Introducing Between the Posts Membership
Welcome to the next phase of Between the Posts!
Today we’re introducing our brand new membership feature. We feel that this step deserves a good explanation, so let us take you through a behind-the-scenes story on Between the Posts. Who are we? Why do we write? And why do we launch the membership section? Let’s start at the beginning.
It’s mid August in the Netherlands and it is hot. Three men are seated at a picnic table in a lush back garden, having just met each other in person a few hours before. The table is covered with notes, quick scribbles to capture the rapidly expanding ideas that result from three football minds discussing their passion: football writing.
We vividly remember the excitement that filled us, when it became clear that we were really going to do it. After corresponding about this loose idea over the summer through WhatsApp we were now at a stage where a long standing plan would become reality. A website aimed at tactical analysis of football matches, integrated with match plots and advanced statistics. How could this not already exist?
Our team
As three passionate football watchers, involved with writing, coaching and analytics, we struggled to come up with a good answer, so we decided to do it ourselves.
Sam (27), freelance football writer for some years, Due to personal reasons, Sam had to leave the project recently. Erik (24) football coach, scout and communication student, and Sander (39), football data analyst and founder of 11tegen11.
Fast forward four months. Seventeen writers have contributed to the website, our indispensable Greek IT-wizard Nikos is still running the show behind the scenes, and creative Carola provides the attractive web designs. We are extremely proud to have brought you 162 match reports – and counting – with detailed tactical analysis, covering the top leagues in Europe, as well as the Champions League, Europa League and Nations League at a pace of more than one article per day. The first match we covered was PSG against Saint-Étienne on September 14th. That match was played exactly 17 weeks ago, which means we have analyzed between nine and ten games per week on average.
We focus on tactics, and integrate the use of stats like shot numbers and expected goals. Our articles provide a detailed insight into the thinking behind the tactics and how these played out during the game, highlighting tactical adjustments by either manager. Furthermore, in our articles we aim to include a slightly wider perspective of football teams and managers over the course of the season, or even their careers.
The next step
We are really excited about the start we’ve had at Between the Posts, and we would love to keep going.
Whatsmore, we’ve got a ton of plans that we would like to develop on the site. Articles focusing on teams in a wider scope, articles that look at a manager’s style over a longer period of time, articles that use our database of advanced stats to explain trends over a season, or even look forward to make predictions.
In addition, we’ve got several expansions on the data side lined up. We will expand the current stats page, to include more advanced statistics to explore for yourself. And depending on some minor technical challenges, we will soon be able to present a full coverage of match plots for all matches from the leagues that we cover.
Finally, we’re working on predictions too. The aim is to provide single match predictions, as well as the implications that the outcome of each match can have on the title race, top four challenges and relegation races.
Members
All of these plans and ideas need stability, and as such, we depend on you. After all, the number of Members will determine how quick we will be able to expand with all our new ideas.
As a Member, you will get access to the tactical match reports that you are familiar with right now, either for a selected league, or for all leagues that we cover. In addition, you get access to our continuously updated stats page. Finally, we will open up a comments section below each article to encourage tactical debates, aiming to develop an integrated community where our writers and Members exchange ideas about football tactics and data.
The essence of a subscription model is that we, as a team, will be rewarded for bringing quality content – rather than chasing clicks and hits – and that we can expand the website. After all, our passion is to create quality content at the intersection of football tactics and data, not to chase volatile stories and trivia in order to pick up as many hits as we can. If we succeed at that, and present the content people would be willing to pay for, Between the Posts will be able to grow, and the Members will be there to profit.
So, here is our call to you, to become a Member, and join our community of passionate football tactics fans at Between the Posts!
On behalf of the entire team,
Erik Elias
Sander IJtsma
Founders of Between the Posts
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