KaKa

With all the discussion that has gone on regarding the Sporting Director's role and the Manager's role regarding transfers, this is an incredibly interesting listen. A little snippet for you ... Rogers wanted Tom Ince ahead of Coutinho, who the recruitment guys wanted, and that was the deal that was going to happen until Blackpool changed the terms late on!

Playing at least one winger that gets in behind with Kane on the pitch, and a central midfielder that constantly crashes the box also, and the balance just looks so much better. I forget how many years Southgate was in charge, but he never understood or figured this out. What a complete waste of Kane's prime years.

Arsenal are done for if so. Don't really have a replacement for him in their squad.

I don't think the strategy will change. Howe wants a centre back and right winger he is certain can make a difference in the first team. This likely means Prem proven, which is why he opted to not spend in the end, if we couldn't land Guehi and Elanga. In Mitchell's first interview he touched on this point. That they have the foundations of a good team and that they are looking to add one or two key additions. Now, whether we will be able to identify other options that fit this mandate, that Howe can be convinced of, we will see. As far as the general thinking goes, Mitchell has already confirmed he is on board with pursuing these type of targets to complete the first team for Howe. Going forward from there is where Mitchell's skills will come into play. Moving on some of the older or not that great squad players, and getting in younger prospects at good value to replace them. Looking back, and considering our financial situation, we probably shouldn't have been spending what we did on some of our squad players, despite how good they've been. Barnes, Tino and Hall cost around £100 million between them.

I'm not by any means saying we should sign him. I just said if we did I wouldn't panic about it. We were linked with him when he was at Ajax and so would imagine we'd have information based on his time there and what he did in the Champions League also. Ajax setup afforded him a lot more space and passing options to allow him to dribble, score and create. Miggy's biggest problem with us IMO, is that he isn't a right winger. He played behind the striker and on the left in the MLS. On the left he is far more confident using his pace to push the ball down the line on his strong side. We saw this under Rafa who used him on the left and Ayoze on the right. On the right side Miggy doesn't really dribble at all, because he can't go down the line with his pace. There's no real trickery to his take on ability.

One thing you absolutely cannot do with a player that favours a particular foot, is not have any full back support on the outside. They often paired him with Wan Bissaka who did not overlap and isn't great in forward areas. Was very easy to just double up on Antony. At Ajax his full back over lapped and the central midfielders on his side under lapped too, which opened up a lot more for him, and created space. Ten Hag is so bad it's untrue.

Same. If this war is raging behind the scenes like these papers are claiming then Howe should soon leave, as he said himself he won't continue if he isn't able to work how he wants. And so we'll see if that happens or not.

That's because it's not making any sense.

You've ignored every single positive thing he has said about Howe and decided he's lying about those things. Meanwhile you're reading way too much into what he's said about going with the strategy in place and needing to improve the recruitment going forward. It's unbelievable.

This is ridiculous man So Howe is lying about his relationship with Mitchell because he doesn't give accurate team info before matches. And I presume Mitchell is lying as well about their communication and relationship being good. Comical stuff.

Howe after the window: Despite accepting that this was probably the most personally “hands-off” transfer window he had experienced as a manager Howe was careful not to criticise Mitchell and the hierarchy. “My happiness against what we’re able to do in the transfer market are totally different things,” he said. “I’m enjoying my work. I’m happy. “But it’s a challenging period, no doubt about that. I’ve said all summer that I’m not involved in negotiations for players. It probably has been my most hands-off window. The whole structure of the club is different. There are different personalities and different ways of working. But that’s not necessarily a negative. “My job is to continue to do the best for the players we have here. There’s been some unsettled players [at Newcastle] but the closure of transfer window will bring clarity and common purpose. We’ll just have to crack on regardless and try and have a great season while learning the lessons of what’s happened.”

Ha! Of course Asked about the appointment of Mitchell by BBC Radio Newcastle, Howe said: “The early signs are promising. “So, I think he’s the right person to lead Newcastle United forward. I think he’s got a passion, I think he’ll make good decisions – a very strong decision-maker. “So yeah, I think it all looks positive.” Mitchell is keen to downplay any suggestion of an ongoing rift between the pair, insisting their relationship is good, and has become even stronger over the course of a testing summer. Howe suggested last week that he has been playing a more “hands-off role” with regard to transfer matters, but Mitchell has painted a different picture of the situation. “Contrary to opinion, we speak every night more or less, and every day a minimum of once, on all different topics," he said. "I think this idea that me and Eddie haven’t spoken all the way through the transfer window is false. "All the way right up to the last minutes, he is fully updated and involved. We speak literally an hour a night. If we aren’t able to physically communicate, we’ll use WhatsApp. "He’ll get regular updates from me - this is happening, this looks like it’s happening, this player is going on loan. We speak one hour every evening if we can’t see each other during the day - this is what has happened today, 'This is where we are with a potential player, where we are with the current exit strategy'. For me, that is a healthy level of communication."

Picking and choosing what they want to believe. Ignoring that both men have said communication has been good between the two, and things are good so far. Ignoring that people that were present at the interview said it didn't come across as negative. Instead going with Hope and Edwards narrative, which is rubbished most o of the time on here anyway.

I find the insistence he was throwing people under the bus even weirder. He's far more experienced in recruitment than anyone we've had at Newcastle since the takeover. If he says things need improving he's probably not just talking for the hell of it.

The point was Ashworth isn't that strong on recruitment. This is why they have been looking for a recruitment specialist to work under him.

To be fair to Howe, I'm pretty sure he was refering to being hands off on the day to day negotiations. All of this stuff is just getting misinterpreted by the media. Going forward, it's just not worth them even trying to communicate because it just gets twisted every which way.

Well he's describing what the strategy in place was. People are looking at it as him dishing out blame, because they've already accepted the narrative of a falling out behind the scenes over targets. At the end of the day he agreed with the strategy and supported it, and so they were all in the same boat. I'm not convinced that internally they were at logger heads. They all even seemed to be in agreement to sit tight and not spend the money if they couldn't land a difference maker for the first team. I expect January will be a continuation of what they were trying to do in the summer. With maybe a few other alternatives being considered.

Yeah, they were also looking at Freedman.

Good. Funny because Man United are still looking for a recruitment specialist to work under him. I wonder why that is.

The DOF working in agreement with the manager is a must. If Howe can't make the adjustment, it will be game over for him. I think Howe will adjust though. Ashworth didn't have the global recruitment experience Mitchell has, and that will be the difference.

He said he was in agreement with their agreed strategy, and worked towards that. That is not distancing himself from blame.

Eddie himself said he could do with more information on players from further afield. He has also been asking for the recruitment to be centred around more data/analysis, and not just old school first person scouting. The previous structure was worthy of criticism. It was well behind the times.

Which is why any sign of further problems and Howe will be out.

No chance his job is under threat. And in fact if and when any drama kicks off between him and the manager, Eddie is the one that will be gone. Fortunately, all this noise appears to be a load of nonsense from the doom mongers.