KaKa

Pathetic article.

I felt the same after reading the Athletic article

Yeah, when we started both, a lot of times, it was with Isak out left. He has also played off Wilson at times too though. That 4th placed season we went to that setup to chase games at times, when we were behind. It looked good too.

That was the role Howe had Josh King play with Wilson at Bournemouth. Thought he was going to do the same with Isak and Wilson when we first signed Isak.

He said he was in agreement with sticking with the original strategy, and so he is just as culpable. Deflecting blame would be if he came out and said that he decided not to get involved till the next window and the strategy had nothing to with him.

Decent front four that. Really nice mix of abilities.

Fantastic play from Gyokeres in the lead up to the first.

Ah, okay. Well all I can say then is that perhaps people are reading too much into what he's said then. Time will tell. Maybe it will be proven there is something to that point of view. Not so sure there is though.

I'm sorry but I just don't agree with how you've stated this. He explained that he was in agreement with the already agreed upon strategy for this window, having come in late into proceedings. He then states that he thinks things can be improved upon going forward by broadening the scope for recruitment, and providing more options for the manager. Bemoaning, distancing himself, them seeing it as a failure of a window, attaching Howe alone to how things played out, apportioning blame ... I'm not seeing any of that.

Fair enough. I think he's just trying to explain what the approach was, because of the negative reaction to the window. From Howe and Mitchell's point of view it appears they were fine with sitting tight if they couldn't land Guehi, which was the manager's preference. From their side they don't seem to have seen it as a window that went wrong in some way, which blame needed to be taken for. Obviously, we don't all agree with that view, as we were expecting a different approach, but that's the strategy they felt was right at the time, rightly or wrongly.

He says upfront that the agreed approach for the window was to go with the strategy that they already had in place, and they were all in agreement on this. If anything he is coming in not looking to throw his weight around, but instead respect what was decided upon already. He said that they were working on multiple deals and options but that they then determined that Howe preferred a CB he was certain would impact the first team, in Guehi, and if not, he was fine with the quality he had, and so he supported that view. Struggling to see the negative slant being put on these quotes

This is it for me too. I want a top DOF overseeing things, and I'm quite optimistic that with his experience and background he'll sell his ideas and vision to Howe successfully. We'll soon see how things play out.

This is his full explanation of what went on this summer. I don't think this is unreasonable or blame shifting. He will now get his chance to have more of an impact and so we'll soon see. The Marc Guehi saga dominated Newcastle’s summer, with their month-long pursuit ending in failure. But Mitchell — who repeatedly stressed that because he arrived on July 4, he largely acted in “a supporting role” to a “pre-existing strategy” — insisted the approach was one that had been agreed collectively. Mitchell admitted he “would have been far more comfortable” if he had joined sooner, “but my job was just to support so I didn’t actually disturb, rightly or wrongly, our direction of travel” in the window. It risks coming across as an excuse, but was his way of trying to explain exactly what happened. “My learning is that coming in, in a pre-arranged strategy, is hard,” he said. “You ultimately then find yourself supporting, more than driving elements.” Howe had signed off on all of the targets and did not merely want an alternative centre-back for the sake of it, he wanted one who would materially improve his XI. Without naming the player, Mitchell was clear Guehi was the centre-back that Howe felt could make a difference to his side, even if other targets were ratified by the head coach. Even so, Mitchell implied he wants Newcastle to widen their scope in the market in future. “Eddie was very clear and it’s not up to me after seven weeks to say, ‘We’ll do this and that’, because I’m in a supporting role,” Mitchell said. “Were there options? Of course there were, as that’s the responsibility of the department and Newcastle. “That’s why we ended up where we did. It was that player or he felt he was comfortable with the quality we have. You can be on multiple deals at any one time, the focus doesn’t have to be that narrow. We probably were too narrow but, coming in mid-July, it’s not my strategy to control, it’s my strategy to support. “But there was no player that he (Howe) wasn’t part of deciding and saying, ‘That’s the guy I want’.”

Did you read the Athletic's coverage of this interview? Probably the most balanced one, so I'd recommend. I think it's pretty embarrassing that our recruitment still isn't that data/analysis driven. Coming from the background Mitchell has, I'm not surprised he's not been impressed by it. Most specifically, Mitchell — whose role is “90 per cent recruitment” according to Darren Eales, the CEO — intends to overhaul Newcastle’s scouting practices. Howe has pushed the club to modernise and become more scientific in their recruitment processes, which is part of the reason a sporting director with Mitchell’s profile was sought.

