A PhD in what?

[dantes]

Meanwhile, Liverpool's owners, the Fenway Sports Group, are keeping to their data-based Moneyball philosophies by appointing Ian Graham, who has a PhD in biological physics from Cardiff University, as their director of research to make the best use of all the statistics that now emerge from matches and training.

I could find no record of his thesis. I have no doubt it was a pile of shit however. This cunt then worked with a research/consultancy company called decision technology.

This is their football predictor software http://www.dectech.co.uk/football_sites/football_dectech/index.php. Go have a play around, and dear god I don't know what to say. It's like shit infused with piss.

And in 2008 he published this paper on trying to get his predictions to match up with William Hill's odds. http://www.dectech.org/docs/academicPapers/GrahamStott_2008_PredictingBookmakerOdds.pdf.

So this club, is now basically making it's decisions based on a douche who is trying to model the odds of a bookmaker. 1. Why the fuck would you do this. 2. Why the fuck wouldn't you just go to willhill.com and use the odds calculated by proper mathematicians (which still don't work). 3. We're fucking doomed.

 

[Rosco]

I don't see anything all that interesting in his blog

According to the link

He holds a PhD in theoretical physics.

 

[Y1]

Biological and theoretical physics?
Is there such thing as biological physics? Pfttt

 

[EmreChan]

Head Analyst – Decision Technology

Ian Graham is the head of football research at Decision Technology, based in London. Since 2005 he has developed a set of statistical models for the prediction of football matches and the rating of players.

At Decision Technology Ian delivers bespoke data analysis to European clubs, providing a framework for player recruitment and squad optimization decisions. He also works with the Premier League, consulting on a number of projects.

He developed the Castrol Index, a novel player rating system used in both Euro 2008 and World Cup 2010. The Castrol Rankings project generates monthly player ratings for more than 2,000 players across Europe’s best five leagues. Since 2005, he has produced statistical research and Premier League predictions for the “Fink Tank” column in the Times.

He holds a PhD in theoretical physics from the University of Cambridge and a MPhys from Cardiff University.

http://www.sloansportsconference.com/?p=392

 

[RolandG]

Football is a simple game - don't they get it!

 

[gkmacca]

Let's get the ball out. As Jimmy Hill said. Or was it Hitler?

 

[Woland]

I've had a play with his software and it turns out we've got far too many strikers.

 

[dantes]

Ah, PhD in theoretical physics from Cambridge is more respectable. So why is he writing stupid papers and software? I think it's one of those where his doctoral supervisor was piss takingly good, so all Dr Ian Graham had to do was mindlessly follow his or her instructions. But now that he is working on his own, the stupidity of his own ideas is starting to come out.