Data usage, AI's role and player welfare - 'Football in 10 Years' discussion

Back in 2016, who could have predicted the impact of the video assistant referee, the awarding of a corner for delaying a goal kick or Saudi Arabia becoming a Fifa World Cup host nation?

Every era of football has its innovations, its game-changing technology and characters who define moments of history, and the next decade will undoubtedly see AI play a much deeper role in how the game is analysed and presented to a global audience.

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For the 'Football in 10 Years' series, Stevenage manager Alex Revell and Norwich City first-team coach Ryan Garry share their views on how they see the game developing by 2036.

Revell has guided Stevenage into the play-off places in League One, working with one of the lowest player budgets in the division. This after a career that saw him score over 150 goals for clubs that included Brighton, Rotherham and Cardiff City.

Garry joined the Canaries before the 2025-26 season after spending 18 months coaching at Belgian club Lommel SK. He led England at the Fifa Under-17 World Cup in Indonesia in 2023, and previously coached at Arsenal, the club where he made his Premier League debut, in 2003.

Q - The burning question to start things off is, how do you see football developing over the next 10 years?

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Alex: Football has core values, which you learn as a kid. I think technology needs to be kept to its simplest form, to improve the game, but it mustn't take away the enjoyment. The community aspect is so important to a club like Stevenage, and if football is slowed down further, the 'ball in play' time continues to fall, or goalkeepers keep going down tactically, then ultimately fans won't be as entertained. I worry that if the game becomes too analytical and regimented, it may lose its appeal, and we need to keep the emotion in the game.

We know some people love coming to EFL games because VAR isn't used. I was part of a group discussing options where managers could 'challenge' referees over certain decisions, to have a 'time out' to look at situations like penalty decisions. But that would also delay the game. I think three challenges would be too many, but maybe having one would be good to start with. That was an idea I was quite intrigued about.

Ryan: We need to look at how players are being pulled in every direction, with an increasing number of club and international competitions. The Club World Cup was a huge success in my opinion, but look at the amount of football teams like Paris St-Germain are being asked to play. I don't know how sustainable that is, when we're talking about the long-term health of players.

I believe the top players will continue to increase their own personal support staff, away from their clubs. They need it, with all the demands of the games, the travel, the media commitments. You need 24/7 care to keep you fit and healthy.

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And I think more players will release content through their own media companies and their own social channels, that's the nature of where the game is going from a business model.

'The changing room is the hardest thing to build, but the easiest thing to fall'

Q – What is your view on the increased amount of technology and AI-generated data that will be available to clubs and players over the next decade?

Alex: We use GPS trackers for in-game decision making, injury prevention and to manage load, but we have one analyst at Stevenage, it's a small coaching staff. The data we get, if we compare it to an onion, we can only peel the outer skin off. We can't get into the depth, with our manpower.

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I want the data to back up what I see with my own eyes. When AI becomes more widespread in football, then I'm interested to see how we can get deeper into that onion, to continue the analogy. We use AI for recruitment and that's fantastic, but nothing will ever take away the human judgement of 'what is that player's character, and will they fit in here?'

With our group, the changing room is so important. It's the hardest thing to build, but the easiest thing to fall, if you don't get it right. AI can't measure body language like a human can.

Ryan: At Norwich, we have a fantastic camera system for training, with drones and fixed cameras, and we have a lot of technology in our backpack, but it's about what is best to prioritise.

Working with the multi-disciplinary team, we can look at data but we don't want to cap what a player can do physically. We want to keep them healthy and fit, and then it's a conversation with the team about how much can we overreach, safely.

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When I was at Bournemouth under Eddie Howe, we used to look at my analysis clips on a VHS [video tape], but now we can see touch-by-touch, phase-by-phase breakdowns on tablets, and it allows you to work far quicker with the players.

At Arsenal – one of the first teams to use advanced data analytics – we were clear on what data we wanted to track, but we didn't show the players everything. It was purposeful, and related to where that individual player was on their pathway. It was about 'skilfully neglecting' a lot of data. It was about being honest with people, and saying 'this is what I see, but what do you see?'. The modern-day coach has to build a secure relationship with the club's analytical staff, to give the players the best information available for them to be the best versions of themselves.

As a coach, you have to stay with the curve, and understand how today's players are learning. You can't coach as you were once coached, and you can't assume that players now will think as you did.

'At Arsenal, I was able to connect the dots between the age groups'

Q – What are the developments in tactics you are seeing, and how do you coach young players for them to thrive in the future?

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Alex: The biggest tactical change I've seen lately is the flexibility being used within shapes, it's no longer about 4-4-2 or 3-5-2. It's about full-backs rolling inside and becoming midfielders, and the best young players understand that rotation of roles.

You are not just an 'attacking number eight midfielder' anymore, you have to have all of these tools now to make it, and be tactically intelligent. When I was learning the game it was more about 'this is your position' and if you were a target man, it was about winning the headers and attacking crosses. Now, like Harry Kane, you have to drop in, and link the play from deeper. For me it's about teams controlling space, rather than having fixed formations.

