EAGER to discover the next Wayne Rooney or Lionel Messi? Or how about spying trips to the San Siro or the Bernabeu to jot down some tactical notes ahead of a Champions League clash? Hold your horses; scouting is not as glamorous as it is made out to be. In this week's Secret Files, WANG MENG MENG speaks to DEREK BRAGG, managing director of The Scouting Network, on the art of assessing football talents.

HELLO there, I'm looking for a striker. Strong in the air, six-feet tall and good with both feet. Got anyone to match that description?

That could well be a top Premiership manager briefing his scout what he has in mind for his next big money signing or big money flop. Too often, clubs have flushed millions of pounds down the toilet simply because they did not do enough homework on a player only to realise that he does not fit in after he had signed. Even worse, budget constraints have led to some teams scrapping their scouting system altogether, which includes reconnaissance trips to size up forthcoming opponents.

Enter Derek Bragg into the fray, who, since the beginning of last year, has been attempting to fill that vacuum by providing team assessments and individual player reports through his brainchild - The Scouting Network (TSN). To date, his fledgling company has written reports for 54 clubs worldwide. For a fraction of what it costs to sign a player, managers can now pick up one of Bragg's reports to help them better judge their transfer targets before scrawling their signatures on a cheque.

As Bragg tells the Secret Files: "After my playing career, I had been a coach and chief scout for Cheltenham Town in 1997, where I stayed for six years. After a brief spell in business, I got back into football and when I returned to the game, I realised that the scouting side of the game was inefficient. Reports on teams and players were not properly documented in a structured format or template. There was no database readily available. Even higher up in the Premiership, things are still being done the old-school way, with a lot of scouts communicating with managers verbally".

Hence, The Scouting Network. On the quality of his dossiers, the 49-year-old elaborated: "Scouting reports are not simple pieces of information such as the height of a player, whether he's good in the air or if he's strong. TSN tries to provide an independent opinion on a player. Very often, you would have agents trying to drum up hype about their clients. Maybe a club has only seen a player once and think he's not up to the mark. But TSN can keep track of him for a long period. Perhaps, a year later, and if the club comes back for him, he may have improved. If you have two reports on the player, you can probably see a pattern emerging and judge him better".

"We're building relationships with clubs. They trust us. They want to tap into our knowledge base when they're looking for players. It is a cost-efficient solution for clubs that don't have the time or money.'' It is not only a player's footballing abilities that will be under evaluation. His personality will be under the microscope as well. Bragg added: "It's not just standard bio-data, but we've also included details like the length of a player's contract and his character traits. It is very important to know about the player as a person, whether he has a drinking or gambling problem, his character, or if he's a good or lazy trainer... important bits of information that could make or break a signing".

"I work with scouts that I trust and are well connected in the football industry. They know people at the clubs and lower down at grassroots level, who will be able to give you such information.''

Currently, TSN have a squad of 43 scouts spread over different continents in places such as Argentina, Spain, Japan, Australasia and various African nations. It has also monitored not just top-class tournaments like the recent African Cup of Nations, but also youth competitions like the World Under-17 and Under-19's at La Manga.

The result? A massive computer database of over 60,000 players of every level and standard, documented in a systematic manner and one that is easily retrievable for future reference. Any chance that Bragg will tip Singaporean readers off to the next unpolished diamond? He clarified: "We're not talking about unearthing the next David Beckham or Ronaldinho, that's a common misconception about scouting, this is about helping clubs find matching players from every level. It's about providing detailed information about young players breaking through and ensure potential signings are well researched".

"At many clubs, they throw money around as if it was confetti. Some are buying players on the strength of watching just one video. They needed to be brighter when it comes to spending and my company is providing them a service through our quality scouting reports. I can see the attitudes of the clubs changing. They are exercising better discipline when it comes to the transfer market these days.''

Times are changing and The Scouting Network is leading the way.