Paul Mitchell (Sporting Director)

[Alberto2005]

1 minute ago, Rich said:

Interview dropping tonight?

Based on?

[Rich]

2 minutes ago, Alberto2005 said:

Based on?

Just seeing if anyone else had heard the same.

[Dr Venkman]

8 minutes ago, Rich said:

Interview dropping tonight?

[Dr Venkman]

An interview with Paul Mitchell?

[SteV]

9 minutes ago, Rich said:

Just seeing if anyone else had heard the same.

Hope alluded to interviews coming with ‘interesting people’ during this break after the Spurs game.

[SUPERTOON]

I’d have thought it more likely Eales would be interviewed.

[The Prophet]

Just now, SUPERTOON said:

I’d have thought it more likely Eales would be interviewed.

 

I'd imagine we'll hear from both at some point.

[Weezertron]

5 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

I'd imagine we'll hear from both at some point.

Send out Mitchell first, assess the reaction. If negative, pivot and release an Eales interview with a different narrative. If positive, a follow up video of Eales singing a medley of NUFC chants.

 

 

Edited September 4 by Weezertron

[Paully]

 

[Ronson333]

 

[Decky]

Actions speak louder than words and he's going to have to prove his worth in the next couple of transfer windows. 

[Ronson333]

Newcastle United’s sporting director, Paul Mitchell, has said he had to walk away from the deal to sign Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace to set a precedent that showed the club would not be taken advantage of in the transfer market.

The club’s hierarchy have complained that, ever since the takeover by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund almost three years ago, there is a so-called “Newcastle tax” being levied on the asking prices they are quoted for players.

Mitchell said one of the first things he has had to do, since his appointment in July, is prove the club will no longer pay inflated prices – even though it led to a “frustrating” end to the transfer window.

In his first window in charge of recruitment, Mitchell failed to sign a player who will improve manager Eddie Howe’s first team. However, he argued it was more important to take a long term strategic view in a Profit and Sustainability (PSR) world than make a signing for “the sake of his ego”.

He said: “Is there a point of value for every single player and did, maybe, this football club need to draw a line in the sand of ‘we’re not going to overpay?’

“Probably looking at the players we have signed – and we’ve signed some really good players – could we say that some of those players, potentially, cost more money than they should have done in the market at that current context? You probably could have that argument and discussion.

“For this club to come out and say actually, we really liked this player and thought he could have brought benefit to this squad, but is it at any cost? Is it at financial risk to the organisation and our growth and our plan? 
 

“I don’t think we should do that. That’s a personal choice. Others might have a different opinion on that but I do take that part of my job seriously.

“Would it have been easier to sit in front of you all with hallmark signings that cost a load of money? Of course it would. But ultimately have them at the detriment to Newcastle’s ability to grow and high strategic ambitions for Paul Mitchell’s glorification – that’s not the job I’m paid to do. I’m paid to do the job in the short, medium and the long-term.”

‘Not a lack of ambition’

Mitchell admitted it was tempting to just pay whatever it took to sign a player, but said it would be damaging to the club in future transfer windows.

“The [Newcastle tax] was a real thing,” he explained. 

“It’s about setting precedents to the market that we will pay fair value for the right profile [of player] for sure.

“It shouldn’t be misconceived of a lack of ambition, I just think that’s the model you have to work in the modern game now. There’s a lot of common factors that we need to adjust to make sure we keep being sustainably successful.

“It should not be lobbied against ambition because if we just spend, spend, spend, spend once again, we become accountable to that by penalties, fines and points deductions and that isn’t good leadership, that isn’t being a good custodian of the club, that isn’t taking your role responsibly, you’re being negligent. That is only for one thing, it’s for your ego. We’re not going to do that.

“I think ultimately, unless we felt like, and I say we, and I think unless Eddie [Howe] really felt a player was going to have a difference and bring a difference to the starting XI, I think he even said this in the pre-match against Southampton, we’d rather not overpay. That once again in the next window could become a limiting factor for the future, but also the recognition we have a really good team full of internationals.”

