Last night, BBC Radio 5 live broadcast an interesting discussion about playing "Moneyball" in football and other popular UK sports. The discussion provides a nice overview of the issue, along with interviews of Billy Beane, Damien Comolli, Steve McLaren, and others. Here's the synopsis from 5 live:
"On the eve of the UK release of the film Moneyball, based on the influential book, 5 live Sport takes a special look at the growing influence of statistics in sport.

Could Brad Pitt win the Premier League?

You don't get too many Premier League managers who look like Brad Pitt, although Jose Mourinho did cool and brooding pretty well. But as baseball gets the Hollywood treatment with the UK premiere of the film Moneyball, based on the book that detailed how Billy Beane used statistics and analysis rather than gut instincts to turn the Oakland Athletics from nobodies to big players in the MLB, the same principles are starting to be applied in the top flight.

Moneyball guru Billy Beane hails approach of Liverpool director of football Damien Comolli

American commends the Premier League club for getting value for money from new signings, and says Reds were right to invest in young talent as they are cost-effective

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-10-13 07:16:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Revealed: How baseball convinced Liverpool to spend £20m on Jordan Henderson

Reds' Comolli has tapped into methods of US talent-scouting guru Billy Beane

View the full story here: The Mirror

A news article on 2011-10-12 22:30:17 from: The Mirror

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Union

The Union are feeling pumped up after their win in Seattle. Sheanon Williams says, "Right now, we're just thinking about first place. The guys really want to be in first place. If we're in first place, then guess what? We're in the playoffs. So that should be our first goal." Mr. Williams, I like the way you think and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

'Moneyball' can inspire Premier League success, insists Billy Beane

Billy Beane, the man behind the Moneyball phenomenon, has dismissed the notion that his principles cannot be adapted from baseball to other sports.

View the full story here: The Mail

A news article on 2011-10-11 11:44:01 from: The Mail

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

By Tony Edwards - San Jose, CA (Sep 20, 2011) US Soccer Players -- In this edition of the 5 Questions, Tony wonders what connects Freddy Adu and Moneyball's Billy Beane and Brad Friedel's status in England. What two Americans are interviewed by Simon Kuper for his engaging new book, Soccer Men? Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey, right?

Downing Could Be A 'Moneyball' Buy | F365 Says In some respects, Downing is a 'Moneyball' signing. Those of you that have read Michael Lewis's book will know that this approach is based on statistical objectivity, rather than subjective gut feelings or opinions. Instead of looking at a player's physical attributes, Billy Beane - the man around whom the book is based - would pay more attention

Every data point (pass, cross, offside, out of play etc) mapped in these two hemispheres (one for each half) between Man Utd and Barca in the Champions League finals.

Simon Kuper's fascinating article in the FT about how the data revolution is slowly changing the face of soccer. There might be a time when quants will emerge from their gray shadows and take their rightful place on the cover of Four Four Two.

Here are some quick hitters from around the world of business and American soccer. We'll start with this piece from Simon Kuper in the Financial Times. Following a theme we have touched on over the last week (both through our interview with Mr.Kuper and our excellent guest post from Dave Laidig), the new Kuper article looks at the growing impact of statistics in club soccer.

I have always been a statistics nut. The love of the numbers behind sports came early for me, as a young boy "keeping book" for my Yankees (I am now a rehabilitated Yankees fan, firmly rooting for my local Phillies since the Y2K). I'd laboriously watch the games, scribble down every hit, walk, error, and out (before DVR made it easier to catch what you missed).

The other day we had an interesting discussion about why it is that teams find it so hard to identify and bring through young talent.

Ken Arneson has another take, and it's very persuasive.

I've often thought that half the key to successful sport is the ability to not think.

Billy Beane made "Moneyball" and sabermetrics household names in baseball by using tangible statistics to evaluate talent. The Boston Red Sox and Beane-disciple Theo Epstein were able to translate these theories into World Championships.

Whether John W. Henry and New England Sports Ventures - owners of the Boston Red Sox - have been able to apply those same principles as the new owners of the Liverpool Football Club remains to be seen.

Andy Carroll's £35 million move has surprised a lot of people, particularly in the light of the Liverpool owners' reputations as careful, smarter investors. NESV, as you'll know, famously took over baseball's Boston Red Sox and won a long awaited World Series, and in so doing used what were termed "moneyball" principles.

And so it came to pass that a helicopter carrying Fernando Torres touched down on the wreckage of several earlier helicopters only thought to have been carrying Fernando Torres, and Fernando Torres raised his serene gaze from the book about helicopters that he had been reading on his helicopter and looked inscrutably out the window, leaving the rest of us to stare at his helicopter and wonder what it could all mean.

Defeat at Manchester United in the FA Cup tomorrow would leave Liverpool with a little more time for thought. Only the Europa League and the effort to get into a smarter part of the Premier League would still be ahead of them. For the owners who bought the club in the autumn the work is merely beginning.