HenshawAnalysis posts portfolio checklist

Liam Henshaw, a data analyst and scout at Unique Sports Group, has published a steady stream of advice in 2026 on how aspiring football analysts should present their work to employers. A May 20 social post highlighted a simple checklist: build player-rating models, produce scouting reports and explain football context, rather than relying on broad claims about interest in data or recruitment. Henshaw’s wider writing makes the same case in more detail. He says clubs and agencies want evidence of how a candidate thinks, not just a list of courses or software tools. ### Why did this post resonate with entry-level candidates? Henshaw’s March 20 portfolio guide says a portfolio matters more than a CV because it shows “how you think, how you communicate, and whether you can actually do the job.” In that article, he says “80 to 120 people apply for every role,” and argues that visible work is often what gets a candidate noticed first. (liamhenshaw.com) The same message appears across Henshaw’s site, where he describes his work as helping professionals break into football through technical skills, portfolio building, mentorship and feedback. His website says he works as a “Data Analyst & Scout at Unique Sports Group” and offers articles, a roadmap and a membership community focused on analysis, scouting, portfolio building and employability. ### What did Henshaw say should actually go in a portfolio? (liamhenshaw.com) Henshaw’s portfolio guide says strong submissions should include scouting reports, data visualisations and work that shows football-specific thinking. He writes that a good scouting report is not just a player profile, but a document with “structure, context, and independent thinking,” ideally built around a clear brief such as finding a left-footed centre-back for a Championship club under a set budget. (liamhenshaw.com) His February article on recruitment says analysts should be able to turn data into “player ratings, shortlists, performance profiles, or visualisations that communicate an insight clearly.” That list maps closely to the items highlighted in the social post: reproducible analytical work, annotated scouting output and football-context analysis that can be shown to a hiring manager. That connection is an inference drawn from Henshaw’s published guides and role descriptions. (liamhenshaw.com) ### Why are scouting reports and player ratings treated as different pieces of work? Henshaw’s February framework separates analysis from scouting. He writes that analysis shows what a player does statistically or tactically, while scouting addresses whether that player can perform in a different league, system or pressure environment. His March 20 scouting-report guide makes that distinction more explicit. (liamhenshaw.com) It says a scouting report is a structured document used to evaluate a player’s abilities, style and suitability for a specific club or role, and that its purpose is to give decision-makers enough information to act. The guide says heads of recruitment, coaches, technical directors and agents all read reports differently, which is why audience and recommendation matter. A separate Medium post from February 2022 shows Henshaw has also worked on player-rating systems. In that article, he says ratings helped direct scouts toward players suitable for a first team, especially in a club with a small scouting department. He describes breaking positions into roles and weighting metrics to identify different player types. (liamhenshaw.com) ### What does this mean for someone applying now? Henshaw’s published advice points candidates toward a practical portfolio rather than a decorative one. A candidate who can show a player-rating model, a clearly structured report and a short football-specific write-up is presenting the same kinds of outputs that clubs, agencies and recruitment departments already use internally, according to his guides. That is an inference based on the examples Henshaw gives of what analysts and scouts produce. (henshawanalysis.medium.com) His next-step material is already public. Henshaw’s website lists March 20 guides on building a football analyst portfolio and writing a football scouting report, alongside April 2026 articles on analyst interviews, recruitment roles and football analytics. (liamhenshaw.com 1) (liamhenshaw.com 2)