Paul Mitchell (Sporting Director)

[andycap]

4 minutes ago, Holmesy said:

I still maintain that our planning leading up to and during this window was shite, and Mitchell kind of alludes to it when he says 'our focus was too narrow'. It sounds like the infrastructure put in place by Ashworth could be partly to blame, but almost 8 months to plan for a transfer window, with an organisation full of football and business experts, and coming out with one free transfer squad-filler and a young striker who is unproven doesn't scream 'well oiled machine'. I could understand it if Ashworth dropped the bomb just before the window, but he hadn't been part of the process for about 6 months.

Obviously the new hierarchy have to find their feet and figure out their working dynamic but we'd have been better off managing the window ourselves, with Mitchell starting just after the window closed. The timing doesn't seem to have helped anyone or made anyone look very good.

 

Hopefully this is just a bump in the road and we can continue on the same trajectory we were heading on up until the start of last January. Our transfer record since then has been absolutely bobbins.

Bodes well for man utds scouting network. If that's all he done while here lazy bugger. No wonder they're still paying over the odds for has beens. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

10 minutes ago, OCK said:

Just had a pint and chat with Paul Mitchell. He refused to drink Brown Ale. 

 

Do you mean Phil Mitchell?

 

FWIW I don't see Howe as a brown drinker either. Maybe a nice glass of wine. 

[Shays Given Tim Flowers]

He probably ordered his hot water with lemon and a ‘newcy brown’ for you. Makes me sick. 

[Abacus]

Bet he asked how much for a bottle of brown ale and you quoted him £10.

 

When he reluctantly agreed, you'll have immediately put the price up to £11 as it's a generational beer.

 

Then he'll have sat fuming and parched until after last orders.

[Upthemags]

3 hours ago, KingArthur said:

I don't think 60+5 million is "way over the odds" for England international centre back who still has 10 years at the top...

Define "at the top"? Do you honestly think Guehi is better than any of the following? Maybe 2 or 3 of those names at most?

 

Romero

VDV

VVD

Stones

Martinez

Ake

Konsa

van Hecke

Gabriel

Saliba

Dunk

Dias

Akanji

 

I honestly think Schar is better than Guehi as well. There is a reason zero other clubs were offering what Parish wanted for Guehi, and its because he was being grossly overvalued by them, and ultimately, we agreed with the rest of footballing world on that score. Glad Mitchell held the line on this despite Guehi being top of the wish list for Eddie. His fair market value for most teams, based on the lack of interest from other clubs, I would guess is somewhere around ~45m.

[Scoot]

Not sure what to make if his comments to be honest. I suppose it's hard to tell at the minute as only time will tell.

 

Quite like the bit about buying unheard of players. I suppose we'll see how good he is and how good his scouts are, but once again, only time will tell.

 

 

[Kid Icarus]

13 minutes ago, Upthemags said:

Define "at the top"? Do you honestly think Guehi is better than any of the following? Maybe 2 or 3 of those names at most?

 

Romero

VDV

VVD

Stones

Martinez

Ake

Konsa

van Hecke

Gabriel

Saliba

Dunk

Dias

Akanji

 

I honestly think Schar is better than Guehi as well. There is a reason zero other clubs were offering what Parish wanted for Guehi, and its because he was being grossly overvalued by them, and ultimately, we agreed with the rest of footballing world on that score. Glad Mitchell held the line on this despite Guehi being top of the wish list for Eddie. His fair market value for most teams, based on the lack of interest from other clubs, I would guess is somewhere around ~45m.

I'll have a go. It's not about who's better really anyway, it's about who suits the system and their different strengths and weaknesses. 

 

As of right now pound for pound I'd go:

 

Romero - Yes, easily, he's a rash, hot-headed moron

VDV - Yes, because the best ability is availability

VVD - No, but he has 10 years on him, so in a way yes. He was also signed for a huge amount that dwarfs the Guehi fee with inflation.

Stones - As above

Martinez - Yes

Ake - Ironic choice considering who saw his talent, but no

Konsa - Yes

van Hecke - Yes

Gabriel - No

Saliba - Obviously no

Dunk - Yes

Dias - No (again though, huge fee)

Akanji - yes

 

I have him as being on par or better than 7/13

 

 

Edited September 5 by Kid Icarus

[Shearergol]

Ruined the argument by including Dunk imo.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Gabriel and Saliba are the most similar statistically apparently. 

