Diary of a Scout: Home Sweet Home | OneFootball

After writing my first report for Harrogate Town I felt like this crazy scouting journey had well and truly began. It was a satisfying feeling, but I was under no illusion and knew that this was still just the beginning.

Having been to Tonbridge Angels once I knew there would be opportunities to go back there and that’s exactly what happened. This gave me some comfort, as it was my hometown and knew the ground. I almost felt like a fan again, as I could go into the clubhouse, get a drink, a match day programme and soak up the pre-match atmosphere. I’d always loved the smell of the grass when I was close enough to the pitch and temptation of a greasy burger from the food vans around the ground. But I had to shake off these distractions and concentrate on the job in hand.

Agent approach

During my second visit to The Longmead Stadium I was approached by an agent for the first time at half-time. He noticed me writing things down and came over. I wasn’t too sure about him and I was cautious with what I was saying in the conversation. He was obviously trying to hype up a player he represented that was playing for the opposition. I didn’t really believe in what he was saying but added him on LinkedIn and remained polite. To be fair he didn’t talk to me again that night and I haven’t heard from him much on LinkedIn. However, it made me wonder what could be in store for me when dealing with football agents in the future.

Watching the rivals

Maidstone United are a rival of Tonbridge Angels, as the two towns are only about 15 miles apart. Some Angels fans may not like this, but they are mainly considered the underdog of the two. Anyway, I was asked to watch them one Saturday afternoon. It was a very similar experience to Tonbridge, as both teams are in the same league. My name was on a guest list, but I’d never been to the Gallagher Stadium before. So I went through the turnstile and was told to ask a steward where I could sit and write my notes. With a round trip of about an hour in the van and a solid defender catching the eye, I was starting to get used to the scouting routine.

Player pitfalls

Lots of sacrifices have to be made to become a football scout. I was doing this on top of a full-time job and being a dad to two children under three. Footballers live a a very privileged lifestyle but they don’t earn the mega bucks in the lower leagues. The National League South is non- league and classed as semi professional, so many of the people playing in these types of leagues also work full-time. This is very demanding, as like a scout they have to travel to matches in their spare time. On top of this they have to train twice a week, so it’s a big commitment.

Life’s a gamble

We all take risks in life to achieve what we want and there are many things outside of football that can distract players. One of these distractions is gambling. In fact this is a serious problem for many people, not just footballers. There is a strong presence of betting companies in the game now. They sponsor many teams with their logos on the front of shirts. There’s adverts constantly on the TV and this is genuinely very alarming. Purely because gambling is an addiction and if you like to bet on football matches players can easily get sucked into the betting abyss. There are many ex-professionals who have opened up in recent years about their struggles with gambling. One high profile name is Paul Merson and he talks about it in his two books. The way we consume all the of the betting content around the game needs to be regulated better, but that’s another conversation.

Green flag, red flag.

One player I watched around this time was head and shoulders above everyone. I mean literally, he won everything in the air, was strong and composed on the ball. He was another defender (I was starting to think I was weirdly drawn to this position!) and I messaged the Head of Recruitment at Harrogate about him. Although he had many green flags on the pitch, there were apparently a couple of red ones off it. Although it wasn’t officially confirmed, the player in question apparently has a gambling problem and stole money from team mates in the changing room. This was disappointing but also a lesson for me. You could be watching the best player on the pitch but if his character isn’t a positive one then he could upset the applecart.

JP Scouting player in Focus: Temi Eweka

After about 15 minutes Eweka was the main player on the field that was catching my eye. Confident and assured, his heading ability was very noticeable, winning pretty much everything that came his way. He has all the right attributes for a defender and I feel he has the strength and ability to go up the leagues. He not only handled himself well, but was tactically aware and had great positional sense.

For the current season he’s a main starter in the eleven and has 18 appearances, scoring 3 goals. He’s already had a number of clubs at a non-league level. He moved to Maidstone in the summer from Slough, after a couple of loan spells at Maidenhead Utd.

At the age of 25 this could be the right time for a move into a higher league to test himself and see if he can play in the football league. I would definitely advise/like to watch him again soon to monitor his performances.