Paul Mitchell (Bald c*nt)

[Ben]

I wonder if it's a problem hiring people that are not from the area, it must beva massive upheaval for them and their family.

[JT24]

https://archive.ph/VcfKy

 

A new Paul Mitchell hate read is in courtesy of Martin Samuel.

 

Quote

There is one morsel of good news for Newcastle United’s incoming sporting director. Whoever it may be, he can’t be as bad as the last bloke.

 

Ross Wilson is the favourite for the role, ahead of Jason Ayto, formerly of Arsenal. Wilson has been the chief ­football officer at Nottingham Forest, so at least we know he’s not scared of hard work. And he will need that ­restlessness. Newcastle’s summer has been marked largely by frustration and tumbleweed. Not since cartoon skunk Pepé Le Pew has anyone in black and white had such trouble finding a match.

 

If Newcastle identify a target, he goes elsewhere. Meanwhile, star turn Alexander Isak has fled to northern Spain to avoid the pre-season tour and agitate for a move to Liverpool, whose first bid of £110 million was rejected. Liverpool are briefing that they won’t come back, but that hardly matters. Newcastle’s preparations are already in ruins. Isak doesn’t want to be there and the fans know this and are increasingly against him. It’s a mess. What did former sporting director Paul Mitchell do in his year at the club? What did he bestow? What plans, what blueprints?

 

Mitchell cannot be blamed for some recent disappointments, but he was a recruiter who didn’t recruit and, by the looks of it, didn’t leave much behind that was concrete as his legacy. Plenty of deals are set up in advance. We all knew that Trent Alexander-Arnold was on his way to Real Madrid many months out. Chelsea had Christian Pulisic agreed six months before he came, too. And José Mourinho would never take credit for the arrival of Petr Cech or Arjen Robben, saying those deals were in place before he was.

 

Yet, having supposedly kept their powder dry for the great leap forward, what did Newcastle have arranged that hasn’t fallen apart? Not Marc Guéhi — last summer’s missed target — not João Pedro. They couldn’t even keep goalkeeper James Trafford from joining Manchester City, the club that jettisoned him two years ago. Hopes of beating last season’s 15th-placed team, Manchester United, to Benjamin Sesko sit in the balance. And before Liverpool came in for Isak they had already secured Hugo Ekitike, who Newcastle had fondly imagined would be his partner, or his replacement if the unthinkable happened. To see both in red would be little short of disastrous.

 

And if all Mitchell had done was nothing — well, it wouldn’t be impressive, but it wouldn’t be actively harmful. Yet one of the few calls he did make is believed to have alienated Isak and may be the root of his present dissatisfaction. Having been promised an improved contract by the previous executive regime of Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi, Isak was then informed that would not be happening. The logic was straightforward: Isak was a high earner with four years left on his deal and Newcastle are mindful of Profitability and Sustainability Rules. Yet the ramifications can now be seen. Isak clearly knows another club can make him happy. One whose recruitment agents are efficiency’s gold standard.

 

That’s the problem with football’s new executive model. Recruiters, sporting directors, call them what you will, appear to be no more reliable than the people they have replaced: the managers. Manchester United were said to have fallen behind because they were entirely reliant on the wit of Sir Alex Ferguson. Last season, Sir Jim Ratcliffe bemoaned the fact the club were still behind on data analytics and could only rely on the eyes of Jason Wilcox, the sporting director. Yet if Newcastle had a coach as ferociously proactive as Ferguson, would they have struggled to get deals done?

 

No criticism of Eddie Howe is intended. He works in a modern club, which Ferguson’s United were not. Yet it’s not just about chains of command, philosophies and strategies. The best people, that is what Liverpool have. All clubs employ executives to direct football, or sport, or recruitment, whichever title is the fashion. Chelsea’s probably have their own wing at the training ground. Yet some clubs buy consistently well, others do not. Newcastle recruited a man to recruit the men, but he failed. The ramifications are significant. Neither Wilson nor Ayto can be active in this transfer window. Another one is passing Newcastle by.

 

Has Howe got too much power, it is asked? After all, Mitchell’s time there may not have recovered from an early schism with Howe and with a void at the top sporting direction increasingly lands at the manager’s door. Yet what option is there, in Newcastle’s state? They had a man to do that job. Not only didn’t he do it but some of the decisions appear to have benefited a rival. That’s what you call a good recruitment strategy. Liverpool have even got the opposition working for them.

 

[cannybagoftudor]

39 minutes ago, JT24 said:

https://archive.ph/VcfKy

 

A new Paul Mitchell hate read is in courtesy of Martin Samuel.

 

 

Fuck me - he was even more useless than I first thought. Good article.

[TRon]

10 minutes ago, cannybagoftudor said:

Fuck me - he was even more useless than I first thought. Good article.

 

 

If it's true, it's not a great look that no one at the club picked up on it. It really does look as if everyone was asleep at the wheel. 

[duo]

Hopefully this Isak situation is a wake up call to PIF

[Kanj]

I have been saying this for fucking ages yet people still find ways to put a knife into Eddie. Mitchell didn’t do a single fucking thing the fucking idiot. He’s a cunt of the highest order. Useless as absolute fuck. 

[Kanj]

6 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

 

If it's true, it's not a great look that no one at the club picked up on it. It really does look as if everyone was asleep at the wheel. 

he was hired by the CEO though. Who probably made excuses for him 

[Abacus]

2 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

 

If it's true, it's not a great look that no one at the club picked up on it. It really does look as if everyone was asleep at the wheel. 