Paul Mitchel relaxed over Eddie Howe England links

By Luke Edwards

Paul Mitchell is not in the least bit surprised Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe is on the Football Association's shortlist to replace Gareth Southgate as England manager but insisted he wants him to remain at St James' Park for a very long time.

Newcastle's CEO, Darren Eales, has already stated that he would reject any approach from the FA, who have named Lee Carsley as interim manager for the League of Nations campaign, to poach Howe and the 46-year-old has a huge release clause in his contract that could well be beyond the governing's body financial clout.

But that has not stopped speculation linking him with the job, partly fuelled by Howe's comments during a pre-season training camp in Germany, in which he said he had to feel happy and supported if he was to remain Newcastle manager.

"I'm excited to work with Eddie," said Mitchell. "As I am excited to work with [women's team manager] Becky [Langley]. Both coaches with great potential that can go on this journey with us, however far our ambition can stretch.

"The way I look at interest in general, is that it’s an example that it’s proof that someone’s doing a really great job. I think Eddie has said this, and I’m no different, we’re both proud Englishmen. I think Eddie getting recognised with a job like that, because of the work he’s done, is fair recognition for the really good job that he’s done.

"We want Eddie Howe as our head coach for as long as we can. But we also recognise we are on a journey, and we also recognise his quality and his potential as well. Once again, I’ve never been a guy scared of interest in any of our staff members, especially our head coach, and especially from a level of organization that the FA is.

"As an Englishman, I am proud. And I think it’s a recognition of the two-and-a-half years he’s had here and the job he did at Bournemouth. It’s a really good practitioner being recognised for what he’s done."

Expand 

Mitchell insisted his relationship with Howe has developed well, with the two “in daily contact” sometimes with phone calls “lasting an hour.”

‘You cannot just keep spending’

He said: “In every relationship I’ve had with coaches, and I’ve been doing this a long time, with a lot of different coaches from a lot of different cultures, they ebb and flow.

“The core foundation is the respect part, but you’re going to have points of contact, because it’s a stressful industry we work in where you might have to have a strong debate.

“But that doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Positive conflict is still healthy to move forward and that part of the relationship can’t be all Eddie’s way or Paul Mitchell’s way, it’s got to be a collaboration of both.

“What I’ve seen of Eddie Howe and how good a coach he is, he is super impressive on the grass – and I’ve got pretty good context with the ones I’ve worked with – and what I think I can bring to the table, I’m excited to see where that can take us.”

Mitchell, though, did take a thinly veiled swipe at his predecessor Dan Ashworth, who left the club in February in order to take up a similar position at Manchester United.

Ashworth, who spent two years in charge at St James’ Park, was supposed to improve Newcastle’s scouting network and recruitment practices, but Mitchell claimed this is an area that still needs extensive modernisation.

“Should our scouting and recruitment be driven more extensively with a wider reaching net?,” he asked reporters, in his first sit-down interview since his appointment two months ago.

“It definitely should be because this is becoming a really nuanced space now, when you just can’t capitally fund everything every year, buying loads of players at peak age and peak price. 

“That’s the responsibility of me, the scouting team, the recruitment team and Eddie. To do that, to look at that. Is it fit for purpose?

“Is it fit for purpose in the modern game, with the modern challenges? Because other clubs that have maybe adopted a different approach over time, with more intelligence, maybe more data-informed than we are, actually prospered, didn’t they, this window? And I think that’s where we have to grow.

After the transfer window closed, Eddie Howe said he 'understands the frustration and I share it'

“Was, let’s say, the scouting network, the lengths and breadths of our process bigger and broader enough? Probably not. And that’s the bit we analyse to be better. That’s the bit where we have to adjust and modernise.

“Maybe that’s a bit of reality as well. Can we spend to the same level as what we’ve spent the last two and a half years? When sustainability is real, you cannot keep spending and not selling any football players. The math doesn’t work.

