Objectives: Furthering an understanding of what scouts look for in Talent Identification is sought. Think Aloud (TA) allows access to cognitions and overcome retrospection issues, thus giving a better insight into the scout’s decision making process. The use of TA as a reflective tool was also assessed from the scout’s perspective.
Method: Six scouts with varying roles participated, representing two Premier League Clubs and One independent organisation. Scouts watched a TA training video before doing the TA task. This was followed up with individualised questions. TA and follow-up interview were both transcribed, then a content analysis was completed to create themes that were discussed.
Results: Part One: Themes created fell under the overall theme ‘How the Player Would Fit Within the Club’. Higher order themes within this are: Playing Style; Physical Capabilities; Psychology and Personality and Holistic Understanding of Club and Development.
Part Two: The overall theme of part two is ‘Questions Over How to Move the Field Forward’. This was made up of two higher order themes which were Old School vs New School and TA Strength and Weaknesses.
Conclusion: Scouts identify talent based loosely around the FA’s Four Corner Model, but this is dependent on whether a player ‘fits’ within their club. TA has potential to be useful to some scouts, in both reflection and identification capacities.