How an obsession with Football Manager could earn you a career in the game

Matt Neil started compiling reports for the Football Manager game at the age of 15. After progressing from Truro City to Plymouth Argyle, his work was noticed by the League Two club and he was given a job as one of their football analysts

By Matt Stanger for The Set Pieces, part of the Guardian Sport Network

After starting out as a researcher for Football Manager when he was just 15, Matt Neil's eye for talent was picked up by Plymouth Argyle. He now works as the League Two club's lead first team analyst, providing data on player performance, opposition reports and potential transfer targets. Here's Matt's story, as told to Matt Stanger:

I initially applied for the Truro City researcher job eight years ago, which was advertised on the Football Manager website. I went to five or six Truro games a season back then because it was only about three quid on the train and the ticket was about six quid. I already knew quite a bit about some of the players because they'd been at Argyle, so I thought I'd try to help out in that area because nobody had been doing it for a couple of years.