When Nothing Carries Over

There’s something quietly devastating about watching a club start from scratch, when it didn’t need to.

Not because of crisis. Just because someone left.

The shortlist? In a folder no one can open.

The notes? Scattered between WhatsApp and memory.

The injury history? With the physio who no longer works there.

The reasoning behind a deal? Gone with the person who made it.

It happens more than people realise. Not out of negligence - but because most clubs aren’t set up to retain knowledge. Context disappears quickly. And without it, decisions get harder. Risk increases. Time is wasted. And momentum fades.

He put it plainly: “The biggest problem football clubs have is they follow the direction of one person. That person leaves - and it’s got to start all over again.”

It’s not a software problem. It’s an operational one. Football clubs have adapted to global scouting networks, player trading markets, multi-club ownership - but the tools they use internally often belong to a different era.

Clips live in one place. Stats in another. Medical reports, contract details, coach notes - all separate. And even if each department is doing its job, no one’s seeing the full picture.

A player performs well on the pitch - but arrives late, week after week. It’s known by some, missed by others. Nobody quite sure what’s in the file. Or if there even is one.

Clubs don’t lack insight. They lack visibility.

And without visibility, it’s impossible to create alignment. The analyst sees promise. The coach isn’t convinced. The sporting director is under pressure. And the ownership wants answers. But they’re all looking at fragments - and making decisions based on the bits they can reach.

You see the same gaps further down the chain too - in the academy, in player pathways, in the quiet conversations about whether someone’s “ready.” Data might say one thing. Someone else’s gut says another. And the context behind that judgement often lives in a Zoom call that won’t be remembered in six months’ time.

Then there’s the handover problem. Because even when things are working, too much of it relies on people remembering. Or caring enough to ask. Or trusting the right person. There are no audit trails on WhatsApp. No permanent record for why a club bet big on one player and passed on another. Which makes succession planning fragile. And decision-making harder to defend.

This isn’t about control. It’s about clarity. Because not everyone should see everything. A physio doesn’t need visibility into salary clauses. A coach shouldn’t necessarily be across the recruitment pipeline. But the right people should have the right information at the right time - and clubs should be able to decide who sees what.

What’s missing isn’t talent. It’s structure.

And structure is what keeps a club moving when everything else changes.

That’s what Pelly is trying to solve. Not with dashboards or drop-downs - but with clarity. One system. Built around how clubs actually operate. Designed so that when people move on, the club doesn’t lose its memory. And when people are in post, they don’t waste hours chasing what should be right in front of them.

Clean handovers. Clear roles. Shared understanding.

Not louder. Just better.