Bristol City FC – Training Screen

We started using the outdoor screen in 2019, but had actually wanted to do it much earlier. Lee, our manager, had spent time in Germany in 2018 and witnessed how some clubs there were using screens on the training pitch to bring analysis to life.

This really cemented our desire to acquire our own screen to use as a coaching tool and we pushed the decision-makers at the club even harder to get one

Eventually,we were given the green light to buy an all-weather 12-foot square screen designed bespoke for us by LEDsynergy In Andover. I had come across them after speaking to more than 20 different screen companies around the world.LEDsynergy were the best fit for us because they’d worked with hundreds of sports teams on stadium screens. All their screens are made in the UK at their factory and they offer round-the-clock support.

The screen was on a roadworthy trailer, allowing it to be used both at the stadium and training ground and came with mains power and a generator, meaning it could be used all over the training ground, not just close to mains sockets.

We were the first club in the country to have a screen this size for use on our training pitches and once Sky Sports got hold of the news my phone didn’t stop ringing! More than 10 Premier League clubs got in contact to ask about the screen and how they could get one too.

The screen was on a roadworthy trailer, allowing it to be used both at the stadium and training ground and came with mains power and a generator, meaning it could be used all over the training ground, not just close to mains sockets.

We were the first club in the country to have a screen this size for use on our training pitches and once Sky Sports got hold of the news my phone didn’t stop ringing! More than 10 Premier League clubs got in contact to ask about the screen and how they could get one too.

It gave us a different way of presenting team meetings and reduced the time the players had to be sat down in meeting rooms for video analysis.

It also gave us the chance to instantly review and feed back video, without losing the flow of a session. On the screen we showed video that had been filmed by the drone (more of that below) which we used at every training session.

The screen allowed us to review details live, so the players understood tactically what we needed from them going into a match. If something wasn’t going in the right direction, we could rectify it there and then.

In summary, the screen allowed us to:

• Give live feedback direct from drone footage.
• Show opposition analysis live during tactical/ shape sessions.
• Present post-match video reviews during training and re-run parts of the matches that needed to be improved as a way of catering for different learning styles.
• Use best-practice video during sessions.
• Show session plans/ live diagrams to aid flow and understanding of the sessions.
• Reduce the time in meeting rooms. This was especially important under the Covid-19 guidelines imposed after March 2020.