Burgess departs

[AFCRD_Dan]

Maxwell pushing his way in the dugout! Should be no where near it.

Pressman said the club needs one or two people on the board who have football brains, I think having Maxwell in the dugout supports that theory.

[fentiger79]

With all due respect I don’t think it works both ways.football knowledge on the board yes, board on the football side a massive No. think this needs to be looked at again as it’s clear that many fans disagree with this.

[fentiger79]

On the subject of the new manager Kevin Wilkin is clearly the number 1 choice, maybe unlikely but at least worth a call. If not then it has to be so einecwith knowledge of this level with contacts and can work with our budget.

[therushden]

You can't have board members in the dug out, total conflict of interest.
How many times have you seen chairmen picking the team? It never works.

[Formic]

You can't have board members in the dug out, total conflict of interest.
How many times have you seen chairmen picking the team? It never works.

Agreed.

[smoky]

We don't want any body from the board involved with anything concerning the players, if they select the right person there will be no need for them to be involved. On that subject there does seem to be quite a few managers at our level, or above who are looking for positions so the board need to pick carefully and make sure we get the right one for the long haul.

[therushden]

And not give them a contract asap, when they're unproven.

[Olly]

And not give them a contract asap, when they're unproven.

Indeed, contracts on results and performances, not talk and 'professionalism'.

[NN10-Nige]

I'm surprised we didn't bring Tim Dudding in as interim again like last time around.

In all fairness, the statement that said Burgess had gone said they have already had conversations so there is a bit of a chance that the new manager will be here or at least watching the Tamworth game on Saturday.

If as I suspect we see a good performance from all the players on Saturday, I will be a little disappointed because I know I said the players are not playing for Burgess but just because you don't like a manager is not an excuse for sub par performances, it's cowardly, especially when if it wasn't for Burgess they probably wouldn't have got the opportunity to play here, sadly it's a norm in football these days it's just not nice to think of it happening at the club you support.




An Insight Into GPS Vests

Beats New Tech When Coaching A Non-League Team

Do you remember the Nike commercial: The Last Game?

A team of cloned footballers with admittedly dodgy bowl cuts conquer the world of football, until Brazilian Ronaldo recruits a world XI that uses flair to beat their android foes.

Now it would be an exaggeration to say that is the way modern football is headed, but AI is now able to predict and prevent injuries.

There is even a robotic training gym that has been developed in Germany to streamline strength training. Technology really can do wonders.

How then, in this world of gadgets and gizmos, do non-league managers ensure that everything does not become over-complicated for their players who have other full-time jobs to worry about?

Well, according to former Hartley Wintney manager and new director of football, Anthony Millerick, the solution lies in being aware of the limitations of the technology.

“A lot of teams have GPS vests, but they can be cheated,” Millerick explained. “I’m sure it’s improved over the years, but you used to watch a game and you’d see a player sprint after a ball’s gone off the pitch and you wonder what they’re doing, but they’re actually manipulating their data stats.”

“Ten years ago, in the early days of GPS vests, we won a game, I played centre-half and we kept a clean sheet. The opposition didn’t cause us many problems and I was quite happy with my performance, but I actually registered no sprints for the game.”

“Anyone looking would think, ‘what’s happened here?’ But it was simply down to my positioning and the fact that the opposition didn’t play very well. Therefore, the raw data itself can be misleading.”

Instead, Millerick limits the technology he uses to a video platform called Veo, which tracks the ball, providing large, panoramic views and a flashy Monday Night Footballesque touchscreen, where he highlights players and draws lines on specific passages of play like Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher.

Any more than that and Millerick, who has overseen two league titles, a play-off win and two promotions during his seven-year tenure, believes his process would become unnecessarily over-complicated.

“We’ll only do so much,” he said. “I’ll get their basic shape, dangerous players and notable set pieces. It probably won’t go on much further than that.”

“In non-league you can do a lot of planning and then they turn up with a completely different shape due to a number of injuries you had no way of knowing about.”

“In my younger years I would talk massively about the opposition and then you’d turn up on Saturday and they’re just completely different.”

As a result, Southern League Premier South side Hartley Wintney’s two scouts are used primarily for recruitment purposes, with Millerick using his good rapport with opposition managers to exchange video footage for his analysis.

Even this he uses sparingly. He added: “Realistically, if we’re playing two games a week, we’ve probably got an hour and a half to two hours to go through things.”

“It can put doubt into players’ minds if you’re constantly talking about the opposition.” “I only make a few points and I probably talk about who we’re playing for literally a couple of minutes, as I want the main points to be about us.”

“I want the players to be thinking about themselves and what they’re going to do, as opposed to something which may or may not happen with the opposition.”

So, there you have it. Although Millerick himself admitted that he would be interested in the heat maps that GPS vests can provide if he could afford them, for the most part, in non-league football, the old way remains the simplest. And quite possibly, still the best.

For those of us who don't know a great deal about GPS vests.

[gibston]

I'm surprised we didn't bring Tim Dudding in as interim again like last time around.

In all fairness, the statement that said Burgess had gone said they have already had conversations so there is a bit of a chance that the new manager will be here or at least watching the Tamworth game on Saturday.

If as I suspect we see a good performance from all the players on Saturday, I will be a little disappointed because I know I said the players are not playing for Burgess but just because you don't like a manager is not an excuse for sub par performances, it's cowardly, especially when if it wasn't for Burgess they probably wouldn't have got the opportunity to play here, sadly it's a norm in football these days it's just not nice to think of it happening at the club you support.

Tim will be in the Tamworth dugout.....