Hello! Welcome! I am Bob Hayes, coming to you from the byline and that large photo above. Most readers know me as something along these lines: Chicago guy who left his analytics-based strategy consulting job to figure out my optimal career path during my MBA at MIT Sloan, where I tried a bunch of things and ultimately realized I am thinking too hard about this and should work in sports, so I spent my time consulting for organizations like Manchester United and the Boston Celtics, leading the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference’s soccer content for the past two years, taking all the sports classes, attending all the sports conferences, and conducting my own soccer analytics research.
I won’t be coy about where that leaves me now: I am actively seeking a job in the sports space, ideally a strategy/analytics job in soccer in London, probably as a consultant. Part of the purpose of this newsletter is a demonstration of my interests and skills in the space. If you enjoy my insights and want to connect on a professional level (or simply want to connect on a professional level), please don’t hesitate to reach out.
The larger purpose of this newsletter is providing an outlet for my persistent soccer thoughts and areas I seek an excuse to investigate and discuss, particularly as Twitter’s ability to fulfill that purpose vanishes by the day. Of course, a necessary assumption is that others (you!) will find these words worthwhile to read. I wholly recognize there is tons of great content (on soccer and otherwise) out there, and your inbox is a valuable space not to take for granted. I will always keep that in mind and strive to fulfill my end of the content value bargain. Additionally, my full intention and expectation are for From the Byline to always be free of charge.
From the Byline is an analytics/data/evidence-based newsletter about soccer, with the Premier League the primary focus area. I will cover matches and transfers but generally seek to provide more punchy insights around trends and larger stories that you will be less likely to find elsewhere. I also plan to discuss higher-level analytics stories, such as my launch post about public projection models in the post-FiveThirtyEight era, and business/financial/economic matters relevant to the sport. As an ardent Arsenal supporter, I will realistically talk Arsenal more than other clubs, though I hope my launch post about Arsenal’s outlook and performance variance demonstrates the levelheaded perspective from which I plan to write here. Overall, I will keep an eye on what sorts of posts appeal to the readership (please speak up!) and reasonably focus more in the desired directions.
Although I am reluctant to put an explicit frequency expectation in writing, you can expect a new post around once per week. Generally, I write when I think I have something worth saying and worth your reading and keep it as short or long as I think is mutually worthwhile. On previous sites, I felt the need to make everything have a premium, feature-y feel. While I will certainly include posts of that type, a key goal here is for me to be willing to craft quicker, more casual posts while maintaining the level of quality and value-add that would make it worth your while. I do not expect to do a podcast or even get fancy with site formatting, but we will see how this evolves.
If what I have cooking at From the Byline sounds appealing to you, check out the posts on the home page and subscribe below!
