Backroom & executive staff

[Sibierski]

Going for Wilson and Elanga feels proper de ja vu of Freedman and Guehi last summer  

[JT24]

6 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

Ayto > Wilson 

[LFEE]

3 minutes ago, JT24 said:

Ayto > Wilson 

Based on what out of interest? No nothing about either.

[PauloGeordio]

From the Telegraph

 

It will come as no surprise to Arsenal that Jason Ayto is of serious interest to Newcastle, and indeed to other clubs in the Premier League. At the Emirates Stadium they are well aware of the qualities that he possesses, having witnessed his rise through the ranks after first joining the club as a scout in 2014.

Ayto is not a high-profile figure. There are very few pictures of him online, and he has no public social-media presence. In this sense he is the opposite of Edu, the former Arsenal sporting director who identified Ayto’s talent before promoting him to a position of huge influence at the club.

Ayto was one of the major beneficiaries of the changes to Arsenal’s scouting network that were overseen by Edu in 2020. The Brazilian wanted a more streamlined and data-savvy recruitment department and he quickly saw the potential in the multilingual Ayto.

Such was the closeness of the two men, agents on the continent were soon referring to Ayto as “the right hand of Edu”. He began to play a major role in almost every aspect of Arsenal’s recruitment policy, with Arteta saying in November last year: “Edu and I probably got a lot of the praise, but the work behind it is done by this guy. Jason has been phenomenal.”

Edu and Mikel Arteta both rated Ayto highly Credit: Reuters/Phil Noble

Following Edu’s departure from Arsenal last season, Ayto was made interim sporting director until the appointment of Andrea Berta as sporting director in March. In that time, Ayto played a crucial role in the pursuit of Real Sociedad midfielder Martin Zubimendi, who is joining Arsenal in a deal worth more than £50 million.

Ayto was a serious contender for the sporting director role on a full-time basis and, Telegraph Sport understands, came very close to getting it before Arsenal eventually settled on the more experienced Berta.

Insiders at Arsenal always spoke positively of Ayto, who was a friendly and approachable figure at the training ground. Sources always insisted that he could also be firm when it was required.

Having lost out on the job to Berta, it was no real surprise that Ayto then left Arsenal in May to pursue other opportunities. His star continues to rise.

[Joelinton7]

[Bunk Moreland]

Nothing new. I suppose this tidbit is mildly interesting:

 

"Ideally, Newcastle would prefer to bring in a chief executive before a sporting director but, should they decide upon the right candidate for the latter, those appointments could be reversed."

 

Apparently CEO is in the final stages.

 

 

 

Edited July 2, 2025 by Bunk Moreland

[Chapo]

Process expedited eh. 

[HawK]

If you were to merge Thomas Tuchel and Tino Livramento into one person...

[Nucasol]

Just now, Chapo said:

Process expedited eh. 

Jan 2026 rather than June 2026.

[SUPERTOON]

23 minutes ago, Bunk Moreland said:

Nothing new. I suppose this tidbit is mildly interesting:

 

"Ideally, Newcastle would prefer to bring in a chief executive before a sporting director but, should they decide upon the right candidate for the latter, those appointments could be reversed."

 

Apparently CEO is in the final stages.

 

 

 

 

I should hope so 

[Theregulars]

The club and I have very different definitions of the word “expedited”. Very slow to replace Eales.

[Guest]

Ross is superb, would love to see him with a good amount of money to spend

[Miggys First Goal]

So you could say it was imminent?

[mattypnufc]

Imminent/Expedited/Close/Soon/Q1/Immediately. 

 

Incredibly bored of all this talk.  Just crack on man. 

[SUPERTOON]

23 minutes ago, Theregulars said:

The club and I have very different definitions of the word “expedited”. Very slow to replace Eales.

That’s being kind to them.

[Tiresias]

I suspect PIF need to a ok a lot more decisions than they really ought to and it takes them an age to do so and it's severely impacting us. I wonder if Staverley was willing to make decisions and explain herself later but no-one since has the trust. 

[Toon No9]

19 minutes ago, mattypnufc said:

Imminent/Expedited/Close/Soon/Q1/Immediately. 

 

Incredibly bored of all this talk.  Just crack on man. 

We're just monitoring at this stage I guess.

[TBG]

Class if Eales comes out with a Wolf of Wall Street I'm staying video to announce he's staying.

 

We need someone to hate daily now Mitchell is gone.

[Dr Venkman]

2 hours ago, Tiresias said:

Staverley 

 

[wyn davies]

Is it the case that PIF culture is to barter down to the last penny, just a thought.

[Lotus]

No idea if PIF barter for everything beyond the norm but I can tell you with some surety what they do. You’re trying to get something done, it requires some independent action from both you and PIF. They clearly spell out what they expect you to achieve and what they’re going to do. They stress the success is very time dependent. They badger you incessantly constantly asking for updates and encouraging you to hurry even more than you’re hurrying. Insist you give 200%!

You complete your side of it within the time scale first agreed upon only to find out they’ve done absolutely sweet F.A. and aren’t about to either. 
Project fails. 
They move on, hire the next ‘best in class’ and repeat the same procedure as above.

The only time something is actually achieved is when they’ve bankrolled it but stayed out of the decisions.

IME

[Ben]

I would still be a lot more confident going into this season with Staveley in charge. When I watched the documentary she seemed to be the one pushing everyone on and she certainly had more balls than all the blokes around her.

 

If the owners are really ambitious then we need people like her to drive it. 

 

 

[Gawalls]

1 minute ago, Ben said:

I would still be a lot more confident going into this season with Staveley in charge. When I watched the documentary she seemed to be the one pushing everyone on and she certainly had more balls than all the blokes around her.

 

If the owners are really ambitious then we need people like her to drive it. 

 

 

Same I get she overspent and we had to sell but her gamble paid off as that team and manager and everything she built won a cup and CL twice. PIF should have just brought a financial person along to work with her, I get I’m seriously simplyfying it but we’ve felt her loss.

[Ben]

2 minutes ago, Gawalls said:

Same I get she overspent and we had to sell but her gamble paid off as that team and manager and everything she built won a cup and CL twice. PIF should have just brought a financial person along to work with her, I get I’m seriously simplyfying it but we’ve felt her loss.

 

I forget the timeliness but was she even there when the mess needed sorting ? 

[Gawalls]

Just now, Ben said:

 

I forget the timeliness but was she even there when the mess needed sorting ? 

Yeah she was - I remember the take over and genuinely said to my dad “I’d be delighted with either Howe, Emery or Poche with Howe being my first choice” then they go out try and get Emery then Howe - I just agreed with 95% of what they did.