Paul Mitchell (Sporting Director)

[The Bonk]

2 minutes ago, gbandit said:

It’s interesting because we’ve underpaid for Gordon, Isak and Bruno by a decent margin 

 

Did we? Most on here were pretty upset at the price we paid for Gordon. Isak, Bruno have come here an excelled under Howe and been given a bigger spotlight outside of their previous leagues. I think I agree with you on Isak and Bruno, but the sentiment was we overpaid for "Ratface" Gordon on here. 

[WilliamPS]

Two bits:

 

1) Howe will be happy when he’s given top players to work with. That’s on Mitchell to deliver

 

2) Not every like in the interview is a dig/attack on someone, be that Ashworth, Staveley, Howe, Palace, most of it is just answers to questions. You can read far too much into these things 

[mikejaxer]

5 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

I get what you mean. For example...

 

Howe said in July that for him to be happy at the club, the new working dynamic with Mitchell and performance director James Bunce had to be right. On the addition of Bunce, Mitchell added: ‘I would like to believe someone as smart and intelligent as Eddie Howe would recognise quality wherever it came from. We’ve got to keep building that into our infrastructure.

 

‘That goes for scouting as well. I think good players are becoming harder to find because scouting is so competitive. But I think Eddie recognises good players and he also recognises this club is evolving to be bigger, and bigger and bigger. If you look at the super clubs, their infrastructure, their recruitment, they don’t just look at one market only. 

 

Feels pointed and a bit condescending. Obviously we can't hear how it was delivered though.

 

 

 

I mean, I don't disagree with his comments though.

[timeEd32]

If you only read the Hope piece then you'd definitely come away feeling like it was all quite negative and entirely focused on Eddie. Everyone should read the Hope, Edwards, and Douglas pieces because it definitely shows the spin Hope is putting on things.

 

I wish the club would release a video of the entire interview.

[Mattoon]

22 minutes ago, The Bonk said:

 

I think he was tossing Ashworth under the bus more than Howe. I think he was intimating that we need to focus on more than one player at a time.

 

This is how I took it, a dig at the previous man in charge not the current staff. I also think that Howe probably had a point in Guehi or nothing, if he felt that Guehi was the long term successor for Schar and anyone else we could have got wouldn't be able to fill his boots long term then why fork out for a stop gap when PSR is tight? 

 

Maybe it's just being read as a dig when all it is, is an explanation.

 

 

Edited September 4 by Mattoon

[bobbydazzla]

29 minutes ago, Superior Acuña said:

Can someone tell me if I hate him or like him please, sounds a boring read 

If you’re a glass half full character you’ll like him because you think he’ll try to get us tapped into the global recruitment market through utilising data driven decision making from a wide network of scouts

 

If you’re a glass half empty character you’ll dislike him because you think he’s going to spray paint

“COCK PISS PIF” on Yasir’s car then plant the used spray can in Eddie’s sports bag 

 

 

Edited September 4 by bobbydazzla

[Shadow Puppets]

7 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

I get what you mean. For example...

 

Howe said in July that for him to be happy at the club, the new working dynamic with Mitchell and performance director James Bunce had to be right. On the addition of Bunce, Mitchell added: ‘I would like to believe someone as smart and intelligent as Eddie Howe would recognise quality wherever it came from. We’ve got to keep building that into our infrastructure.

 

‘That goes for scouting as well. I think good players are becoming harder to find because scouting is so competitive. But I think Eddie recognises good players and he also recognises this club is evolving to be bigger, and bigger and bigger. If you look at the super clubs, their infrastructure, their recruitment, they don’t just look at one market only. 

 

Feels pointed and a bit condescending. Obviously we can't hear how it was delivered though.

 

 

 

Things always seem different written down. It’s probably an interview we needed to see, to be honest, to stop the different personalities of the journalists (*cough*Craig Hope*cough*) clouding and framing specific quotes.

[The Bonk]

1 minute ago, Shadow Puppets said:

Things always seem different written down. It’s probably an interview we needed to see, to be honest, to stop the different personalities of the journalists (*cough*Craig Hope*cough*) clouding and framing specific quotes.

 

People have their bias and hear or see what they want to see regardless, mate.  

[Hudson]

10 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

I get what you mean. For example...

 

Howe said in July that for him to be happy at the club, the new working dynamic with Mitchell and performance director James Bunce had to be right. On the addition of Bunce, Mitchell added: ‘I would like to believe someone as smart and intelligent as Eddie Howe would recognise quality wherever it came from. We’ve got to keep building that into our infrastructure.

 

‘That goes for scouting as well. I think good players are becoming harder to find because scouting is so competitive. But I think Eddie recognises good players and he also recognises this club is evolving to be bigger, and bigger and bigger. If you look at the super clubs, their infrastructure, their recruitment, they don’t just look at one market only. 

 

Feels pointed and a bit condescending. Obviously we can't hear how it was delivered though.

