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Maguire targets football’s feedback blind spot with AI app Feedz

Maguire believes one aspect of youth development in particular could be significantly improved though: the quality and consistency of feedback.

“Better feedback builds better players,” Maguire said. “I’ve always believed, from a young age, that feedback is so important and can make you a much better player in the future.”

That conviction led him to co-found Feedz, an AI-powered app that turns a coach’s voice note into a structured, professional performance report in under a minute.

For Maguire, the app is not just a business investment; it is a practical tool he could use as a coach one day.

“I’ve done my UEFA B and I’ve thought about it (coaching) in the future,” he said. “For sure, Feedz is something that will help me if I go down that route. From a young age, I’ve always wanted feedback – even when I was a young boy. I don’t think it was as good as it can be, especially in Academies.

“I think there’s so much time these coaches have to put into sessions and the sessions are finishing late at night. They can’t really give too much feedback to each individual player.

“This is where Feedz can step in. It saves so much time. It’s so simple. I think it’d be really beneficial to the club and the players.”

Feedz in Sheffield United Academy

Matt Morley knows better than most what Maguire could offer as a coach. The Sheffield United Junior Head of Coaching (pictured above with Maguire) is now in his 25th year with the Blades. He first worked with the future England international when he was an eight-year-old with ambitions of becoming a top central midfielder.

“His rapport, his communication, just the way he conducts himself: first class,” Morley said. “Watching Harry from Under-11s going into a scholarship, reserves, first team, what he achieved at Leicester, Hull – that’s resilience.

“But it’s also in terms of how he’s conducted himself – he’s approachable and his communication is excellent. That links back into Feedz – in terms of how you communicate, what information you want to give and how that information impacts the player.”

Feedz is now embedded from U8s to U18s at Sheffield United’s Academy and Morley has seen improvements in the speed and quality of feedback that’s being delivered to young players.

“I’ve got eight coaches under my remit at the football club and we’ll probably use Feedz every single session to record information,” Morley revealed. “That information is then stored and we can have a conversation about it. That wasn’t happening before.

“Instead of writing it down – it was probably 40, 50 minutes to do a report — now it’s probably taking four or five minutes. That takes a lot of pressure off.

Morley has been using the app himself, to record and deliver feedback to the coaches he line-manages.

“Driving home, just reflecting, speaking into Feedz in terms of how a coach had performed… that honest feedback helps that individual to look at themselves.”

The gap Feedz was built to close

Feedz was co-founded by Matthew White, a former advertising executive who was frustrated at the feedback – or lack of – that his daughter was receiving at her local gymnastics club.

“I paid, I don’t know, £1,000 a year for the last eight years and never got any feedback,” White remembered. “I still don’t know if she can do the splits!

“Coaches don’t have the time to give feedback to 28 kids, but AI now enables you to do that, hence we created Feedz. It’s across all sports and is built to make it easier for coaches to give feedback to players and parents.”

Feedz co-founders Matthew White and Harry Maguire

Coaches create an Academy profile on iOS, Android or web – name, description, sport, logo – and then add players with basic contact details. After a session or match, they can tap the microphone and deliver feedback into their phone, pausing and resuming as needed.

The AI then delivers a polished report in 20 to 60 seconds: a crisp summary, followed by strengths, areas for development, actionable suggestions, next steps and a relevant professional example.

Coaches can edit by voice or text, approve, and share instantly with the player and their parents via WhatsApp, email or branded PDF. All reports are stored for easy reference before the next session.

“Our strapline is game-changing feedback,” White said, “because we are using the ability of AI to take what may have taken 20 minutes to 20 seconds.”

The Football Association estimates that the app could save coaches the equivalent of one full day a week in admin time.

Maguire: What constitutes good feedback?

Maguire believes effective feedback needs to be a combination of praise and honest challenge.

“I think it’s really important that the coach puts some praise alongside what the player can improve on,” he said. “If you put a couple of points on what they’ve done really well and a couple of points on what they can improve, that’s where a player would benefit.

“Then they’d feel good alongside wanting to improve and impress the coaches for the next session.”

The England defender admitted most of the feedback he got as a youngster came from his dad, Alan, who was also his coach at grassroots club Brunsmeer Athletic FC.

“He was my harshest critic, really, and he used to tell me after every game what he thought I was doing well and badly,” the England centre-half remembered.

Every sport, but even every job - everyone wants a little bit of feedback.

Harry Maguire

After training sessions at Sheffield United’s Academy, Maguire would work on the feedback he’d received at the local park with his friends. He thinks Feedz can help today’s youngsters do the same

“Whenever I had a free night from training, I went to the park and played football with my mates. It could be whether it’s my weaker foot or first touch or passing or heading.”

Maguire says feedback is crucial not only for pros and Academy players, but for grassroots too.

“I don’t think you have to be a professional to benefit from Feedz,” he said. “I think it’s so important at grassroots level – every footballer, whether they go and play football professionally or Sunday league, they want a little bit of feedback.

“Every sport, but even every job, really – everyone wants a little bit of feedback in life.”

Morley agrees that feedback needs to be honest and authentic.

“It has to be relevant, it has to be realistic,” he said. “Again it’s not about making it fluffy – it has to be realistic to them and their game, which then gives them an opportunity to learn and play.”

This was the approach he took with a young Maguire when he came into Sheffield United’s Academy at the age of eight.

“It was always about reinforcing positivity in terms of what he’d done really well and then how we could take that forward,” Morley recalled.

Maguire’s thirst for improvement was what really marked him out as a player, Morley said.

“In terms of that central midfield role, he thought he was Pirlo, but he just enjoyed it. He just wanted to go and train and play hard, and just get better. It’s his attitude that’s taken him a long way.”

Already delivering at elite and grassroots level

Manchester United and Tottenham Academies are trialling the Feedz platform, while The FA has used it at grassroots level. Table Tennis England and Surrey, Sussex and Kent County Cricket are customers, as are multiple US College programmes.

Powerleague, which stages 10,000 games and involves 150,000 players every week, describes Feedz as “enhancing football at all levels”.

“What’s been really pleasing is that kids are getting feedback where they didn’t get it before,” White said. “Coaches are able to use Feedz and give feedback when they didn’t give feedback before, because they didn’t have the time.

“What they’re telling us is that it’s an incredible time-saving app for them. We’ve heard that from the FA, from Sheffield United, from parents. They really like it because they’re getting feedback and transparency from the coaches about their child’s development and the kids really love reading about themselves and acting on that feedback.

“There are going to be many uses for Feedz in terms of how it forms parts of Individual Development Plans, how coaches get coached and how players develop. There’s a long way for Feedz to go; we’ve only just started.”

Available now

Feedz is live on the App Store, Google Play and web portal. Coaches select a flexible plan based on the number of reports they generate, making it accessible for a single grassroots team or a full Academy.

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