THE production line from John Brannan's native Jersey has never been at full throttle.

In fact, not since the days of Graeme Le Saux and Guernsey-born Matthew Le Tissier have the Premier League and the Channel Islands as a whole been named in the same sentence.

Of course, as a child, John dreamt of becoming the next export and carving out a career as a professional footballer.

But he never really held out much hope that it would come to fruition.

An aspiring left-back, he played for a number of parish teams on the island throughout his teens, including Jersey Wanderers, although by his own admission he was "never any good".

But, through ProZone, he has managed to become part of the football family.

Statistics, rather than stepovers, have become more the amiable 25-year-old's forte.

And it's thanks to his analytical skills that Burnley are able to pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of themselves and their opponents.

"My job's split into two - looking at post-match stuff and reflecting on all the elements that the gaffer wants to have a look at.

"Players are interested in their individual stats as well," he explained.

"The other half of it is preparation for upcoming games and sourcing highlights and specific clips that coaches have asked for to try to identify the opposition's strengths and weaknesses.

"We've got to be positive about what we can achieve and knowing our own strengths.

"But if there's something an opponent is particularly good at, or not good at, then it's helpful to be aware of that."

It was during a module of his sports science degree at Chester College that John developed a particular interest in analysis.

So much so that he went on to study it at greater length to complete his Masters at the University of Cardiff.

A part-time work placement with Cardiff City was incorporated into the course, and later, within a week of returning from a five-month round-the-world trip to mark the end of his studies, he was employed by Burnley Football Club.

"It all worked out absolutely perfectly," he said.

"In building links through my course, ProZone was one of the main companies that had come to help students gain experience, presumably with the intention of them using and promoting the system.

"I'd just returned from my holiday and had an e-mail saying I had an interview, initially with ProZone, and then came up to Burnley for an interview with the club.

"When I found out I had an opportunity of working at Turf Moor, I did my research because I didn't want to go into the interview not knowing anything at all.

"And I soon realised that it was a proud, football town.

"I adored football when I was growing up and there were plenty of people I admired in the game.

"My first game was when we played Scunthorpe, David Unsworth came over to have a look at his stats, and that was a proud moment for myself, to sit there and talk on a level with someone as high profile as him.

"My football knowledge is not going to be as extensive as someone who has played in the game, but what I bring is my knowledge of the system and what to look for in that respect."

Ask how it works, and prepare to be bamboozled by sports science.

"ProZone is basically an analysis system that incorporates video and quantified data to provide coaches and managers with an objective format of the game," he said.

"When they watch the game in real time they will take away certain assumptions with their own thought process.

"But with ProZone, nothing is missed.

"With the home games we are fortunate enough to have the full set-up, so each player is tracked throughout the game to measure the distances and speeds that they have run.

"It doesn't necessarily mean a player's had a good performance, it just means they've run a lot.

"But if you've worked harder it tends to relate to a good performance. But you wouldn't see a linear relationship.

"The approaches by managers are different. Steve Cotterill brought the system in originally and he knew the way in which he wanted to use it. With the gaffer now, at first he wasn't aware of what it could do. There is another system based in Scotland that isn't as high profile, or incorporated, so it's been more of a gradual process.

"But I do a lot of work with Sandy Stewart and Steve Davis as well because they are the ones who spend more time with the system and examine it.

"With stats, sometimes they can be a bit arbitrary.

"If you see you've dominated possession then you should win.

"But different people have different views on the way stats can be used in football, and there are a lot of elements with the ProZone system.

"It dominates the Premier League at the moment.

"When ProZone first started it was a consultancy basis where an employee of ProZone came in. Now it's embedded in the club."

And John's job at Turf Moor is made easier by having all the necessary equipment in place.

"There is a main television camera from which I feed back the information from," he continued.

"But there are 12 other cameras dotted around the top of the stadium, targeting areas and tracking the players who enter that area.

"The feed from the main television camera is sent to ProZone and it is automatically linked up to their server, then I get all the information from the 12 cameras dotted around.

"Every touch, pass and step is recorded, and the information comes back to me on a Sunday to process and put together match reports.

"It can get intense when there's a midweek fixture as well because it's such a quick turnaround.

"Most of my work is done in the build-up to a game."

But there is no danger of John relaxing on a matchday.

"I was never any good as a player myself," he confessed.

"But I feel every kick and result with them."