With Crystal Palace F.C. just one point and one place above the relegation zone in the English Premier League, manager Sam Allardyce is now using technology to keep the minds of his players fully focused on their upcoming games in their desperate drive for survival.
The London-based club is using Pushfor, a cloud-based sharing service that enables coaches to send and share a variety of content with players, for any device. Players receive mainly video content through the app, both pre- and post-game, with the overall aim to help improve their performance and prepare them for future opponents by highlighting their specific patterns and behaviors. The club also has its own branded version of the app.
Palace also has control over the privacy permissions for the content pushed to players. Coaches can send self-expiring content, recall videos which have already been shared and set limitations on how many times certain content can be accessed. They have access to analytics which lets them know when, where and who is viewing this content, helping them keep track of how, or if, players are reviewing and digesting this information.
The club first started working with Palace in 2015 and previously gave players information during team meetings and had also been giving players DVDs to take home.
“Pushfor has become a fail-safe tool for us and a vital part of our working week. Players are using Pushfor in their own unique way, to suit their individual needs, some are known to watch videos in the comfort of their home, while others use it right before a match,” said Liam Sweeting, Senior Performance Analyst at Crystal Palace.
Meanwhile John Safa, co-founder of Pushfor said: “Football is becoming smarter and data performance analysis has paved the way for a statistics-driven approach to most areas of sports. The way players receive information must match this revolution. Pushfor helps Crystal Palace provide the right content to the right players at the right time, allowing them to focus on their improvements in private.”
Relegation would have a huge effect on Crystal Palace, as it stands to lose a significant chunk of the estimated £116 million it currently earns from being a Premier League club. Meanwhile its wage bill, previously reported to be £68 million and 15th highest in the league, would need to be trimmed significantly if it ended up in the Championship next year, meaning many of its top stars such as French international Yohan Cabaye, would need to be sold off.
Manager Sam Allardyce, who is well known for his belief in sport science and technology’s effectiveness in improving players, will likely be hoping Pushfor helps Palace avoid the drop from the Premier League in the coming weeks.