One of the criticisms levelled at Howe by some supporters — and rejected by the head coach — is that he prefers Premier League additions. Howe would contest that Newcastle’s recruitment team hold far greater data and analysis of domestic and European targets than of those from further afield and that he would acquire more players from elsewhere if similar levels of information were available to him. Evidently, Mitchell wants to provide that for his head coach, as he plans for Newcastle to have more of a “global vision of players who we can sign” so they can take advantage of “finding undervalued talents at a certain age profile”. “I wouldn’t say too much because we’ve signed players from other leagues at great cost,” Mitchell said when asked if he feels Newcastle have been too Premier League-centric in their recruitment. “It’s normal for domestic clubs to look first domestically. There probably needs to be more of a balance at looking externally and globally, to stretch our radius.” The obvious question is whether Howe himself is content with that tweaked approach and Mitchell seemed confident the head coach will be. Referencing that Newcastle were facing “quite a big (PSR) hole” in June, Mitchell feels Howe will be receptive to a more economically-savvy strategy. “Eddie is very smart and I think he knows there needs to be evolution,” said Mitchell. “It’s a collective responsibility between me and him to understand: are there other areas we can look at to bring those good players to his team to be coached by him.”

Agree completely. We've now pretty much run out of Minteh's and Anderson's, and so going forward, if we continued as we had been going, the next step would be to start selling the crown jewels. It was never sustainable for where we currently are.

I think we're just going to have to agree to disagree on this. I think there is room for improvement in our recruitment, and I think we need more balance, as far as taking a bit more risk with players that are not as heralded and can be had for much less. We were linked a lot with Wharton for example but hesitated and lost out there. And in general I just think the Championship is overlooked, considering the players coming through there that have had an impact in the league. I also recall a fair bit being made about Nickson's knowledge of the South America market, and him having good contacts there, but we haven't done much there. João Gomes, João Pedro and Gabriel Sara have all come direct from there and looked really good. Sprinkling in a few of these signings likely brings down our transfer spend significantly. I'm just not sure our information or knowledge globally has been good enough, or strong enough to convince the manager. I think Mitchell is going to be more capable of selling this and convincing Howe of a broader approach. Guess we'll see what happens. I'm optimistic though.

Yeah, I get it. Ultimately though, with better recruitment, we could have brought in players for less than we did, that could have done just as well. We can't just assume this isn't possible. We saw more of this earlier on. Signing the likes of Bruno and Botman for around £30 million a piece. With where we were at PSR wise, we probably shouldn't have been spending what we did. We were quite fortunate with Minteh and Anderson in the end, but at some point discussions were being had about Gordon, because the situation was so precarious.

Exactly! Not to mention, that Brighton model is evolving. They clearly took more of a step forward this summer in the amount they spent on individual players being brought in. They seem to have a long term plan in place, and they will likely end up selling less and less as time goes on.

Yeah, great they've done well. However, if we overpaid for what they were at the time, ultimately that now led to the PSR situation and losing valuable young talent. Not to mention also restricting what we've been able to do as far as bringing players in the last couple of windows.

Yeah, everyone at the club really needs to be more open minded to continuing to learn and grow, including Howe and the current recruitment team. Mitchell's background is really strong. That Red Bull machine is something else as far as identifying talent early and bringing them through. We absolutely have to tap into some of that knowledge, and incorporate that into how we operate.

It's funny because I clearly remember the public discourse being we paid too much for a lot of our signings at the time. Thankfully it has all worked out, because they have performed well and actually increased their value for the most part.

Same! The irony is I really believe this will actually make Howe a better and more successful manager if he buys in. A few more honest and tough discussions about the balance of the squad and the PSR situation previously, and he would have likely had a better balanced squad at his disposal, and we wouldn't have had to lose Minteh and Anderson to boot. This would have put Howe in position to achieve even better results.

It's called leadership. He's been brought in to lead a particularly important area of the club, and he's going to have to put his stamp on how things need to function. He's not here to baby or coddle the manager or anyone else. The onus is on Howe to work WITH him, and as Mitchell has said there is room for spirited discussions and he is not against that, as part of then making important final decisions. This isn't kindergarten.

I liked the interview and I agree with a lot of what he had to say. Mitchell has some excellent experience in player recruitment, especially working so extensively as a part of the Red Bull model with Ragnick. It is up to Mitchell to really help bring Eddie along to his way of thinking, as that is ultimately how the top clubs function, and it is in Howe's best interest to adjust to that. You can't really blame Howe too much if he has been a bit too rigid, as it is all he has ever known, and he hasn't been exposed to any different, and ultimately it got him the success he has had so far. The good news is Howe is excellent at nurturing and maximising talent, and this should be his focus, and it fits very well with a DOF that can provide him with top prospects and talent to work with. Howe just needs to now trust Mitchell to do so and give it a chance to play out. As Mitchell has said, Howe is sharp enough to know if the players provided are good enough or not, and as long as quality is coming in he will be happy, and it will make his job much easier. Excited to see how things develop. It certainly looks like Ashworth's recruitment setup wasn't good enough, or at least not up to the standard Mitchell wants to set, which is pretty exciting.