Chris Robinson, Southampton’s head of academy recruitment, has agreed to let me tag along while he scouts an 18-year-old left-back at a non-league game.
He’s come to watch Millbrook v Hamworthy Recreation to see Bobby Gorman.
Robinson says he likes to get to games early to watch the players warm up (Photo: Getty)
Former Cheltenham Town manager Robinson reads The Non-League Paper every Sunday, hunting for reports of young players, and saw Millbrook were playing at home. He watches around eight games a week and added this to his diary.
Robinson likes to get to games early to see the players warm up. You can learn a lot about a footballer by the way they prepare, he says. How seriously they take it, interactions with team-mates, their technique, passing, shooting.
Today, he’s wearing a long, thick coat. The sun sinks, the floodlights turn on, the temperature plummets.
Robinson finds the Millbrook colours on their Wikipedia page. He has been told Gorman has “fair hair” and is slim. He is wearing the No 3 shirt and has yellow boots. The referee blows the whistle and the Millbrook left-back is dark haired. And not 18.
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The pair have started more games than any other Millbrook player this season. We check. He, too, is on the bench.
Simply playing at this level as a teenager is an immediate flag for scouts.
“All the best scouts can tell the best and worst player on the pitch in five minutes,” he says. “It’s all the buggers in between that are the problem!”
Where possible, he prefers to sit in a stand – ideally raised – because it’s easier to write. At times, when he isn’t sure who a player is, he will stand behind the dugouts to listen to the coaches shout players’ names.
“You’re looking for translatable things. Pace. Finishing. If someone is really quick, it will translate.”
Robinson spent much of his career at Chelsea before moving to Southampton in 2024 (Photo: Getty)
Eighty per cent of goals are scored from the “golden area”, Robinson says. The rectangle from the six-yard box to in line with the penalty area.
Robinson is impressed with the player’s instinct to drop back and mark the opposition defensive midfielder when Millbrook don’t have the ball.
“The centre-backs aren’t too quick, but he didn’t believe he had the pace. Jamie Vardy would’ve hit the ball through and backed himself to beat the defender.”
At half-time the crowd of 50-odd head to the bar for hot drinks to warm cold hands while we watch Gorman warm up with shooting drills. He strikes the ball noticeably well.
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Robinson’s notepad is out again. “I try to balance between taking notes and watching the game. You don’t get replays at this level.”
The player has decent moments. “He needs to be a little tighter on his touch. He has good energy, though. He’s 18 playing at step four – that’s a big thumbs-up. But he’s not showing anything yet that says he could jump up to our under-21s.”
“The best scouting is coming to watch a player and focusing on them all game,” Robinson says. “The ball’s over there but I’m still watching him. It’s fascinating to get a picture of the player.”
And he is jotting notes before Gorman has even touched the ball. “He’s scanning, he’s got good awareness, he’s looking over his shoulder, going with the opponent,” Robinson says, not taking his eyes off the player.
Jude Bellingham is just one of the stars Robinson recommended to the Blues (Photo: Getty)
Robinson mostly attends games in “civvies” to keep a low profile. He has an unassuming air. You can see why he’s good at blending into the background.
Robinson was one of them. His recommendation led Chelsea, where Robinson spent much of his career, to bid £20m before Bellingham chose Borussia Dortmund.
“His future is being decided and he doesn’t know,” Robinson says. “You never know what you’re going to see. I find this exciting.”
During a break in play, Robinson asks, “Do you think he’s 5ft 9in?” Again, this is a different world to the Premier League. Gorman won’t have a Wikipedia page revealing his height unless he plays for a Football League club.
It may sound reductive to think that simply being able to run fast will get you to the Premier League. But sometimes you don’t realise how quick the players at the top level are. Even ones who appear slow would clock an enviable 100m time.
Chasing the game, Gorman switches sides. He makes a run down the right when his team-mate has the ball. “It’s great he wants to get in behind, but he would’ve been better dropping off to keep possession. The midfielder can’t see the pass.”
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We get to see him flat out a couple of times, driving down the wing, chasing back. Robinson scribbles away. I ask what he’s writing.
Gorman makes a tackle with his left foot “when he should tackle with his right”.
The final whistle blows, and we walk to the car park.
Robinson stresses that he’s only being harsh because that’s what’s required to make the unlikely leap. And he is intrigued enough for another look.
That will be the crucial moment. If Robinson doesn’t fancy him, that will be it. If he is on the fence, he will get Neil Sillet, the national recruitment coordinator, to watch him.
In other circumstances, Southampton might have to decide whether to make a bid or leave it. Or if a rival club has made an offer, they are forced to move faster.
Then Robinson disappears into the night, back to his car for the long drive home, a teenager’s fate in his hands, head already turning to the next game.
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