In 2011, James Grayson witnessed a turnaround in the fortunes of his local football club. In the first half of the season, Lincoln City had teetered on the brink of relegation from League Two, but then they sacked their manager, brought in some new players, and went on a tear in the winter, winning six games out of seven.
Instead of writing about how his team had saved their season, Grayson, blogging from his BlackBerry, used data to ask a different question: had they really gotten better at all?
In a few short posts, Grayson changed the course of public soccer analytics for a decade, or at least foreshadowed a turn the discourse would soon take. But why was he asking the kinds of questions he did? Where did they come from? It was an invasion.
Blogroll:
James Grayson, James’ Blog: The surprising form of Lincoln City: Part 1, 2, 3, 4, and Reviewed (February 2011)
James Grayson, James’ Blog: Links and data (March 2011)
James Grayson, James’ Blog: About the blog (April 2012)
James Grayson, James’ Blog: Regression to the mean can be cruel (ask the nearest Blackpool fan) (April 2011)
James Grayson, James’ Blog: Predicting Future Performance - Revisited (October 2011)
Episode 8: Slap Shot