Hey,
"I wouldn't know where to start."
It's the line I hear more than any other on calls, and I heard it again at the start of September.
He'd spent years in a career outside football, running construction sites, and he had a head full of players he was desperate to write about. He just didn't know how to start writing a scout report.
So I told him what I tell most people. Start now. Don't worry about the system or the template, borrow one. And go and read a couple of reports from people a few steps ahead of you.
Just over three weeks later his first report landed in my community.
He said he'd "focused on just getting all the information I wanted down for now before focusing on templates and design."
And honestly, I think that's the right way round, get the content down first and worry about how it looks later.
It wasn't perfect, and it didn't need to be. I sent him a video going through what was good, what was missing and what I'd change, and his reply was: "I understand the areas that need work and what needs to be added, so I'll edit this report and send it back."
He did, and that second version is where a report really starts to get good.
Then he got stuck on the conclusion.
I don't think that's a coincidence.
The verdict is the part of a report that exposes you, because you have to say whether you'd sign the player and you might be wrong. So it's the part people put off, and it's also the part clubs care about most, because a report without a verdict doesn't help anyone make a decision.
On Friday he posted it publicly and tagged five people for feedback.
That's about six weeks from "I wouldn't know where to start" to a finished report that people in the game can see.
And he knew the players the whole time. The knowledge was never the problem. What was missing was a first step small enough to take that week.
Now he's on to report two, and I think it'll come a lot quicker than the first.
If you've been sitting on the same idea for months, my advice would be this.
Pick one player you already watch. Write one page. End it with a verdict, whether you'd sign him or not and why. Then send it to one person and ask what they'd change.
It doesn't need to be good. It just needs to exist, because you can't improve a report you haven't written.
Liam
Without feedback you're not improving
He wrote it inside the Recruitment Room, where you can send every report you write for feedback from me, the mentors and the members.
→ Join the Recruitment Room
Two spots left in this intake and the doors close on 31 October.