and gathered statistical data on team and player performance.

He also holds a Master's Degree in Sports Science from Brighton University.

[cmg]

The appointment of an astronaut shows a commendable determination to aim high.
However, a note of caution, if I remember rightly he didn't quite make it to his desired destination.

"Jacksonville, we have a problem."

[davew]

Our problems all solved by the appointment of another analyst (lol)!!!! Can he defend, score goals, take penalties, take corners, probably not, come on Fulham address the real problems!

[filham]

No,No,No. Please lets just keep things simple and leave it all to the manager's knowledge and intincts together with the support he gets from his coaching staff.

[JoelH5]

No,No,No. Please lets just keep things simple and leave it all to the manager's knowledge and intincts together with the support he gets from his coaching staff.

Dream on. Whilst Khan is at the club we will always be heavily reliant on data analytics. Tony owns a bloody sports data analytics company. Has no one realised it yet?

Fulham is just an experiment for his son's company.

[Marcel_Gecov]

No,No,No. Please lets just keep things simple and leave it all to the manager's knowledge and intincts together with the support he gets from his coaching staff.

Dream on. Whilst Khan is at the club we will always be heavily reliant on data analytics. Tony owns a bloody sports data analytics company. Has no one realised it yet?

Fulham is just an experiment for his son's company.

It's also the way every other club works.

[JoelH5]

No,No,No. Please lets just keep things simple and leave it all to the manager's knowledge and intincts together with the support he gets from his coaching staff.

Dream on. Whilst Khan is at the club we will always be heavily reliant on data analytics. Tony owns a bloody sports data analytics company. Has no one realised it yet?

Fulham is just an experiment for his son's company.

It's also the way every other club works.

That's nice for them. What's your point?

[Marcel_Gecov]

No,No,No. Please lets just keep things simple and leave it all to the manager's knowledge and intincts together with the support he gets from his coaching staff.

Dream on. Whilst Khan is at the club we will always be heavily reliant on data analytics. Tony owns a bloody sports data analytics company. Has no one realised it yet?

Fulham is just an experiment for his son's company.

It's also the way every other club works.

That's nice for them. What's your point?

Being brutal, reverting to your way turns us from innovative into a dinosaur.

[Wearethewhites]

Makes me laugh that all FFC fans are like 'right, that's it, Kline's gone, no more stats approach, Slavisa gets to sign who he wants'... how wrong you all are.

Kline is gone, or, on gardening leave, due to aligations made by him, about the Club, not because they don't think the stats aren't working.

Unfortunately, the stats are Tony's baby, and they will remain, sorry.

[ToodlesMcToot]

Makes me laugh that all FFC fans are like 'right, that's it, Kline's gone, no more stats approach, Slavisa gets to sign who he wants'... how wrong you all are.

Kline is gone, or, on gardening leave, due to aligations made by him, about the Club, not because they don't think the stats aren't working.

Unfortunately, the stats are Tony's baby, and they will remain, sorry.

The stats are everyone's baby. All clubs use them to assess players to some extent. Tony may just love them just a bit more than most.

It has been clear that Kline's presence was abrasive from time to time. Think he believed he had a mandate, via TK, an that it gave him some power that didn't really exist. Seems that he just couldn't handle the fact that others didn't just roll over and accept his way.

[Marcel_Gecov]

Makes me laugh that all FFC fans are like 'right, that's it, Kline's gone, no more stats approach, Slavisa gets to sign who he wants'... how wrong you all are.

Kline is gone, or, on gardening leave, due to aligations made by him, about the Club, not because they don't think the stats aren't working.

Unfortunately, the stats are Tony's baby, and they will remain, sorry.

The stats are everyone's baby. All clubs use them to assess players to some extent. Tony may just love them just a bit more than most.

It has been clear that Kline's presence was abrasive from time to time. Think he believed he had a mandate, via TK, an that it gave him some power that didn't really exist. Seems that he just couldn't handle the fact that others didn't just roll over and accept his way.

It's not just that. A club like ours needs to find value where it can be found and stats are a good way to do it. The issue with relying on stats solely is you can miss things. We were looking at Callum Odowda from Oxford (he'd of cost 20k) but looked elsewhere as his stats weren't good enough, he tore us apart last night. Lundstrum at Sheff Utd is the same, captain of Oxford at 20 another option, slipped through our fingers.

The club needs to find a happy medium between the two, as do the fans, comments like that below do not look into how the world is and instead look back at the old way.

[Riversider]

The point that keeps getting missed, and it's driving me mad, is that once the stat team has identified a player, Brian Talbot and his scouting department (including his son) then go and watch said player play,
So yes, we have signed some crap this summer, but Brian Talbot and his team visibly watched them play , surely that's a bigger concern ?
Paul Scally said on Sky during the summer that his scouts had identified Kamara as a possibility, but his club wanted £500k, so Gillingham walked away as they felt it was too much , he then continued "imagine our surprise when the same player then went for £5 million "
Personally I feel our scouting net work needs a shake up to.

[ToodlesMcToot]

Makes me laugh that all FFC fans are like 'right, that's it, Kline's gone, no more stats approach, Slavisa gets to sign who he wants'... how wrong you all are.

Kline is gone, or, on gardening leave, due to aligations made by him, about the Club, not because they don't think the stats aren't working.

Unfortunately, the stats are Tony's baby, and they will remain, sorry.

The stats are everyone's baby. All clubs use them to assess players to some extent. Tony may just love them just a bit more than most.