[Upthemags]

Just now, Kid Icarus said:

I'll have a go. It's not about who's better really anyway, it's about who suits the system and their different strengths and weaknesses. 

 

As of right now pound for pound I'd go:

 

Romero - Yes, easily, he's a rash, hot-headed moron

VDV - Yes, because the best ability is availability

VVD - No, but he has 10 years on him, so in a way yes. He was also signed for a huge amount that dwarfs the Guehi fee with inflation.

Stones - As above

Martinez - Yes

Ake - Ironic choice considering who saw his talent, but no

Konsa - Yes

van Hecke - Yes

Gabriel - No

Saliba - Obviously no

Dunk - Yes

Dias - No (again though, huge fee)

Akanji - yes

Stopped reading at Romero mate. 'easily'. What a ridiculous take.

 

I'll side with the professionals, who decided this window that Guehi is not among the likes of those defenders. A very solid Premier League defender? Absolutely.

 

You don't spunk 70 million on a player because they 'fit the system'. If we had unlimited money to spend - sure. I'd be happy with Eddie fielding the full England international squad. But the strictures we operate under do not let clubs (bar the cartel) operate that way.

[Monters]

Plus there's a realistic chance Palace sell and Guehi wants the move, Arsenal and Liverpool aren't selling first choice players to us and those players aren't making the move either

[SUPERTOON]

2 minutes ago, Shearergol said:

Ruined the argument by including Dunk imo.

Not Van Hecke?

[Kid Icarus]

8 minutes ago, Upthemags said:

Stopped reading at Romero mate. 'easily'. What a ridiculous take.

 

I'll side with the professionals, who decided this window that Guehi is not among the likes of those defenders. A very solid Premier League defender? Absolutely.

 

You don't spunk 70 million on a player because they 'fit the system'. If we had unlimited money to spend - sure. I'd be happy with Eddie fielding the full England international squad. But the strictures we operate under do not let clubs (bar the cartel) operate that way.

 

I can easily find professional and fan opinions to back up my own if you're going down the appeal to authority route. Not least Eddie Howe. 

 

Spurs fans think Romero is a complete liability for a start...

 

And yes, yes you do 'spunk £70m' on players who fit the system. Spending solely based on whether you rate players or not without any care for cohesion is how you end up in the mess Man United did, or with PSR on your back, the mess Everton did. 

 

 

Edited September 5 by Kid Icarus

[timeEd32]

29 minutes ago, Upthemags said:

Define "at the top"? Do you honestly think Guehi is better than any of the following? Maybe 2 or 3 of those names at most?

 

Romero

VDV

VVD

Stones

Martinez

Ake

Konsa

van Hecke

Gabriel

Saliba

Dunk

Dias

Akanji

 

I honestly think Schar is better than Guehi as well. There is a reason zero other clubs were offering what Parish wanted for Guehi, and its because he was being grossly overvalued by them, and ultimately, we agreed with the rest of footballing world on that score. Glad Mitchell held the line on this despite Guehi being top of the wish list for Eddie. His fair market value for most teams, based on the lack of interest from other clubs, I would guess is somewhere around ~45m.

 

I don't disagree with you that it's a lot of money - an amount where we'd have to be certain we're right - but putting this list together which includes 2 of the 7 most expensive defenders ever, one who cost almost £50m eight years ago, and at least a couple that are quite obviously not as good is not really helping your argument.

[Upthemags]

Just now, Kid Icarus said:

 

I can easily find expert and fan opinions to back up my own if you're going down the appeal to authority route. 

 

Spurs fans think Romero is a complete liability for a start...

 

And yes, yes you do 'spunk £70m' players who fit the system. 

Maybe you would - but the club doesn't agree with you, and neither does any other club in the top flight. Which is why Guehi is still lining up for CP this season. And it's a good thing because we wouldn't survive if we operated that way.

[Groundhog63]

1 hour ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

 

Do you mean Phil Mitchell?

 

FWIW I don't see Howe as a brown drinker either. Maybe a nice glass of wine. 