 

 

 

Your like my lass, pulling stuff up from 2 months ago 

[SteV]

8 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

I get what you mean. For example...

 

Howe said in July that for him to be happy at the club, the new working dynamic with Mitchell and performance director James Bunce had to be right. On the addition of Bunce, Mitchell added: ‘I would like to believe someone as smart and intelligent as Eddie Howe would recognise quality wherever it came from. We’ve got to keep building that into our infrastructure.

 

‘That goes for scouting as well. I think good players are becoming harder to find because scouting is so competitive. But I think Eddie recognises good players and he also recognises this club is evolving to be bigger, and bigger and bigger. If you look at the super clubs, their infrastructure, their recruitment, they don’t just look at one market only. 

 

Feels pointed and a bit condescending. Obviously we can't hear how it was delivered though.

 

 

 

I interpreted that as saying Eddie isn’t being given enough choice of players because our scouting network isn’t big enough.

 

If there’s a good player in the Romanian league, Eddie will recognise he’s a good player, but not if he’s not presented to him. He can’t be expected to be across every league (obviously), so that’s why our scouting has to be better.

[Jordan]

Is Nickson still around? Feel like i‘ve not seen his name mentioned in articles etc for months now. 

[Jagten]

31 minutes ago, gdm said:

Chris Wood aside, have we really over paid for anyone?

Tonali pretty clearly.

[The College Dropout]

A lot of our signings we arguably overpaid *at the time*

 

Most of the English lads have the English PL tax. 

“Experts” said we overpaid for Isak.  That’s a bargain in hindsight. 
 

The experts also said the same about Tonali. 
 

 

 

[toon25]

1 hour ago, Joey47 said:

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 

 

 

 

 

This was the point I was going to make...

 

Who, of the signings we've brought in, have we actually paid a 'Newcastle tax' for? I can't think of many aside from Wood - for other obvious reasons.

 

 

Edited September 4 by toon25

[Whitley mag]

Perhaps a bit patronising towards Howe in places, but things can read differently to how they were said.

 

Completely on board with his approach to transfers though, the strategy this summer looked very one dimensional to say the least.

[Hughesy]

I think it’s easier enough to argue a case for overpaying for Burn, Targett, Wood, Barnes, Hall and Livramento. Even Tonali as the most expensive Italian ever (I think?) could be seen as an overpay.

 

It doesn’t mean any of the signings above are bad signings per se. With Hall and Tino, hopefully the fees we paid will be bargains given their obvious potential, but we’ve dropped a pretty large amount of cash on them.

[Minhosa]

1 hour ago, McCormick said:

Maybe just me but I didn’t like that interview at all. Reads like a deflection and a power play.

Totally agree - I don’t like the quotes at all…

[cubaricho]

1 minute ago, Minhosa said:

1 hour ago, McCormick said:

Maybe just me but I didn’t like that interview at all. Reads like a deflection and a power play.

Totally agree - I don’t like the quotes at all…

 

Nothing like going out of your way to try and find a problem where there isn't one.  

[80]

Haven't read others' responses to this yet, but for me: 

 

I'm not minded to be generous in assessing what he says for a variety of reasons, so with that in mind, everything there comes across as a lot of hot air and politics. There's barely anything substantial to it that an outsider with passing knowledge couldn't say. The idea the Guehi saga has publicly drawn a line in the sand and shown our strength to other clubs is fanciful.

 

Also his grammar is horrific - "Was, let’s say, the scouting network, the lengths and breadths of our process bigger and broader enough?"

 

Happy to judge him on his future actions instead, but nothing here has impressed me.

 

 

Edited September 4 by 80

[500bhp]

53 minutes ago, gdm said:

Chris Wood aside, have we really over paid for anyone?

Isak at the time, maybe? But looks great value 24 months on. 

 

Tonali, most expensive ever Italian? Tino? Hall? 

 

He may be referring to those. 

[Gallowgate Toon]

Genuinely curious, which of his teams has won anything while he's been there? 

[Minhosa]

6 minutes ago, cubaricho said:

 

Nothing like going out of your way to try and find a problem where there isn't one.  

Let’s see how their relationship ends…

 

If there wasn’t a problem, he wouldn’t be getting wheeled out in front of the media.

[KaKa]

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.

 

 

 

[gdm]

10 minutes ago, 500bhp said:

Isak at the time, maybe? But looks great value 24 months on. 

 

Tonali, most expensive ever Italian? Tino? Hall? 

 

He may be referring to those. 

Tonali was AC Milan captain, Italy international. Think it was fairly accepted at the time we got him on the cheap side. So much so that when the gambling stuff came out a lot of people assumed AC Milan knew and thats how we got him cheap.

 

Hall was £28m we just sold Minteh for more 

[Deuce]

Feels like we can sum up the summer window as “Mitchell stepping into the void caused by Ashworth’s unceremonious departure, and he and Howe needing time to gel.”