It has been clear that Kline's presence was abrasive from time to time. Think he believed he had a mandate, via TK, an that it gave him some power that didn't really exist. Seems that he just couldn't handle the fact that others didn't just roll over and accept his way.

It's not just that. A club like ours needs to find value where it can be found and stats are a good way to do it. The issue with relying on stats solely is you can miss things. We were looking at Callum Odowda from Oxford (he'd of cost 20k) but looked elsewhere as his stats weren't good enough, he tore us apart last night. Lundstrum at Sheff Utd is the same, captain of Oxford at 20 another option, slipped through our fingers.

The club needs to find a happy medium between the two, as do the fans, comments like that below do not look into how the world is and instead look back at the old way.

Agreed on all points. The approach we have taken is a smart one, I believe. However, there's got to be a balance to it and a trust in the expertise of the scouts. I'm hopeful that we'll find this more easy now that Mr. Kline has left.

[Marcel_Gecov]

Indeed, this the key. Hopefully the fans mindset will also conform and it'll be better for us all.

[Twig]

The point that keeps getting missed, and it's driving me mad, is that once the stat team has identified a player, Brian Talbot and his scouting department (including his son) then go and watch said player play,
So yes, we have signed some crap this summer, but Brian Talbot and his team visibly watched them play , surely that's a bigger concern ?
Paul Scally said on Sky during the summer that his scouts had identified Kamara as a possibility, but his club wanted £500k, so Gillingham walked away as they felt it was too much , he then continued "imagine our surprise when the same player then went for £5 million "
Personally I feel our scouting net work needs a shake up to.

I tend to agree but it may have been that Kline had so much clout he could sometimes override the views of the scouting team (in the same way that he clearly overrode Joka's opinions on several ocassions).  Now that he has gone I am expecting a more balanced approach with inputs being valued from all those legitimately involved.

[ToodlesMcToot]

The point that keeps getting missed, and it's driving me mad, is that once the stat team has identified a player, Brian Talbot and his scouting department (including his son) then go and watch said player play,
So yes, we have signed some crap this summer, but Brian Talbot and his team visibly watched them play , surely that's a bigger concern ?
Paul Scally said on Sky during the summer that his scouts had identified Kamara as a possibility, but his club wanted £500k, so Gillingham walked away as they felt it was too much , he then continued "imagine our surprise when the same player then went for £5 million "
Personally I feel our scouting net work needs a shake up to.

Interesting bit re: Kamara. When was the Gillingham approach made for Kamara? Would seem likely that their interest was well prior to ours....at least I hope so. I don't have the benefit of Sky's reporting. So this was new to me.

Re: Kline's departure - It'll also be interesting to see if Slavisa's bi-annual whining about transfer dealings goes away with Kline or if he's just as impatient as we all are with transfers. I'll be following his commentary closely in January.

[Woolly Mammoth]

I am just glad he has gone.
If Fulham suffered from Piles, they would be him. 

[ToodlesMcToot]

The point that keeps getting missed, and it's driving me mad, is that once the stat team has identified a player, Brian Talbot and his scouting department (including his son) then go and watch said player play,
So yes, we have signed some crap this summer, but Brian Talbot and his team visibly watched them play , surely that's a bigger concern ?
Paul Scally said on Sky during the summer that his scouts had identified Kamara as a possibility, but his club wanted £500k, so Gillingham walked away as they felt it was too much , he then continued "imagine our surprise when the same player then went for £5 million "
Personally I feel our scouting net work needs a shake up to.

Interesting bit re: Kamara. When was the Gillingham approach made for Kamara? Would seem likely that their interest was well prior to ours....at least I hope so. I don't have the benefit of Sky's reporting. So this was new to me.

Re: Kline's departure - It'll also be interesting to see if Slavisa's bi-annual whining about transfer dealings goes away with Kline or if he's just as impatient as we all are with transfers. I'll be following his commentary closely in January.

The Gillingham chairman's quote is here:
"We went to see an Amiens player called Kamara. [Gillingham head coach Ady Pennock] said he wouldn't make it but he has just been sold for £5.2m to Fulham. That is a bit annoying!"
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/medway/sport/gills-fans-forum-129840/

***

Re. Talbot, no one on here knows what the dynamic between Kline and Talbot was. As I understand it, Talbot had power of veto over Kline, but usually exercising one's veto requires justification. Given recent events Kline seems to have been the sort of person who'd kick off (and call the police!) if he didn't get his own way. Personally I reckon Talbot would have been reluctant to veto him in all but the most compelling of cases.

Thank you re: the Kamara quote.

With regard to Kline, I just get the impression, from what that I've read, that he believed that being TK's buddy gave him a power that wasn't really his and that things had to get out of hand in order for something to be done about him.....one more than one occasion. I would imagine that plenty of people would be reluctant to cross him (as belligerent as he seems to be) given his relationship with TK.

I hope that this change improves the performance and morale of the club's staff.........and, if somehow possible, the on-field performances. Where's a prayer emoji when you need one?

[filham]

No,No,No. Please lets just keep things simple and leave it all to the manager's knowledge and intincts together with the support he gets from his coaching staff.

Dream on. Whilst Khan is at the club we will always be heavily reliant on data analytics. Tony owns a bloody sports data analytics company. Has no one realised it yet?

Fulham is just an experiment for his son's company.

It's also the way every other club works.

That's nice for them. What's your point?

Being brutal, reverting to your way turns us from innovative into a dinosaur.

Watching us at the Cottage this season it is hard to see where we have  innovative but easier to relate us to a ponderous dinosaur.