 

John Hall doesn't drink brown either. Drinks milk these days. English milk. White, English milk

 

[Kid Icarus]

3 minutes ago, Upthemags said:

Maybe you would - but the club doesn't agree with you, and neither does any other club in the top flight. Which is why Guehi is still lining up for CP this season. And it's a good thing because we wouldn't survive if we operated that way.

Have you just got into football recently or something?  You don't think teams spend big on players to fit their system? That's wrong at such a basic level that it makes your condescension funny tbh. 

 

 

Edited September 5 by Kid Icarus

[TBG]

Needs to come out with another interview.

[Upthemags]

Just now, Kid Icarus said:

Have you just got into football recently or something?  You don't think teams spend big on players to fit their system? That's wrong at such a basic level that it makes your condescension funny tbh. 

 

 

 

Coming from the guy who think Marc Guehi is 'easily' better than Christian Romero. I think our top brass know better - call me crazy I guess.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

1 minute ago, Upthemags said:

Coming from the guy who think Marc Guehi is 'easily' better than Christian Romero. I think our top brass know better - call me crazy I guess.

 

Didn't our top brass try very hard to buy Guehi?

[Kid Icarus]

1 minute ago, Upthemags said:

Coming from the guy who think Marc Guehi is 'easily' better than Christian Romero. I think our top brass know better - call me crazy I guess.

 

Our top brass who just spent all summer trying to sign Marc Guehi?  Are you alright?

[Upthemags]

2 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

 

Our top brass who just spent all summer trying to sign Marc Guehi?  Are you alright?

I think you must have missed the Paul Mitchell interview mate. I think you must have also missed the fact that we... didn't buy him?

 

From the horses mouth regarding our pursuit of Guehi this summer:

'It’s about setting precedents to the market that we will pay fair value for the right profile.'

 

We felt, ultimately, that Guehi was overvalued by Palace, and so didn't pull the trigger, which I suppose you would have had us do. Yes - I will side with our top brass on that one.

[The Bonk]

1 hour ago, Holmesy said:

I still maintain that our planning leading up to and during this window was shite, and Mitchell kind of alludes to it when he says 'our focus was too narrow'. It sounds like the infrastructure put in place by Ashworth could be partly to blame, but almost 8 months to plan for a transfer window, with an organisation full of football and business experts, and coming out with one free transfer squad-filler and a young striker who is unproven doesn't scream 'well oiled machine'. I could understand it if Ashworth dropped the bomb just before the window, but he hadn't been part of the process for about 6 months.

Obviously the new hierarchy have to find their feet and figure out their working dynamic but we'd have been better off managing the window ourselves, with Mitchell starting just after the window closed. The timing doesn't seem to have helped anyone or made anyone look very good.

 

Hopefully this is just a bump in the road and we can continue on the same trajectory we were heading on up until the start of last January. Our transfer record since then has been absolutely bobbins.

 

We're also overlooking Ashworth having his head turned from the Manc Red's and probably checked out mentally at some point of giving two fucks. That and the cunty prick being on gardening leave since the beginning of the year has to have played a part in the PSR debacle, our transfer window being less than stellar, etc. Another thing we can learn from Brighton is their excellent contingency planning and change management processes. 

 

What I'm seeing instead of 'management speak' is talk of operational efficiency from Mitchell and everyone having much more defined roles, remit and responsibilities. We were run like a pound shop club for so long that there's always going to be some healthy realignment when key positions get filled. 

[Coffee_Johnny]

5 hours ago, Joey47 said:

I agree with you in part but also when referencing the ‘Newcastle tax’ it’s about us overpaying compared to what other clubs would have paid.

Almost all our signings have turned out to be great value but we still might have overpaid compared to what other clubs would have.

Edit to add that this ‘Newcastle tax’ might be a complete myth but I personally don’t see a problem with publicly setting a precedent that we won’t be taken advantage of in the market.

 

 

 

 

Starting to irritate me that this seems to be being reported as some kind of new insight and ‘Phil’ isn’t having it. Pretty certain the term was used extensively in pre Mitchell days, with same robust defence promised by Eales, Gnome fella, and Howe. 

[Myleftboot]

1 hour ago, OCK said:

Just had a pint and chat with Paul Mitchell. He refused to drink Brown Ale. 

Worrying.