Theregulars

I’m on one, thanks. My bad then - weeks have become months without noticing.

Is it though? The guy hasn’t achieved a fundamental objective. It’s not wild to say “that’s not good enough”.

Moreover, if this was eg Manchester United you’d be pointing and laughing.

I’ll reframe the question. If a fan of another club told you that a new sporting director had arrived in the summer and 2 months (not a few weeks, which is a pisspoor attempt at gaslighting) in to the job had not signed any first team or first team adjacent players while unsettling a great manager, would you tell them to change their sheets?

Can you direct me to a positive contribution he’s made?

It’s wilful ignorance to have no complaints about Mitchell at this stage.

Suspicious and currently unwelcome. Concerned that he’s just another suit seeing NUFC as a payday and its fans as gullible wallet-bearers. I anticipate complete and total silence from him over coming months, which in my view paints him as a coward.

I don’t think anybody can satisfactorily answer the question “what does Paul Mitchell bring to NUFC?” - his arrival has resulted in a net negative for the club. In my view, that currently makes him unwelcome. I don’t trust his or Eales’ intentions. His purpose is to improve the playing side of things, ultimately. He’s set that back by not improving the squad while competitors have improved and by unsettling a very popular and talented manager. More people should be concerned about Mitchell remaining in post in my view.

Aye but he bought loadsa cheap playerz at Monaco like

Stop pissing yourself by reading

Go and have a read of the Waugh and caulkin article. I don’t believe I’m over reacting, I believe those are fair questions that he should face. Perhaps you have the answer - can you make a case that Paul Mitchell has made a positive difference to NUFC?

They’re all questions that journalists should be asking. Perhaps you can answer - what’s he brought to the role?

A typically dullard response for someone with no imagination to engage with an argument. If you were hired to do a job and, in 2 months, made no discernible positive difference, would you tell your manager to stop wetting themselves if they called you out? This guy hasn’t made a positive contribution.

Not necessarily a plan for overhaul, but we expected the sporting director to identify players for purchase to improve the squad. There’s no evidence that he’s done that.

Why is he employed by the club? What does he bring to the role? What is he actively working on to improve the club? Why - as supposedly one of the best scout network bods - has he failed or declined to identify anybody who can improve the playing staff for a PSR-friendly package? There’s no analysis of the transfer window available that paints this guy in a good light. Zero fucks given at what he’s done before, at Newcastle he’s at best done nothing or at worst proved an active detriment to the club. As pointless as he is bald. Get to fuck - just another shill.

Simply not good enough.

Underwhelming AF. Why bother hiring him this summer?

Expect a fairly sound beating.

Almost makes you think that you could do other things with your time

I think part of the gripe is that the club is back to looking disorganised and a bit foolish publicly (rightly or wrongly). It’s not long gone since that was our daily reality, and nobody wants to go back there. The PSR point is a big part of it but I think it’s reasonable to have doubts that nobody was realistically available to improve the squad. The club simply have to get better / more realistic about selling fringe and deadwood, although I accept that we can’t just force people and that Howe would rather show inclusion and kindness. There are some things that are just ludicrous and unprofessional to me: the keeper situation, the handling of the Gordon thing in public, de-captaining trippier when it turns out we still very much need him and being involved in a pretty squalid saga with a blowhard chancer like Steve Parish. I had hoped having someone like Mitchell would mean people like parish could be fairly easily dealt with.

Great summary. Needless loss of vibe and momentum as well. Completely fucking needless.

Whatever the circumstances and whoever is at fault, guehi has passed up or been denied a major career opportunity. I hope we don’t go back in for him.

How this lot fail to appreciate how much Eddie Howe has contributed to them having a job is the most jarring aspect of it. Lacking in any measure of morals or responsibility.

What he omits from his narrative, or what wasn’t asked, was an explanation as to why the club felt there were only 4 or 5 attainable targets to improve the playing staff - not least when the club have paid (presumably) high dollar for one of the allegedly greatest scouting minds in the modern game. That’s part of why I say “gaslit” - I don’t think what Howe and the club are saying stands up to any journalistically responsible level of scrutiny. It can’t be stated clearly enough: the club has failed its objective of improving the playing staff for this season. That’s a serious failure and one which forms and unhelpful narrative about this season when we really could have done without one on the back of a previous season full of pretty bad narratives. As a result, the sentiment around the club - and apparently inside judging by what he’s said - is needlessly and avoidably negative. In my view it’s a stupid and irresponsible risk.

I don’t mean just that interview - I mean the whole transfer window. I don’t think Howe or the club have been up front with fans. I just don’t accept that there’s only a small pool of players that improve our team. His hissy fit about Mitchell set a needlessly awkward tone and came across as an unwelcome power play to me. As I said earlier, I’ve no idea what’s gone on, but in my opinion (and it’s only an opinion) Howe hasn’t helped himself this window.