With no Under-21 team at Stevenage, we look to bring in and develop more athletic and robust players for the Under-18 squad, as that's the way football is going. We aim to produce players for the first team, as there's no better story than a local player coming through the ranks and into the first team. We have had some players leave here for amazing money, to continue their journey, like Ryan Doherty, who has recently joined Ipswich Town. He started with our Under-9 team, and by 15 he was physically robust enough to play in the first team. Then there is a decision, what was his next step? Will he play 30-40 first-team games for us in a season, or at 17, is he worth more having played nine games for the first team? He's made a fantastic career move and will develop with the Ipswich Under-21s and hopefully their first team.

Ryan: I like to be a forward-thinking coach. With academy players, the acid test for them is not the next Saturday, but a Saturday in three or four years' time, and for me it's about looking for their learning preferences and making subtle changes.

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At Arsenal, I was developing players to play at the highest level of the Premier League. I worked with every year group from the Under-9s to the first team, in the period between Unai Emery leaving and Mikel Arteta being appointed. That linear range of development helped me connect the dots between the age groups.

With England, the focus was on the pathway for the year groups. I was working with the U17s and U18s but I had to be aware of what was happening in the year group below, and the year group above. It was about giving these players valuable experiences, and I'm hoping some of the players I worked with will be selected for the World Cup this summer.

[Myles Lewis-Skelly played in the 2023 Under-17 World Cup, and now has six full England caps.]

'In Europe, there is a real focus on trading players'

Q – And what are your main hopes for the future of football?

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Alex: Football is about honesty, hard work and how we treat each other. It is all about the now, and the next result, but I do tell my players that if they were to fast forward 15 years, and if they are lucky enough to have long career, they will make some of the best mates ever. Coming through at Cambridge United, when John Beck signed me, we had Dave Kitson, Trevor Benjamin, and I still speak to Justin Walker, who is now first-team coach to Liam Rosenior at Chelsea.

I do think there is a big money gap now between what some players in the Premier League Under-21 set ups are on, and the League One and Two teams. It can be seen as a disappointment at what they can earn if they leave those bigger clubs, which is hard for the players, as it's not their fault. These players have talent, have been coached well, and we need to try and keep them in our domestic game.

Ryan: Working in Belgium, I had people talk to me, amazed how a club like Bradford City could average 18,000 for home games in League Two. That's a great indicator of a strong pyramid, and we need to protect that. We have to keep the younger generation of fans engaged with going to live games, which isn't easy with the price of tickets.

For me, having worked outside the UK, other football cultures are more about winning than creating beneficial experiences for younger players. There is a real focus on trading players, and an urgency in the culture to sell promising talent.

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Sporting directors in the Netherlands and Germany will speak to their coaches about needing to raise this much money in the next transfer window. Their objective is to develop players, as in four windows time, they will be selling a first-team player, and this next youngster needs to be ready to take his place. In Belgium, there is a need to trade, and that's why there are four B teams (Anderlecht, Club Brugge, Gent, Genk) playing in the Challenger Pro League, their second tier. That's to allow these players to play first-team football and make them ready to move to Germany, Italy or England.

Here in the UK, I'd also like to see young players offered more education opportunities, as it gets them out of the 'football bubble', and I wonder if the Premier League could integrate that into the academy system. It's incredibly difficult to become a professional footballer, so having a Plan B is always going to be valuable.

Puckett, Thompson and Peyton on the future of football

As well as speaking to current coaches and managers, 'Football in 10 Years' asked the opinions of three former professional players on how they view the game in the decade ahead. Between them, Garry Thompson, Dave Puckett and Gerry Peyton amassed more than 1,500 career appearances.

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Dave Puckett (former Southampton forward) on the use of substitutes.

"As I hold the Southampton FC club record for number of times selected as substitute during the 'one-sub period' - over 100 times, and I got on the pitch in over half of them - I feel I am an unfortunate authority on this subject.

I feel a big improvement for the future of football would be to revert to a reduced number of nominated substitutes to use. With 10 possible changes during a current league game, it is interrupted so many times, with the flow and tempo being lost. The personnel at the start bears no resemblance to the finish. It would certainly lead to a smaller but more selective playing staff to choose from, and the supporters would see their team's best players at all times and not rotating squad players."

Garry Thompson (former Coventry City and West Bromwich Albion striker) on VAR.

"VAR…it's a fun sponge, isn't it! You should be able to celebrate a goal properly, it's the most beautiful moment in football, and sometimes you have to wait up to four minutes for it to be checked. It shouldn't take more than 60 seconds to make a decision, so I would make changes there and streamline it. It has to be for pure 'clear and obvious' errors only, like the authorities said it would be when it came in.

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Moving forward, there has to be less football on the calendar. I love the game but players are picking up more injuries, playing almost all year round, and we don't need an extended World Cup either. The product isn't broken, but if we don't streamline this beautiful game, people will turn off".

Gerry Peyton (former Fulham and Bournemouth goalkeeper) on the future role of the keeper.

"The goalkeeper must have the technical skills of an outfield player, and become quicker at using their mind and their body to restart the game as quickly as possible.

There is a need to look at the body shape of the player receiving the ball from the goalkeeper, before he makes contact with the ball, so he knows where to place his standing foot when striking it.

The brain is a vital component to becoming world-class, and the human ability to remain calm under pressure, and keep your defenders calm and confident".

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