04) Angus McNab - VP of Content, Opta/Perform Group

Angus is the VP of Content at Perform Group, the parent company of Opta, the world’s leading sports data provider. A native of Scotland, Angus has been with Opta since late 2010 and has vast experience working with leagues, governing bodies & federations, broadcasters, sponsors, digital media and other associated rights holders. He leads Opta’s soccer business in North America across all media (broadcast, print, digital). Angus is a sought-after speaker, who headlines panels at Sloan Sports Analytics Summit, IMG’s Sports Media and Technology Conference and IVY Sports Symposium, among many others.Opta has made massive strides in the US market in recent years and they count ESPN, Fox Sports, NBC, Univision, BeIn Sports, Telemundo and Time Warner as customers on the media side. They also have an official partnership with Major League Soccer and work with a number of MLS Clubs and the league’s Head Office on performance analysis, recruitment and scouting.Angus is also a Visiting Lecturer in Analytics of Global Sport, which is part of the Sports Management graduate program at Columbia University, New York.In this episode, Angus takes us through the ins and outs of analytics and data in football. We discuss the basics of how the data is collected, which isn’t how most people think it’s done, the different applications of it, the types of people working with data and the special skills they possess. Angus also discusses how teams apply data and analytics to scouting and how some even hire data analysts before a coach is brought in to build the team, and whether or not “moneyball” exists in football. All that and much more in the fourth episode of Coffee & Football.Contact Angus: Tweet @gusmcnab | Visit optasports.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.