IN February 2002 the death of a 97-year-old Cornish war hero raised few eyebrows in the football world.

There were no black armbands worn by players in games following the death of Wing Commander Charles Reep, and football fans weren’t discussing his passing and the effects his ideas had on the game.

But Repp is seen by many as the first football performance analyst and, by default, the inventor of the long-ball game.

It is only over the last decade that clubs at all levels have deemed it necessary to employ performance analysts – but it is 60 years since Repp was using statistics to influence team tactics.

Repp boasted notes on 2,500 matches which allowed him to deduce, now infamously, that “over 80 per cent of goals result from moves of three passes or less” and “60 per cent of all goalscoring moves begin 35 yards from an opponent’s goal”

Hence the principle that getting the ball “in the mixer” as often as possible during 90 minutes increases the chances of winning a game. That is clearly a simplification of Repp’s work, but as he would no doubt have claimed, the stats don’t lie.

Football has moved on since then, and the role of the performance analyst has expanded into a more detailed scientific analysis of individual and team performances.

Laurence Stewart is one such exponent, taking on the role at Hull City in the summer of 2009 under then manager Phil Brown.

Laurence, 26, has been fortunate to work under coaches unafraid of new techniques in the game with current Tigers boss Nigel Pearson being a firm believer in the use of Performance Analysis and Sports Science.

PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS AT HULL CITY

“At Hull we use SportsCode video based technology that allows us to create our own templates to analyse events in the game we need to look at,” said Laurence.

“It allows us to analyse specific incidents during the game using the definitions and terminology that our coaches use – thus providing information to aide the coaches in their roles and allowing the team to concentrate on areas where improvement is needed

“Prozone is the best known name in performance analysis and they are great at what they do but SportsCode is ideal for what we want, and efficient for the analysis we provide for the team and individual players.

“We take what could be described as the normal recording of the game and we also have someone high in the gantry taking a wide angle view allowing us to view everything that is happening on the pitch – vital when players are reviewing performances as they can see all the options open to them.

“The wide angle allows us to look at more events off the ball that normal coverage doesn’t pick up as what players do off the ball is also vital.

“The following day we code the game – for the players and the team – using our specifically designed templates and produce a clips package for each player to review their performance, along with a version for the team to view as a whole.”

During the game Laurence will be in the stands watching a feed of the game directly onto his laptop allowing him to tag incidents during the play.

He will be in touch with other members of the coaching staff and will provide live video feed when required.

That system appears to be working well at the KC Stadium with Hull unbeaten in the league since August and sitting just outside the play-off positions, level on points with fifth-placed Leeds.

IN PLAY ROLE

“The coaching staff may want to check something during the game someone’s spotted and you have to be able to view incidents back and provide stats during play,” said Laurence.

“One of the manager’s assistants will also be in the stands to get an elevated viewpoint of the game and he may spot something that he wants to see back immediately.

“When required we can provide the manager and his coaches with a first half stats and clips package at the interval to aid his team talk.”

Much of Laurence’s work is taken up with Hull’s opponents and he spends a lot of time helping manager Nigel Pearson work out ways of breaking down teams and pinpointing opposition weaknesses.

ANALYSING THE OPPOSITION

“When we look at our opponents we get two or three DVDs of their games – normally their most recent performances,” said Laurence.

“We’re looking at the formations used and changes employed to that formation when playing at home or away. We also look at their style of play, whether they play the ball out from the back or are more direct.

“Basically we look at analysing the strengths and weaknesses of their team and provide presentations for the manager, coaches and players.

“One of the pre-requisites is always looking at their most recent game. If we are away then we’ll analyse how they play at home, and vica-versa.

“We look at their set-plays and how to defend them, with the ultimate aim that each player in our team knows exactly what is expected of them.”

Laurence admits some players are more willing to embrace new techniques to improve their game, but with youth team players at certain clubs now provided with clips packages of each performance there is a generation of footballers that have grown up with the technology.

IMPROVING PLAYERS’ PERFORMANCE

“Sometimes we’ll have players queuing up to get on the iMac’s and view their clips package and watching them together in pairs,” added Laurence.

“Some players view them at the training ground in our analysis room – some prefer to look at them in their own time. Clearly it is recommended that every player watches their clips packages.

“We have a debrief on a Monday following a Saturday game when as a group we’ll watch the game back. We always look at the major incidents, two or three areas to improve and two or three positives.

“We always show a similar number of incidents that were positive from the performance. It’s important that the players don’t see this as a negative tool.

“It is there to highlight what’s good about a team performance as well as being used as a tool for improvement for individuals and the team.”

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

“I think that performance analysis is going to continue to grow over the next few years with clubs employing three or four members of staff within a department,” said Laurence.

“These will all have individual responsibilities such as opposition analyst, matchday and post-game analyst, youth team analyst, and recruitment analyst.

“This is already being done at some clubs such as Manchester City. I think the biggest evolvement in the area is linking the analysis department to the coaching department, thus all information that is coded and provided is of relevance to the staff.”