Fresh off sealing an immediate return to the Premier League with a 3–0 final-day win, Ipswich Town have capped off a season built on consistency across one of football’s most demanding schedules in one of the most competitive leagues in the world.
Led by Head of Athletic Performance Matt Allen, the club’s performance staff have been working with STATSports the past eight years, integrating it into their daily workflows to help optimise player performance.
With the introduction of Apex 2.0 in 2025, the team has experienced a significant step forward in data accuracy, speed, and ease of use to be able to get actionable insights into training & matchday.
Faster Data Turnaround for Immediate Insights
For Ipswich’s performance staff, getting reliable data quickly has always been key.
Apex 2.0’s improved hardware delivers faster sync times with the team’s iPads and more consistent positional data across training environments.
As Matt Allen explains;
“The speed of data turnaround is excellent, and how everything syncs with the iPad is impressive. With the new beacon, the accuracy while we’re out on the pitch has improved significantly.”
This improvement allows performance staff to share insights with coaches and medical teams immediately after sessions, often while players are still present rather than relying on retrospective analysis.
The faster the data is available, the quicker decisions can be made regarding player workload, recovery strategies, and treatment plans.
Confidence in Performance Data
Accuracy matters even more than speed of insight. In high performance environments, where decisions are guided by numbers as well as practitioner experience, having confidence in the data is essential.
“If we’re going to lean on numbers, we need to make sure that what we’re dealing with is accurate.”
With Apex 2.0 units, Ipswich’s performance team has gained an extra level of confidence in the quality of the data they receive.
This is particularly important during matches and stadium sessions, where collecting accurate GPS data has historically been more challenging due to structural interference. The new units ensure there is no data drop out, due to the metrics being calculated on-device.
Improved accuracy means the performance staff can trust the information they are using to guide training loads, player conditioning, and recovery strategies.
Real Time Monitoring During Training
One of the biggest advantages for Ipswich comes from the ability to monitor data live during training.
Performance staff can view an array of key physical metrics but primarily focus on heart rate, dynamic stress load, fatigue index and step balance in real time, which enables them to assess not just how much work players are doing, but how they’re coping with it.
“Live data is really important to us, it links seamlessly with our heart rate units, it allows us to see how players are coping in the moment and make immediate adjustments to their training or rehab.”
That real time capability also proves valuable in rehabilitation and conditioning settings, performance staff can monitor how players respond to prescribed loads and adjust sessions instantly rather than waiting for post session downloads.
Improving Workflow and Communication
Apex 2.0 has streamlined Ipswich’s daily operations mainly by the speed at which data downloads post-session.
Staff can now view session data immediately after training, which means they can engage with other departments and players sooner.
“As soon as we’ve downloaded the units and see what players have done and how they’ve found the session, we can get reports out quickly, speak to physios straight away, and even have conversations with players before they leave so we can adjust things if needed.”
This immediacy keeps the human side of performance at the centre of the process. Conversations with players, coaches, and medical staff can happen immediately, ensuring that decisions are informed by both data and practitioner experience.
Managing Multiple Squads and Individual Needs
At a club like Ipswich Town, where multiple squads often train simultaneously and players regularly move between groups, managing individual workloads can be complex.
” With the Under 21s and the under 18s, there will be a lot of things happening at the training centre at the same time”
With Apex 2.0, performance staff can track player outputs across sessions and groups in real time. This allows them to maintain an accurate overview of each player’s workload throughout the week, ensuring that individuals are neither underloaded nor pushed beyond planned targets.
Having access to this level of monitoring ensures training programmes remain tailored to each player while maintaining consistency across the club’s broader performance framework.
Combining Technology with Practitioner Expertise
The performance team sees technology like Apex 2.0 as a way to enrich, not replace practitioner expertise. With data points collected every day, staff prioritise what matters most for each player while keeping the human element front and centre.
“Linking data with the human side shows how important that is for the club’s capability to operate at our scale”.
By combining experienced judgement with reliable, live data, Ipswich continues to refine its performance processes and drive better outcomes for players.
The long standing relationship between Ipswich Town F.C. and STATSports has continued to evolve alongside the club’s ambitions.
Across a demanding 46-game Championship season, where turnaround times are short and small decisions can have significant consequences, faster access to accurate, live data has helped Ipswich’s performance staff make quicker decisions around training loads, recovery, rehabilitation and player readiness.
From faster downloads and improved GPS accuracy to live monitoring and better cross-department communication, those marginal gains have helped streamline daily workflows in one of football’s most relentless & competitive leagues.
With promotion back to the Premier League now secured, having good processes in place, not just within the performance department, but across the club – have played a role in helping the club meet the demands of the season and get back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.
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