Football Writer

Ryan Mitchell

Covers football tactics, recruitment and the business of the transfer market. Watches every match twice: once for the game, once for the numbers.

Articles by Ryan Mitchell

Football • multi club ownership • loan market

1 month ago

When one owner controls clubs across several leagues, a loan stops being a negotiation between rival interests and becomes an...

Football • set pieces • coaching

1 month ago

Dead balls are the only phase of football a coach can genuinely control, which is why a role once handled in passing became a...

Football • offside • var

1 month ago

Semi-automated offside solves two separate measurement problems, the instant the ball is played and the position of limbs, then...

Football • transfer window • january transfers

3 months ago

From Fernando Torres to a 2026 deal, data from CIES and Berkeley researchers shows why the January transfer window inflates fees...

Football • la masia • youth academy

3 months ago

La Masia's methods are public knowledge, so why can no club match its output? The answer is in the economics of patience,...

Football • data scouting • brentford

4 months ago

Matthew Benham and Tony Bloom brought betting statistics into scouting, turning Brentford and Brighton into two of the smartest...

Football • bundesliga • 50+1 rule

4 months ago

Germany's 50+1 ownership rule explains why Bundesliga tickets stay cheap and why investors like Martin Kind and RB Leipzig keep...

Football • tactics • false nine

4 months ago

How a single tactical swap in a 2009 Clasico turned Lionel Messi into a false nine, and how that role evolved into the...