The Addicks youth mentor introduced drones into football in 2016, and since then top clubs across Europe have embraced the idea in their sessions
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FOOTBALL managers will do anything they can to gain an extra advantage.
That's why, with the help of Charlton Athletic youth coach David Powderly, they're embracing drones in training to improve their tactical nous.
In the last year, the likes of Tottenham, Barcelona, Chelsea and Atletico Madrid have all experimented with drone technology to hone their performances on the pitch.
And it's no surprise these clubs are riding high in the Premier League and La Liga, respectively.
But what are the merits of the world's elite using drones?
SunSport sat down with licensed drone pilot, and one of England's emerging talents Powderly - who is aiming to change the way coaches view the game.
Powederly has given demonstrations to the world's leading clubs, as well as appeared at football training conventions to talk about introducing drones into football training.
"I've always looked at ways of improving my coaching and players, as well as getting a better understanding of the game," the 30-year-old told SunSport.
"Part of the Uefa A license course looked at performance analysis and how you record training sessions.
"Being someone who is always looking to improve on the tactical side of the game, I studied different ways of watching a match."
Powderly's lightbulb moment happened while watching Barcelona's 3-0 demolition of Bayern Munich in 2015.
Pep Guardiola, who was managing the Bavarian giants that night, opted for a man-to-man marking system during that crucial fixture.
TV cameras were fascinated by the tactic and gave an aerial view of what it looked like in action. Powderly admitted it lit his eyes up.
"Pep went man-for-man in that game, which was something that hadn't been done for years in football.
"I remember Gary Neville being fascinated by it, wanting to see how it worked, and the TV cameras panned out high above the pitch to get an aerial view.
"Every player was man-for-man, except the goalkeeper. I thought, 'Wow, having this kind of view in training would be fantastic because you'd be able to see everything.'
"That's when the idea of using drones came to me."
Knowing he was onto a winner, Powderly experimented by using GoPro cameras.
"They didn't work because the wind would take them into different directions and you'd miss all the action," he complained.
Then, after seeing a pop-up advert for a DJI drone on YouTube when he was watching a music video, his prayers were answered.
"I realised it was something I could use in my own training, but I looked at the prices and they were so expensive."
After three months of deliberating, Powderly decided to buy a DJI Phantom 3 for £1,300 in November, 2015.
When he started using it during his own training sessions with Charlton's youth teams, he soon saw the benefits.
"I filmed Thursday training sessions, recording tactical training, practice games, trying to record as many games as possible," he said.
"Afterwards, I'd watch the recordings with the players and we were able to go through the video and analyse it."
The drone soon became a powerful tool in Powderly's arsenal.
The South Londoner was invited to the International Coaching Conference in Geneva in 2016, where he gave a talk on his new found expertise to a packed audience of football professionals.
One of the attendees was John McDermott, who is head of coaching and development at Tottenham.
"John saw my presentation in Switzerland, and now I know that Mauricio Pochettino is using drones with the first team at Spurs.
"I've been to Barcelona, they introduced it and trialed it after my demo.
"Interestingly, at Barcelona's training ground they have panoramic cameras, which they spent thousands of pounds on.
"But you can't see any depth between the spaces on the pitch, so this was a better option for them.
"Feyenoord bought a drone, I went over there and introduced it to them and the first team began using it.
"Atletico Madrid also used one in pre-season. That's when clubs look to do it because a lot of tactical work is done before the season begins."
But why are clubs getting turned on to using drones when training their superstars? Powderly revealed there are more pros than cons.
"There are tactics in how you want to attack, something which Pep Guardiola is very big on," he explained.
"Players occupying certain lines of the pitch at certain moments, creating width... coaches want to be able to see if they can cover the whole pitch at one time.
"With the drone, when you're able to look above the action, you're able to see clearly where you can overload on the pitch.
"When Man City play they like to overload the left-hand side with [Leroy] Sane and [Kevin] De Bruyne.
"Then, they'd hit that area, but leave Sterling out far right and quickly switch play.
"I know football is random, but it's like a game of chess. You're able to place your players in certain positions and you can rehearse the movements and the patterns in training.
"With the drone, it's easier to see that on the eye and you're able to relay that kind of tactic quicker to the players."
And it has its defensive merits too, Powderly pointed out.
He continued: "When I went to Barcelona they wanted a drone positioned behind their defense when they were attacking.
"They wanted to see how the defenders were defending when they were in possession.
"Quite often, when they have a lot of possession of the ball, they want their defense to be high up the pitch.
"That's brave, because there's a lot of space in behind, so the question is how do you position your team whilst your attacking to stop those threats of the counter-attack?
"And that's where the flexibility of the drone comes into effect. Different clubs will have different ways of using it.
"It's an additional tool to have and you can't have that kind of angle any other way unless you have one."
However, Powderly confessed that some clubs aren't completely convinced and wish that drone technology was more advanced.
"Working at different clubs, the same question I get asked is, 'What's the battery life like?'" he revealed.
"The main objective for these clubs is to record training sessions, and having a drone doesn't affect the flow of the training sessions.
"When you're working on the tactical side of the game, it's always quite stop and start.
"You could film for 15 minutes, then change the battery in less than a minute and you're up flying again.
"That gives you enough time, in-between breaks for drinks, or when a manager is giving instructions, to have the drone up in the air again.
"But when you record academy games, clubs want something more.
"When I went to Liverpool, they wanted to have a rewind option on the play that had just happened.
"So, for example, you're working on set-pieces or corners and defending. Say a defender loses his marker and someone scores.
"Coaches want to be able to take the defender out of the play, rewind the footage and show him where he went wrong.
"There are ways around that, you can connect it to your laptop or use delayed streams.
"But the technology to be able to rewind the action hasn't been made yet."
Powderly laughed off suggestions that players could get struck by a stray drone while they're practicing.
He did tell us though that footballers get a kick out of launching the ball as high as they can to try and knock the drone out of the sky.
"Anything can happen, but the way I do it, and how most clubs tend to do it, is to fly it behind the goal," he said.
"It's rarely flying above the players. The footage doesn't work like that. Ideally, they want a still picture to see the patterns and movement.
"The only problems we have is players trying to kick the ball as high as they can to smash the drone out the sky."
Despite some skepticism, the Addicks mentor believes today's coaches, on the whole, are willing to learn about new technology to improve how they teach their players.
"I think managers are more forward-thinking when it comes to new technology in the game," Powderly said.
"They're looking at different ways to improve their own coaching and what they're good at.
"Big clubs have the money and drones aren't expensive to own. It's about looking at how it can be introduced.
"Football coaches want to know what the next big thing is that can improve their players and tactics.
"It's different ways of helping the players learn, in the simplest form and as quick as possible.
"Sometimes it's more powerful to show them the footage and allow them to realise where they should be, rather than telling them."
Powderly understands that drones still have a way to go before they can be widely accepted into the football world.
For one, their battery life needs to improve. But now some models can deal with the unpredictable UK climate.
"Newer models, the Inspires, they can fly up to half an hour now," he said.
"Battery life is improving, so it won't be long before they can fly for up to 45 minutes.
"In addition, the newer models are becoming weatherproof, which is important in England.
"Once you get to 45 minutes of recording time, that'll be the game-changer.
"Drones are going to be part-and-parcel of the way training is filmed, but also you're going to start seeing the more in lower leagues.
"You're allowed to use the drone with up to 1,000 people in attendance. So game will be filmed and that'll change analysis forever.
"It's a really exciting time in the game and it's the coaches who are the ones with the ideas. How they use drones will shape and change the game forever."
