New Brentford boss Marinus Dijkhuizen insists he is happy to play the numbers game at Griffin Park.
The Bees on Thursday unveiled their new vision for the future, a philosophy based around mathematical modelling to get the best out of current players and help recruit new ones.
Dijkhuizen, 43, has been named head coach but pulling the strings will be directors of football Rasmus Ankersen and Phil Giles, whose input stretches as far as texting the coach statistical information before, after and even during a match.
It is a bold approach and one which previous manager Mark Warburton did not feel would work, leading to his departure at the end of a season in which he guided the Bees into the Championship play-offs.
But as Ankersen explained: "Brentford won't win by spending more than our competition so we need to out-think the competition.
"There are lots of sayings in football; 'don't change a winning team', 'if it ain't broke don't fix it', but we think it's important to improve things and that includes changing things that are working.
"Stats have been involved in football for a long time. It's not breaking news. It's what you do with the stats which can make a difference.
"I can text the coach to give him a different perspective. Intuition and gut feeling have a role to play as well, but it has to be the right balance."
The sharp change of direction is the brainchild of Bees owner Matthew Benham, who has enjoyed success using a similar philosophy at Danish side FC Midtjylland, where he is majority shareholder.
Dijkhuizen was previously coach at unfashionable Dutch club Excelsior and guided them to promotion before keeping them in the top division last season.
And he insisted: " The owners have a clear vision, a new one, with original thinking. They want to get better as a club.
"We've talked a lot about it; it's an interesting story, especially for me, because part of modern football is to use all sorts of stuff to get better. I'm fully behind the policy.
"In the beginning of the process I watch the team, I have my opinion of what we need, and then we discuss with the sporting directors - the training and also the recruitment. We decide as a team. It will be okay I think.
"I don't think the previous manager is a hard act to follow. There is a good base for me to build on, they already play good football and came fifth in the league. I hope we can build on that."
Source: PA
