New manager Nikki Bull had hoped his playing days were long behind him, but come the first day of the season the new manager of Leatherhad FC found himself dusting off his old gloves.
“I'll be playing this season... Not an ideal situation, obviously,” admitted the former goalkeeper upon arriving in Surrey to try and pull this small but passionate club in the grass roots of English football back up to its feet.
“I arrived 12 weeks ago and I had one signed player.”
Thankfully, Bull and his team had one very special new arrival to help them along the way.
One of the signings of the summer had arrived not in form of a battling midfield grafter or tricky winger, but in cutting edge technology: enter IBM Watson.
“Watson is what we call Artificial Intelligence, so unlike traditional computing where you programme it, with Watson you teach it,” said Joe Pavitt, Master Inventor & Emerging Technology Specialist at IBM Research.
“It will learn and identify patterns over time… so, we can identify any particular weaknesses Leatherhead has and try to encourage their strengths.”
Watson was trained to identify footballing terminology, allowing the coaching staff to ask it questions and seek answers to the on-field performances that stood between them and the most unlikely of revivals.
“At first, Nikki was very sceptical,” revealed Pavitt, but Bull proved his reputation as a resourceful and forward-thinking manager by embracing the tool.
It proved a two-way street, with the manager and his assistant, Martin McCarthy, using Watson's unique insight to their advantage, all the while helping Watson evolve as the system learned from them.
Watch the video above to see more, and click the link below to get the full story of how Artificial Intelligence helped change the fortunes of a traditional English football club.
To find out now more, visit www.ibm.com/football