sport news Russell Slade leads £500million lawsuit over bookmakers' use of sports stars' ... trends now
After more than 25 years prowling the touchlines of English football’s lower leagues, Russell Slade has traded tracksuits for lawsuits to lead a claim against the giants of the betting and gaming industries and the alleged illegal misuse of performance data.
Slade has managed and coached at 13 clubs, including Cardiff, Grimsby and Leyton Orient, where he helped England captain Harry Kane launch his career as a teenager on loan from Tottenham.
Since working as a managerial consultant at Stevenage in 2020, however, 61-year-old Slade has devoted his time to a crusade to ensure footballers — and professional athletes in all sports — regain control of the data routinely collected to measure and improve performance and often sold-on for profit without their consent.
Russell Slade is leading a lawsuit over bookmakers' use of sports stars' performance data
Already described as football’s biggest legal challenge since the Bosman ruling transformed the transfer system, the case is gathering momentum.
Legal letters of intent were sent out this week on behalf of more than 1,400 professional footballers around the country, claiming £400-500million in damages based on the profits made by betting, gaming and data processing companies using their data.
‘People are making millions out of these footballers who have rights under UK legislation,’ Slade (right) told Sportsmail. ‘Companies are abusing these rights and players need to get back control. We think we have a strong case.’
Under existing UK data protection law, personal data belongs to the individual and not the companies collecting it. Companies licensed by the Premier League, the EFL and the SPL, and invited by clubs to install the various gadgetry to collect information about the players’ performance, should not be selling it on for profit. Some clearly are.
Slade is trying to enable stars to regain control of their data which has been sold for profit
Slade and his partners at Global Sports Data and Technology (GSDT) say they have tracked data passed through as many as nine companies.
Usually, it ends up in the multi-billion pound gambling and gaming industries. There it is enhanced by the companies’ own refined data collection operations,
