DEREK McINNES has opened up on the “mad” recruitment process with Jamestown Analytics that has helped propel Hearts to the top of the table.
The Gorgie club are five points clear of Celtic in the Premiership after winning seven out of their first eight league games, including crucial victories over Hibs and Rangers.
Hearts are now emerging as serious title contenders and could at the very least split the Old Firm this season after a lightning start to McInnes’ reign in the capital.
Rangers are trailing the Jambos by as many as 13 points, but Ibrox chiefs will be hoping to see some sort of boost with the arrival of their new manager Danny Rohl.
But whilst one club endured a nightmare transfer window, the other enjoyed incredible success.
Hearts spent a fraction of the money that Rangers did to sign 11 new players to kickstart McInnes’ revolution, most of which have seriously impressed.
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That’s largely thanks to Jamestown Analytics, which identified talents like Claudio Braga, Alexandros Kyziridis, and record signing Ageu.
There’s been a cloud of unknown around the whole strategy with fans and pundits debating the process and how much involvement and data the analytics company really has.
But giving an in depth examination of the process, McInnes revealed on Open Goal: “Every player with more than 3,000 minutes has a rating and that’s every league in the world. That shows you how vast it is.
“The way the model works is if we can fill the squad with players of a high rating then they (the club) feel the only natural outcome is success.
“It’s mad isn’t it? It’s fascinating.
“I think I know every player in Scotland and I think I’ll know them more than most, but if you look at the ratings then some of them rate poorly.
“And you would think some of them would rate highly.”
Although the number of Hearts’ summer signings reached double digits, only one of them is Scottish.
But McInnes insists the main objective of the software is to find Scots instead of talent from further afield.
He said: “Jamestown would always prefer to sign a Scottish player and I want to keep a Scottish culture and identity here.
“I think it’s important to have the ability to look far and wide but I still feel that we still need that British core, that Scottish core.
“When players come from wherever they need to know how we work every day and what playing for Hearts is like rather than us changing to suit their culture.”
Jamestown identifies the players, but it’s McInnes who always has the final say.
He revealed: “In terms of the connection it is always a zoom call followed up with another zoom call. The agents and head of recruitment do a lot of work to get it to that stage.
“We would always try and sign a player with good English which I think is important.
“I had a zoom call with Claudio Braga while I was on holiday in Florida and there was just life in him. He was enthusiastic and knew everything about Hearts.
“He couldn’t have looked more excited, it was like the best Christmas present. He couldn’t have done any more to convince me about the type of boy he was.
“I spoke to another boy a day later who laid back on the chair and had his agent, manager and family there with him and whenever I tried to speak to him they all just butted in.
“He was so laid back as if I was doing him a favour.
“I know he was a good player but he wasn’t for me.
“I might be miles off it with the boy. He was young and maybe he was just a bit shy or nervous but he was happy to allow his entourage do all the talking.”
The one Scot who McInnes did sign was one of his former players at Kilmarnock, Stuart Findlay.
The left-sided centre-back’s data was analysed and thankfully for McInnes, his stats came across well.
But if they hadn’t then he WOULDN’T have signed for the Jambos, admits the manager,
“We put Stu through the supercomputer. He rated well but I think they gave me that one to be honest,” said McInnes.
“It made a lot of sense. I’ve worked with him before, he’s a brilliant boy and team-mate, allows you to play with a high line, gives you that left-sided balance and has experience and know-how.
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“Because I was so strong on the fact I wanted to sign him, we got that one.
“But if he rated poorly then we wouldn’t have signed him.”
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