This was not strictly scientific – but we gave it a good shot.
We were curious to see what each Premier League manager did throughout their match on a given weekend. To do this we sent a BBC Sport journalist to every top-flight game over the weekend of 5-7 April and watched the two managers for the entire 90 minutes.
For the recording template, we split the technical area into six boxes – front left, front centre, front right, back left, back centre, back right. We also had a dotted line to demarcate anywhere outside the technical area.
Every minute, the journalist marked on the template where each manager was standing, recording by hand the minute of the game that they were there (for example, 1, 2, 3 etc)
At the end of the game, the journalist had approximately 180 (plus stoppage time) positions marked on the template. This was transferred onto a spreadsheet and a percentage calculated (for example, standing in the front central box 45 times over the 90 minutes equated to 50%).
Some heatmaps will show a number that is either just above or just below 100%. That is because we rounded our percentages up or down to improve readability within the graphic.
The percentages were then put into each box for the visual and these matched to a darker or lighter shade of the colour.
Alongside this gathering, the journalist noted down the interactions had by the managers with their players, the opposing technical area and the officials as we felt this also had editorial value.
What was not in scope for this project, but we acknowledge would add a further level of insight, was how the size of the technical area at each ground may impact the data when recording the movement of the manager around a defined space.
The data presented is also just a snapshot of a single weekend, so is far from definitive of a manager's behaviour generally. A number of factors can also change a manager's behaviour, such as a comfortable lead, a controversial moment, what is at stake or even the weather!
- Where did each Premier League manager stand this weekend? See all the heatmaps
- We watched every Premier League manager - here's what we found out
