Jonny Clancy

As Head of Performance & Data Analysis at Coventry City Football Club, recently promoted to the Premier League, Jonny works behind the scenes to further the Club’s ambitions, aiming to translate analysis into strategy, and ultimately victory.

“As a fan it’s an absolute dream come true,” he said. “I’ve supported this club for 30 years and I have only really known us in the Championship or League One, so for us to be back in the Premier League is such a huge thing for the Club and for the City. It’s going to be fantastic personally working in the Premier League, even though we know it is going to be a huge step up.”

After completing a Master’s in Applied Sports Analysis at the University of Worcester in 2021, Jonny worked in analyst roles at West Bromwich Albion Football Club, then Coventry before stepping up to his current role two years ago.

“I can’t really articulate how much I really enjoy my job,” he said. “Being a lifelong fan of the club is a huge element of that and is what really pushes me to constantly keep working all day and night to find any sort of one per cent that can lead to some sort of success.”

Jonny works with senior coaching staff to help the team prepare for games.

“The department as a whole work tirelessly scouring through thousands of data points and countless hours of games to really gain an understanding of how our opponent plays,” he said.

“This is then compiled into reports and video packages that I will share with the coaching team and then we work to really condense all this critical information into clear, concise meetings for the players."

He added: “I think the biggest skills I have had to develop in the environment is adaptability to meet the needs of all the coaches and be able to react to anything that may be thrown up. Also you have to have a level of confidence and assertiveness in conversations with the coaches to put a point across from bits we as an analysis team have seen.”

Having completed an undergraduate sports degree elsewhere and internship at Coventry City, Jonny wanted a further qualification after taking up an analyst role at the Club. The Worcester course allowed him to work full-time while completing his degree part-time.

“I found my time on the course really valuable and it has massively helped me in my career now,” added Jonny. “As the lecturers both came from analysis backgrounds, they understood the demands of the role and linked the theory to the applied practices really well.”

“It put me in a better position in terms of really starting to understand the theoretical side of being a performance analyst and the importance of building relationships throughout your club and network,” he added. “The course enhanced my self-awareness skills in these areas, as well as really providing me with the tools to critique different processes around me, including my own on a day-to-day basis.”

He added that it had been beneficial hearing about other people’s experiences in sports analysis from lecturers, fellow students and external speakers.