“You look at the teams that have really heavily spent this summer, they’ve sold players at certain points in the last couple of years, we haven’t.”

Despite a window which was described as “embarrasing” by former Newcastle captain Alan Shearer and the failure to strengthen Howe’s first choice XI, Mitchell remained bullish about Newcastle’s chances of success this season.

He said: “With the current quality of individuals we have and collective experience, with the current quality of head coach we have, should we be getting into Europe in some context this year? I think that is a realistic ambition, I do.

“Because I think we are a good team and we have an excellent head coach who will be with us on this journey for a long time.

“I think last year there were a lot of different contributing factors that still need to be assessed [number of injuries and extra games in Europe].

“There were a lot of different challenges that this club for a long time hadn’t faced before, that we no longer have. I think the quality and growth of some of our young players, the experience that we currently have.

“Keeping your best players, that was also a challenge for us this year – to keep the drivers of the team, the talent, the quality, that was also something we had to work hard towards, and I think we succeeded.

“European football as an ambition is a realistic one, I think for everyone, and that has to be the challenge for us all.”

[gbandit]

“We didn’t have the sales window we thought we would have – and we have to look at that strategy as well, was that right, it was all aligned with the head coach. We have a lot to look at.”
 

[Jack27]

Here we go! 

[Rich]

I’m fine with blaming Dinky Dan for the bulk of our current problems and seeing Howe take a reduced role in recruitment moving forwards, like. It’s realistically the only way we’re going to be set for the long, long term.

[Joey47]

I think Mitchell speaks a lot of sense regarding the “Newcastle tax” and not submitting to it. But as mentioned on here many times throughout the window, Guehi can’t be the only player for £65 million and under that would have improved our defence.

 

I also like that he’s basically shitting on Ashworth and saying the scouting processes he had in place are outdated 

 

 

Edited September 4 by Joey47

[Theregulars]

I don’t like that “on the grass” shit that keeps coming up. All management speak. Pipe down and identify some players to improve us.

[Rich]

They’re definitely hammering the ‘great coach’ bit, aye.

[Decky]

13 minutes ago, Ronson333 said:

Newcastle United’s sporting director, Paul Mitchell, has said he had to walk away from the deal to sign Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace to set a precedent that showed the club would not be taken advantage of in the transfer market.

 

Its a good strategy to have but I'm not sure it has any merit when you walk away the day before the transfer window ends having spent the entire month of August working on the deal. All this while Palace constantly move the goalposts and make it awkward. I get he was a high-priority target but we probably should have walked away a lot sooner than we did so we could explore other options with time on our side. 

 

 

 

Edited September 4 by Decky

[gbandit]

It’s going to take a lot to overhaul our recruitment infrastructure. We’re clearly miles behind a lot of clubs but it’s achievable at least with the right people and processes. I wouldn’t call them digs as such but I’d say that both Howe and Mitchell have spoken in a way as to not take responsibility for the Guehi mess and to partly transfer that responsibility in a veiled way to the other

[timeEd32]

The Edwards article is far better for just getting a stream of the full quotes. 

 

Overall I like the sound of a lot of what he's saying. There's a couple lines that made me grimace relating to Eddie, but also plenty of praise for him so I'm going to assume everything is fine for now.

[mattypnufc]

In all fairness, Parish actually said yesterday that they didn’t bite at the end of the window due to that injury to their new CB. So it’s fair to say leaving our bid in was a plan given the circumstances. However they should’ve been looking at alternatives sooner to press Palace. 

[Jack27]

 

Great English in this opening sentence from Edwards

[STM]

The standout thing for me is that we are 100% going to be focusing on cheaper players from abroad from now on.

 

I'm fully on board with that... so long as he doesn't think we are Brighton or Brentford. We need to have more ambitions.

[jack j]

1 minute ago, STM said:

 

 

I'm fully on board with that... so long as he doesn't think we are Brighton or Brentford. We need to have more ambitions.

Aye

Can see people thinking it's a softening of expectations the way that's been said tbh...