Angus McNab 2021 Interview

Jack and I had the opportunity to interview Angus McNab, the general manager, and team-builder at York United.

Angus was our second interview on CPLFever, and it was a really interesting interview because I became fascinated by his background in soccer analytics, and how he saw the game. I know that Jack was also extremely fascinated by Angus the first time we talked.

This time around of course, we get into some soccer analytics on the show and ask Angus what he looks for when signing new talent for the CPL.

You can check out the old interview here (before the re-brand when the club was York 9 FC:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-zVDU08jJA

So we were extremely excited when we managed to get another interview with Angus about the York United squad going into the 2021 season.

Angus did not disappoint. We go deep into:

• Their new signings and loans
• The concept of tactical flexibility
• Evidence-driven recruiting
• What happened to York United during The Island Games from a statistical standpoint
• Some notable off-season moves which see York United becoming a significantly younger squad with an average age of 22.7 years.

During the hour-long interview, we also get to talk about Luca Gasparotto, the CPL iron-man who has played in every minute of the CPL up to his retirement. (Take that, Cal Ripken!)

We of course can't forget about the U-Sports picks that saw York United draft and their new international signings William Wallace and Mateo Hernandez, 2 players Jack was especially interested in talking and learning more about.

Jack also gets to ask Angus our custom Rapid Fire questions, where we get to know him a little better, and which was a segment we added after our first interview with Angus.

All in all, a fun interview and one that has a lot of depth to it also.

So this is an interview that you do not want to miss! In this interview make sure to pay attention to Angus's tactical awareness, (it is amazing!)

Angus McNab Interview Timestamp

The timestamp below is clickable in YouTube.

0:00:00 Welcome Angus McNab
0:01:14 Roster discussion.
0:03:21 Loans
0:08:20 Evidence driven recruiting
0:09:54 Making stats available to players, coaches and fans.
0:13:19 MLS tracking data discussion.
0:15:33 Is there one stat that you look at that is more important than other ones? Miracle number/player archetype
0:19:14 Tactical flexibility in squad discussion.
0:20:15 From a statistical perspective, what happened at the Island Games?
0:25:02 Concacaf discussion.
0:28 29 Draft picks discussion.
0:32:00 William Wallace.
0:38:29 Positional versatility.
0:43:03 Backline, Lucas Gasparotto Dominick Zator discussion
0:47:30 How difficult was it to put together the roster with the salary cap and Covid 19?
0:53:49 Mateo Hernandez
0:58:23 Difficult player to sign but ended up singing
0:59:56 Angus’ Rapid Fire Questions