Player Productivity and Performance: An Econometric Approach to Team Management in Soccer by Guy Benedict Wilkinson A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Sport Management) in the University of Michigan 2017 Doctoral Committee: Professor Stefan Szymanski, Chair Professor Rodney D. Fort Professor Jeffrey A. Smith Assistant Professor Eric M. Schwartz Guy B. Wilkinson
[email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0002-3623-1914 © Guy B. Wilkinson 2017 DEDICATION To my father and Uncle Jim for taking me to my first Celtic game, and to Henrik Larsson for inspiring me to go to many more. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Professor Stefan Szymanski for taking me on as his doctoral student for the past four years. Without his guidance, I would not have been able to complete my research projects with the high quality I strive for. My thanks also go to my committee members, Professor Rodney Fort, Professor Jeffrey Smith and Assistant Professor Eric Schwartz for their guidance and suggestions throughout the duration of my degree. Finally, I want to thank my family, friends and cohort for helping me adapt to life in America and supporting me through both the good times and the bad. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ........................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................................