Jake's Road Report is Gemini Sports founder Jake Schuster’s weekly update from professional football's frontlines. He travels globally, meeting club executives to share candid insights on AI's role in football. These raw, actionable thoughts are delivered weekly, with meeting details kept confidential and specific intel omitted.

—-

You might lose your job because you don't have the best tech.

Let that sink in for a moment. Not because you made a bad signing. Not because you overpaid for the wrong player. But because you're still operating with systems built for a market that no longer exists, making decisions at a speed your competitors have already lapped.

So why are you so afraid to say something?

I hear it constantly from sporting directors: "I know we need better technology, but we’re locked into this other contract." They see the problems. They feel the friction. They watch opportunities slip away while they wait for information that should be instant. Yet they stay silent in board meetings, nodding along while their clubs invest in everything except the infrastructure that would actually help them win.

Here's what we've learned from advising clubs on their innovation plans: there's always going to be a reason to say no to new tech. The budget's committed. The timing's not right. The current system "works well enough." Ownership wants to see results from last year's investments first. The list of obstacles is endless, and every excuse sounds reasonable.

But deep down, you and I and everyone else reading this knows—the time to innovate is now.

Right now, clubs around the world are making moves to adopt AI-powered workflows. The transfer market is getting more competitive by the window. Everyone's trying to deliver a consistent player trading model to give them an edge. While you're waiting for the perfect moment, your competitors are integrating systems that will define the next decade of football.

If you think you can wait until next spring to examine ways to improve, you might already be too late. The gap between clubs with truly modern technology and those without isn't narrowing—it's accelerating.

Stop saying you're not ready for this. You'll never feel ready. Innovation doesn't wait for perfect conditions—it creates them. The clubs that win aren't the ones with the biggest budgets or the most patient ownership. They're the ones whose sporting directors had the courage to stand up and say: "We need better tools, and we need them now."

Your competitors are already having this conversation. Some of them are already implementing solutions while you're still scheduling meetings to discuss whether you should schedule meetings about technology needs. The question isn't whether you'll eventually adopt better systems—you will, because you'll have to.

The question is whether you'll be leading the change or reacting to it.