A name from the past.

[dave.woodhall]

Birmingham Science Park-based Scout7 has acquired Open Source Factory – the developer of Xeatre.tv – for circa €1 million.
 

With 90 per cent of English Premier League clubs, and over 50 per cent of clubs in the top Leagues of France, Germany, Netherlands and Spain already on Scout7’s client list, the acquisition has created professional football’s leading global supplier for scouting and recruitment intelligence.

Established in 2001, Scout7 employs 30 people, with two thirds based at its Birmingham Science Park office. The annual turnover of the company post-acquisition will approach £3 million.

Scout7 provides web-based recruitment, squad and scouting management solutions for its 175 professional football industry clients. For the past three years, the company was the exclusive sales agent for Xeatre.tv, which films and stores the video footage from every match played across 60 professional football leagues worldwide. Scout7’s acquisition of Open Source Factory provides the advantage of product ownership and intellectual property rights.

Mark Ansell, Chairman of Scout7 said: “Over the past three years, Xeatre.tv has evolved into the preferred video-based scouting solution for elite professional football clubs. In an increasingly competitive marketplace, this strategic acquisition enables us to further develop a joint product offering to maintain our position as the leading supplier of scouting and recruitment intelligence to the professional football industry. We can now embark on a highly exciting new era of further growth and expansion.”

Lee Jamison, Founder and Managing Director of Scout7 said: “The extended range of data we can now provide our client base with, on demand, at the touch of a button, is exactly what is required by elite football clubs striving to find the cutting edge to enhance performance.
“In the 11 years we have served the football industry, we have seen significant changes in the way clubs structure their recruitment. Investment in online market intelligence is second nature. Today, over 2,500 professional football staff across the globe subscribe to Scout7 and Xeatre.tv products. This acquisition ensures that all subscriber content can be made available from one single source, covering video analysis, scouting reports, analytical research and general market intelligence.”

www.thebirminghampress.com/2012/07/16/scout7-acquires-ownership-of-xeatre-tv-to-create-professional-footballs-global-leader-for-scouting-and-recruitment/

[cdbearsfan]

Was he the "amortisation" bloke?

[bertlambshank]

Why pay for something you can get on YouTube?

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

I remember writing to Mark Ansell during the "Ellis Out" campaigns. In fairness he was good enough to reply. A long rambling boring letter as I recall, the crux of which was that the board of directors were all as one to take the club forward. The following month he left "by mutual consent".

[eamonn]

Have Sky Sports got rid of "player cam"? Haven't seen it in a long time. Was all the close-up scouting you needed, gobbing off, spitting etc. an'all.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Was he the "amortisation" bloke?

Otherwise known as Stuart.

[Dave Clark Five]

He had a seat just below us after he left us and Joanne Malin seemed to sit with him occasionally.

[Steve R]

Nice to see him apparently doing well. A bit of a surprise too.

My only experience of him was from a shareholders meeting a while back. He came across as very small  time and lightweight.

[TopDeck113]

Being rather naive on these things, but if virtually every top flight club subscribes to this service, surely it negates having it in the first place?  Or is it just a case of having it so as to ensure that no one else steals a march on you?

[Villan For Life]

I used to work with Lee Jamison the founder and MD of Scout7. He's a top bloke and a Villa fan too. Good to see him doing so well.

[Hookeysmith]

He had a seat just below us after he left us and Joanne Malin seemed to sit with him occasionally.

Ahem - the least said about that the better me thinks!

So what does this company actually do??

[Risso]

The main thing I remember him for is the comment about never again signing a £9m player.  I think that comment was effectively the final nail in the coffin of the Ellis era.

[AndyB6]

He had a seat just below us after he left us and Joanne Malin seemed to sit with him occasionally.

Ahem - the least said about that the better me thinks!

So what does this company actually do??

A friend who worked for Marketing Birmingham told me a few years back that Ansell and Malin were (allegedly  ) an item for while...