 

I don't reckon Eddie was.

 

Thing is Samuel is more of a comment piece journalist, has to comment on every sport in theory, though it's mainly football that he actually does talk about.

 

Don't mind him, but he's more one for analysis rather than news.

[Abacus]

Mitchell has left us worse than where we started before he was there. I blame the CEO that appointed him, personally. But saying all that, I know nothing of the internal politics.

[TRon]

6 minutes ago, Kanj said:

he was hired by the CEO though. Who probably made excuses for him 

 

 

Yeah I bumped the Eales thread and made the same point a week ago. He deserves our sympathy for his illness, but he really should have been discharged of his duties a lot earlier if he wasn't on top of what Mitchell was doing/not doing. 

 

The whole thing was a shitshow tbh, we clearly had a clash of ideas between the hierarchy and Howe which led to the impasse, and decisions should have been made to go one way or the other far earlier. 

[Kanj]

1 minute ago, TRon said:

 

 

Yeah I bumped the Eales thread and made the same point a week ago. He deserves our sympathy for his illness, but he really should have been discharged of his duties a lot earlier if he wasn't on top of what Mitchell was doing/not doing. 

 

The whole thing was a shitshow tbh, we clearly had a clash of ideas between the hierarchy and Howe which led to the impasse, and decisions should have been made to go one way or the other far earlier. 

to have had no plans in place is fucking absurd and don’t anyone try and say it’s Eddie’s way or preference. You’re the sporting director, there has literally been fuck all of the way of a year’s work. The stupid cunt. 

[gbandit]

This lad’s career is in a worse state than gardener Dan. Let’s get it right next time lads 

[Abacus]

The reason for him leaving in June was something like officially that he wanted to go when Eales did. That's turned out to be bull as well. The two of them mates have made a horlicks of it off field, from an outsider's point of view.

 

Just bring in a CEO with ambition and influence plus a sporting director that actually does what they promise and supports their manager in the right way. This whole 'football vision' thing instead being brought by an unaccountable short term suit seems laughable now. 

[Conjo]

30 minutes ago, Kanj said:

I have been saying this for fucking ages yet people still find ways to put a knife into Eddie. Mitchell didn’t do a single fucking thing the fucking idiot. He’s a cunt of the highest order. Useless as absolute fuck. 

 

I don't think there's many, if any, putting a knife into Eddie. It's just you that interpret questions/defence about Mitchell as criticism of Eddie, or questions/criticism of Eddie as defending Mitchell. 

 

That article is pure speculation. For all we know we could have offered Isak a new deal. We don't even know if there were any promises made by Stavely.

[Sibierski]

I still don’t get on board with the article. Like you can say Mitchell done nothing, in which case what was the agreement late in the season when everyone in the club would be drawing up list of targets? 
 

Did Mitchell turn up and say “Sorry guys, got no names”. Or did it have we’ve got £150m to spend this summer if we get UCL, and Howe has earmarked Elanga, Pedro and Trafford as the players he wants. Great, Mitchell is thinking. That will leave me with whatever we recoup from sales to pick up some low cost buys. May as well head off. 
 

Feels like club were all in agreement what would be targets, and Mitchell left probably after a period of consideration if this is the job he wants as it would clearly be different to what Earles appointed him on. 

[Abacus]

2 minutes ago, Conjo said:

 

I don't think there's many, if any, putting a knife into Eddie. It's just you that interpret questions/defence about Mitchell as criticism of Eddie, or questions/criticism of Eddie as defending Mitchell. 

 

That article is pure speculation. For all we know we could have offered Isak a new deal. We don't even know if there were any promises made by Stavely.

 

The article is nothing and says nothing new, that's true. 

 

Saying all that, to surprise your manager with a new sporting director as seemed to be the case, who then went in with a ridiculous inflammatory media interview about recruitment in public isn't really the best start.

 

Just for that alone, there were things to fix already. It's fine being abrasive, but keep it in house unless you want a public spat.

 

This also happening straight after Staveley left when you'd need at least public calm and for things to settle internally was just amateur hour.

[KetsbaiaIsBald]

I’m choosing to believe that he got overruled in terms of the summer plan, didn’t want to be associated with it and left.  

[The Prophet]

Is not just his good mate and lad who hired him announced his departure and he had no other allies at the club after his initial outburst?

[Stuy_O]

Well he wasn't brought in to scout Cuhna or Mbuemo. 

[r0cafella]

1 minute ago, The Prophet said:

Is not just his good mate and lad who hired him announced his departure and he had no other allies at the club after his initial outburst?

That's the official line and you can certainly believe it if you want. Doesn't add up to me but it's the closest we will ever get to an official answer

[lovejoy]

2 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

Is not just his good mate and lad who hired him announced his departure and he had no other allies at the club after his initial outburst?

This is my take.

[54]

I get this summer has been horrendous, but I still can't believe there are people backing this absolute chancer.  

[r0cafella]

Just now, 54 said:

I get this summer has been horrendous, but I still can't believe there are people backing this absolute chancer.  

Don't think anyone is backing him. Just don't buy the official line why he was peddled

 

[kingxlnc]

Cordero, Vakhtang and Soo

 

these are his legacy and we will see if he was all he was made out to be

[AyeDubbleYoo]

We’ll forget he existed in a couple of months.