I n 2024, when the Football Association was tasked with finding Gareth Southgate’s successor, Mark Bullingham hired two external data companies who built a profile of what successful international managers looked like then tailored it to mesh with England’s player base. The top 50 coaches in the world were matched against the criteria and a shortlist emerged. “I joked with the team afterwards, because it came up with a list you and I could have come up with in the pub in 10 minutes,” Bullingham, the FA’s chief executive, says. “But actually it was incredibly valuable to see the relative strengths and weaknesses and there are some amazing things you can do with data, like looking at which coaches are good at developing players, which are good in knockout tournaments and so on. “Playing style was important; tactical flexibility was important. Being a proven winner was important – and a proven winner relative to the resources they had. It’s a bit like xG for managers.…