# CheersGaffer: No More Guessing Who Your Best Players Are

> A grassroots football club picked teams on gut feel and only looked back at the season once it was over. I built an app that records every match as it happens, so coaches can see who is actually performing and spot patterns while there's still time to act.

[Build something like this](https://lukereynolds.co.uk/contact.md) · [See CheersGaffer live](https://cheersgaffer.com)

## The Problem

Lots of opinions, very little evidence.

Grassroots football · Live since April 2026 · Built solo

### Picking the team on gut feel
Coaches at grassroots clubs are volunteers with full-time jobs. Nobody had time to keep proper match records, so selection came down to memory and whoever had a good game last week.

### Finding out at the end of the season
Without records, the only review came at the end of the year, from memory. By then it was too late to spot a player quietly carrying the team, or one whose form had dropped off months ago.

### Where it started
I'm on the committee at a grassroots club, and in December 2025 this was the first problem I wanted to fix. It's what CheersGaffer grew from.

## What I Built

A real application with logins, not a website: designed, built and launched solo.

### Match stats from the touchline
A coach records the match as it happens on a tablet or phone. Nothing to type up afterwards: the numbers are in the app before the players have left the pitch.

### Development plans that update themselves
Each player has a development plan that updates from match data, so progress is measured rather than remembered.

### Automatic coach and match reports
Reports build themselves from what was recorded, so patterns show up week by week instead of once a year.

### The right view for each person
Eight user roles, so everyone sees what they need and nothing they shouldn't. Squad details stay readable when the touchline signal is patchy.

## What Changed

The stats were meant to help pick the team. The bigger change was how players behaved once they knew every match was being recorded.

> "We look like a much more professional club now we're recording matches and stats. Players are turning up, behaving better and performing better, because they know they have to give it their all: there's no hiding. And other teams get the impression we mean business when one of the coaches is stood there with a tablet recording stats too."
>
> Ben Miller, Team Manager, Bredhurst Veterans

Where it stands:

- Launched in April 2026
- Two clubs using it today
- First paying customer signed up inside the first month

## Guessing at Something in Your Business?

Most businesses have a decision somewhere that's made on gut feel, because the numbers live in someone's head or a spreadsheet nobody updates.

I build the same kind of thing for businesses: an app that captures the information as the work happens, then turns it into a dashboard or report you can act on. A single automation or integration starts at £3,500, and dashboards or portals at £6,500. Fixed price, agreed before I start, with no VAT to add.

See [Web Applications](https://lukereynolds.co.uk/web-applications.md) for pricing.

## What are you guessing at?

Tell me the decision you'd make differently if you had the numbers, and I'll tell you honestly what it would take to get them. [Get in touch](https://lukereynolds.co.uk/contact.md), email info@lukereynolds.co.uk or call 07563 131939.