I understand that getting a professional knowledge in coaching introduces an individual to aspects of a sport not known by all, but oftentimes i have witnessed individuals (spectators) of a sport, due to extreme love for a sport become masters of a sport so much that it seems almost like they now know the sport better than some coaches.
Whenever a game is going on say football, you always hear such individuals question the coach's line up and tactics, you hear questions like -
-Why is he (the coach) not playing player xyz?
-why did he (the coach) use player xyz instead of players zyx?
-why is he (that is the coach) using this formation instead the other one? and so on.
-Is there a possibility that spectators of a sport like you and i with no professional training can develop a better understanding of a sport than some professional coaches of some teams?
There is definitely something to be said about observers who are very close to the game, however they will tend to be experts in one team while maybe following other teams less closely - which makes it hard to find an advantage overall. It you have a solid team that is winning game after game, it is unlikely that formula will be changed by any sensible coach, but injuries can cause new players to be cycled in and they may either weaken or improve a team. A keen follower might be able to distinguish that and possibly identify that they may lose a game due to reduced skill or cohesion, but it will be very hard to do consistently by a single person. It's worth adding that an Australian betting syndicate is making big money by identifying small discrepancies between odds on peer to peer exchanges versus bookies, which would be a similar thing taking place.