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That's the bit that doesn't add up for me and softens my attitude to him after last night. It's a bit too hard for me to believe he's been in all the places he's been and also just been that guy on stage. So maybe he just presents himself badly. I certainly hope so.

Hopefully an unedited video makes it's way out, and you'll see what I mean. I said he blamed others (specifically "their plans, their targets, their structures") in his first answer, not throughout the whole evening. It was just a pretty jaw dropping thing to do in the context of no one looking to relitigate things. It's like no one's ever taught him the whole vague "mistakes were made, but we're gonna learn from them and come back stronger" spiel. If I could sum up the overall way he was presenting himself with one word, I'd go with "Crikey!".

It definitely is the plan. Tonight looked pretty clearly about seeking permission to go for it. They're obviously nervous about the reaction so they're doing their best to make it go well. It's good that they're nervous, mind - we should be doing all we can to use that and make sure the result is top class in every way.

They had an event at stack tonight, broadcast online too. The main event was most of the leadership team being interviewed on stage together. Eales, Mitchell, Silverstone, COO, CFO. Plus legends later (Cisse) and women footballers. To be honest I didn't realise most people weren't aware of it. Would've approached it differently if I'd realised it wasn't already being discussed.

Well, if we're going with that line, I found it very surprising that he's still wanting to drag up old arguments in public about everything in the summer being everyone else's fault. Because that was literally his first contribution to the evening, off a total soft ball from Raisbeck. Then I think it was his second or third answer where he was going on about how the transfer market must have changed a lot because he hadn't expected it to be so difficult coming here when he did - which didn't exactly make him sound like a European sports director with his finger on the pulse. Honestly, it would be easy to make him look a lot worse...

I don't really want to get into a discussion about the role of sports directors again, but if we can't judge him on his public conduct, and the blowback resulting from it, or on the outcome of transfer windows (because according to some, Eddie is bullying him into trying to sign Guehi again), what can we judge him on? That's not a problem with Paul Mitchell, by the way, I'd ask that question about anyone with his job.

The engagement's basically great, and I've gone out of my way to not eviscerate Mitchell considering where my opinion of him has been at. I'm moving from thinking he's a snake towards that he's surprisingly socially awkward, which is a promotion. It's far easier to believe now that the set piece interview he did for the press was genuinely a comedy of errors rather than a political attack.

Ah, not liking a thing but not knowing what to do about it still being a thing.

Held a straw poll over the idea of staying or going. They were palpably delighted moving was more popular than it had been a year ago. It seemed pretty clear it was the focus of the evening, talking about the struggles of raising revenues etc. before eventually raising the subject.

What have I said that isn't true?

It started as a light-hearted thing from Eales or someone about the club growing revenues for PSR - which was the main focus of the evening (building the case for a new stadium). But Mitchell joined in on the joke and kept going and going with it. Tl;Dr: Paul Mitchell is like David Brent. Not a bad guy but can look like a wally.

Loads to mention. But basically couldn't avoid going back to the summer and Eddie issues. Literally his first sentence was about how he'd never join a club mid transfer window again. Plus how rotten he was personally as a footballer. Talked about holding hands with Eddie at the boxing in Saudi. Became fixated on needing to drink several pints a day in stack to help boost his own transfer fund, and hoping to get Eddie to join him in the drinking too. Like, I'm honestly trying to be charitable in thinking he must just be much more of a doer than a talker

Honestly, I felt bad for him. It's like you could see his balls were shrivelled up somewhere near his kidneys. I appreciated the self-deprecation but it never stopped

Paul man. Need to keep him away from mics for his own good. I was half waiting for him to say he'd never come over a little queer. His very last answer at tonight's talk was good, I thought - about how player targets are arrived at with the manager, and the considerations that go into it. Actually sounded well considered and natural - like he meant it. But prior to that he was having a mare - I was starting to feel bad for him. He's been rocked badly by the past few months.

That'll teach those silly Swedes for keeping their league football VAR-free. They'll definitely see the benefits of it now.