Duncan Alexander

(Redirected from OptaJoe)

Duncan Alexander is a British association football statistician, broadcaster and author for The Athletic.

Career

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Under the pseudonym of 'OptaJoe', Alexander was the Chief Data Editor for football statistics company Opta. As 'OptaJoe' Alexander was a football commentator and pundit who live-tweeted during football matches with statistics and jokes.[1][2] His first book, OptaJoe's Football Yearbook was published in 2016. His second book Outside the Box: A Statistical Journey through the History of Football was published in 2017.[3][4][5]

Alexander has also written for the BBC,[6] the Premier League,[7] The Football Association,[8] The Guardian,[9] The Daily Mirror,[10] and Sky Sports.[11]

He is a regular contributor on The Totally Football Show,[12] and has appeared on BBC Radio Five Live,[13] The Anfield Wrap[14] and podcasts for The Times,[15] The Independent,[16] and The Daily Telegraph.[17] He has been interviewed by FourFourTwo[18] and Coca-Cola.[19]

In January 2023 Alexander announced that he was joining subscription sports magazine The Athletic.[20]

Awards

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OptaJoe was nominated for the 'online media of the year' award at the 2017 Football Supporters Federation Awards.[21]

Personal life

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Alexander studied history at the University of Manchester. When interviewed by FourFourTwo Alexander chose as his favourite ever football book 'Among The Thugs' by Bill Buford (1991).[22] Alexander is a supporter of Wycombe Wanderers and lives in south London.

References

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  1. ^ "Duncan Alexander". www.penguin.co.uk.
  2. ^ "Exclusive: Interview with Duncan Alexander, author of Opta Joe's Football Yearbook 2016 - The Boot Room". 4 September 2016.
  3. ^ Outside the Box, A Statistical Journey through the History of Football by Duncan Alexander. www.penguin.co.uk.
  4. ^ Cairns, Gordon. "When Saturday Comes - Outside The Box: A statistical journey through the history of football". www.wsc.co.uk.
  5. ^ "Opta stats guru releases new book!". Goal.com. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
  6. ^ "Opta Insight: Premier League Trends". BBC Sport.
  7. ^ "Sequencing unmasking true creative forces".
  8. ^ Tuesday 31 Jan 2017 (31 January 2017). "Opta Sport provide their Emirates FA Cup team of the fourth round". Thefa.com. Retrieved 27 June 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ Alex, Duncan; er (11 February 2015). "Louis van Gaal v Sam Allardyce: who is right and what is a long ball anyway? - Duncan Alexander". the Guardian.
  10. ^ "Duncan Alexander - Mirror Online". www.mirror.co.uk.
  11. ^ "Bournemouth to upset Chelsea in Opta Joe's Super Six £1 million predictions". Sky Sports.
  12. ^ "The Spy with the Cold Nose, Zlatan's Galaxy Quest, and memories of that 7-1 - Totally Football Show". www.thetotallyfootballshow.com.
  13. ^ "Football trivia from one of the country's top football statisticians, Duncan Alexander, Essential Phil Williams - BBC Radio 5 live". BBC.
  14. ^ "TAW Special: Duncan Alexander On 'Outside the Box: A Statistical Journey Through the History of Football' - The Anfield Wrap". 15 November 2017.
  15. ^ "The Game podcast: Where did Chelsea go wrong against Guardiola's City?". 2 October 2017 – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  16. ^ "The Indy Football Podcast: How competitive is the Premier League?".
  17. ^ Sport, Telegraph (28 December 2017). "Total Football Podcast:Toughest stats questions answered". The Telegraph.
  18. ^ "No, seriously: what the heck is expected goals (xG)?". 22 November 2017.
  19. ^ "Game Changer: How the Second Screen has Revolutionised Rugby". Coca-cola.co.uk.
  20. ^ "Why I joined: Duncan Shearer, locked cars and the evolution of football data". The Athletic.
  21. ^ "FSF Awards 2017 shortlists announced - Football Supporters' Federation". www.fsf.org.uk. 31 October 2017.
  22. ^ https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/fourfourtwos-best-football-books-ever-writers-choices%3F_format%3Damp