From Charles Reep’s scrolls of scribbled shorthand to Ian Graham’s Expected Possession Value, the scientific understanding of football has come a long way.

 

Rory Smith’s new book Expected Goals takes us inside the analytics revolution in football – which he finds is already more advanced than many people realise.

 

Today we talk to Rory about how football learned to understand itself through numbers, and the people who made it happen.

Click the large image at the top of the page to play the show. Monday’s shows are free to all and to listen to our programming throughout the rest of the week, join the Second Captains World Service. It’s independent, commercial-free and member-led with feature interviews, breaking news, Ken’s Football Show, Richie Sadlier’s Player’s Chair, The Politics Podcast, The “I’ll Tell You Who Wrote It” Book Club and lots of added extras. You’ll also be supporting the development of our longer-form work, like our recent international series  ‘Where Is George Gibney?’.

 

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