At every youth game worldwide, there are young people who dream of becoming professional footballers.
The privilege of waking up every day to do what they love most will remain just a fantasy for the vast majority.
Only a minute number of players achieve what so many crave.
Only 0.012% of boys playing organised football in England will play a minute in the Premier League.
Just 1% of players in the English academy system will go on to become professionals at any level.
Yet, there will always be those who never give up on their dreams.
Former England International Jamie Vardy worked in a factory before he became a professional.
Brentford centre-back and Jamaica international Ethan Pinnock studied at university while playing in the 11th tier of English football.
Andy Roberston worked in Marks and Spencers before Scotland’s captain turned pro.
All three of these players benefitted from playing semi-professionally before transitioning into full-time football.
Many players rise to the heights of professional football later in their careers.
Which players in the UK and Ireland could potentially make the step up to play professionally?
This data analysis hopes to find the best Semi-Pro striker in the British Isles who demonstrates the ability to play at the next level.
Data Analysis
This data analysis combined the data of centre forwards from across six Leagues.
The National League North and South, Scottish League 1, Cymru Premier League, The NIFL Premiership and The League of Ireland First Division.
All these competitions are made up of predominantly Semi-Professional teams.
Teams such as Queen of the South, The New Saints, Larne, Cork City and Truro City have been removed from the search along with a host of other clubs that would be considered full-time professional teams.
All players needed to have played at least 500 minutes to ensure they had a decent size of data to assess.
Players also couldn’t be older than 26, limiting the number of former professionals that have dropped down from years in the pro game and are unlikely to make the step up again.
Players goalscoring ability, link-up play, dribbling, aerial presence and defensive competence were all assessed through data.
Goalscoring
The unequivocal metric to measure the performance of strikers is goals scored.
That’s where our search begins to find five players who we can further assess.
Using Goals per 90 and xG per 90 stats, we can see players who score frequently and constantly have a high number of quality chances.
Five profiles emerged from this initial analysis: John McGovern (Dungannon Swifts, NIFL Premiership), Success Edogun (Finn Harps, League of Ireland First Division), Zack Clarke (Caernarfon Town, Cymru Premier), David Kawa (Aveley F.C., National League South), and Ken Charles (St. Albans City FC, National League South).
Goals Per 90 vs xG Per 90
All five have been in fine goalscoring form this season.
Kawa is the evident outlier with 0.85 goals per 90 smashing his xG per 90 stat of 0.42.
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