Paul Mitchell (Sporting Director)

[Keegans Export]

I'm not sure there's anything massively wrong about what he said in all honesty. 

 

He said we have overpaid for some players - well obviously we had otherwise we wouldn't have found ourselves in a £60m black hole in June. Even if we'd progressed in the CL and finished top 6 we wouldn't have made up that much.

 

He's also criticised our scouting. Haven't many of us on here spent multiple transfer windows wondering why we never seem to unearth any hidden gems? Of course, we've signed excellent players in Botman, Bruno, Isak etc but they're all £40m+.

 

If Ashworth and others have taken offence (per Luke Edwards) maybe it's a case of "truth hurts"?

[Geordie Ahmed]

Dan Ashworth being upset is an absolute irrelevance 

 

 

[Erikse]

Did we not talk about how Ashworth wasn't were long enough for us to be able to evaluate him? Didn't he cover 3 or 4 windows? Quite a bit more than 6 weeks or so.

 

 

Edited September 8 by Erikse

[KaKa]

4 minutes ago, Upthemags said:

People still aren't grasping that the summer window wasn't even his window - but Howe's (both of them), Nickson's, Eales'.

 

Mitchell is here for the long term whether we like it or not. (Unless he decides there are greener pastures elsewhere.)

 

The DOF working in agreement with the manager is a must.

 

If Howe can't make the adjustment, it will be game over for him.

 

I think Howe will adjust though. Ashworth didn't have the global recruitment experience Mitchell has, and that will be the difference.

[54]

5 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

[Erikse]

5 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

 

That's a win.

[KaKa]

6 minutes ago, The Prophet said:

 

 

Good.

 

Funny because Man United are still looking for a recruitment specialist to work under him.

 

I wonder why that is.

[Geordie Ahmed]

2 minutes ago, KaKa said:

 

Good.

 

Funny because Man United are still looking for a recruitment specialist to work under him.

 

I wonder why that is.

 

They wanted Mitchell back in March/April time to work under Ashworth didn't they?

 

So clearly they rate him and his opinion must hold some weight when it comes to recruitment 

[Coffee_Johnny]

1 minute ago, KaKa said:

 

He said he was in agreement with their agreed strategy, and worked towards that.

 

That is not distancing himself from blame.

That is one of the things he said. Can’t be arsed to seek it out, but there were other statements and inferences, about just having a supporting role in a pre-existing collaborative strategy, there being an overly narrow focus, him (‘rightly or wrongly’) not interfering in this. Naming Howe as decision maker on Guehi vs. nobody/stick with what we have. Despite contradictory noises earlier about there being other targets. 

He definitely was quoted as saying the strategy was too narrow and (a) not his (b) not one he thought he could influence (c) in context of other comments, suggested Howe had made a bed he’d have to lie in.

 

I just don’t like it. At best he’s been naive. At worst he’s displaying, under minimal ‘first shot across the bows’ pressure, personality traits which do not bode well for his impact on the club. 

[TRon]

3 hours ago, Kid Icarus said:

 

The same reputation maybe, no reason we can't get someone of the same calibre or better.

 

Anyone of the same calibre or better will still want to operate in the same way. We just don't have the turnover to compete with the cartel clubs to invest in the same calibre of players unless our player trading improves.

[KaKa]

6 minutes ago, Geordie Ahmed said:

 

They wanted Mitchell back in March/April time to work under Ashworth didn't they?

 

So clearly they rate him and his opinion must hold some weight when it comes to recruitment 

 

Yeah, they were also looking at Freedman.

[Upthemags]

7 minutes ago, Coffee_Johnny said:

That is one of the things he said. Can’t be arsed to seek it out, but there were other statements and inferences, about just having a supporting role in a pre-existing collaborative strategy, there being an overly narrow focus, him (‘rightly or wrongly’) not interfering in this. Naming Howe as decision maker on Guehi vs. nobody/stick with what we have. Despite contradictory noises earlier about there being other targets. 

He definitely was quoted as saying the strategy was too narrow and (a) not his (b) not one he thought he could influence (c) in context of other comments, suggested Howe had made a bed he’d have to lie in.

 

I just don’t like it. At best he’s been naive. At worst he’s displaying, under minimal ‘first shot across the bows’ pressure, personality traits which do not bode well for his impact on the club. 

Not really understanding this - there was legitimate uproar from fans, and even journalists, that Mitchell had just overseen one of the most pathetic transfer windows in recent memory.

 

To boot, then Howe came out and said he was not all that involved with transfers, effectively pinning the blame on Mitchell, when, by all other understanding, Eddie was dictating our summer targets in light of the Ashworth departure.

 

Did you think he was just going to fall on the sword 2 months into his new role? He knew what he said would ruffle feathers, but personally I'm glad the lad has the wherewithal to stand up for himself and not be a scapegoat for our window.

[KaKa]

9 minutes ago, Coffee_Johnny said:

That is one of the things he said. Can’t be arsed to seek it out, but there were other statements and inferences, about just having a supporting role in a pre-existing collaborative strategy, there being an overly narrow focus, him (‘rightly or wrongly’) not interfering in this. Naming Howe as decision maker on Guehi vs. nobody/stick with what we have. Despite contradictory noises earlier about there being other targets. 

He definitely was quoted as saying the strategy was too narrow and (a) not his (b) not one he thought he could influence (c) in context of other comments, suggested Howe had made a bed he’d have to lie in.

 

I just don’t like it. At best he’s been naive. At worst he’s displaying, under minimal ‘first shot across the bows’ pressure, personality traits which do not bode well for his impact on the club. 

 

Well he's describing what the strategy in place was. 

 

People are looking at it as him dishing out blame, because they've already accepted the narrative of a falling out behind the scenes over targets.

 

At the end of the day he agreed with the strategy and supported it, and so they were all in the same boat.

 

I'm not convinced that internally they were at logger heads. They all even seemed to be in agreement to sit tight and not spend the money if they couldn't land a difference maker for the first team.

 

I expect January will be a continuation of what they were trying to do in the summer. With maybe a few other alternatives being considered.

[Coffee_Johnny]

6 minutes ago, Upthemags said:

Not really understanding this - there was legitimate uproar from fans, and even journalists, that Mitchell had just overseen one of the most pathetic transfer windows in recent memory.

 

To boot, then Howe came out and said he was not all that involved with transfers, effectively pinning the blame on Mitchell, when, by all other understanding, Eddie was dictating our summer targets in light of the Ashworth departure.

 

Did you think he was just going to fall on the sword 2 months into his new role? He knew what he said would ruffle feathers, but personally I'm glad the lad has the wherewithal to stand up for himself and not be a scapegoat for our window.

Don’t think Howe blamed anyone. 
I would expect Mitchell to take the lack of transfer activity firmly on the chin. Perhaps spin the ‘we will not be held to ransom’ line. Emphasise that overspending this window impacts on future windows and vice versa. By all means promise we’ll have a longer list of more ‘budding’ talent in future. But overall give a strong ‘don’t panic’ we’ve got this message. 

 

 

Edited September 8 by Coffee_Johnny

[KaKa]

4 minutes ago, Upthemags said:

Not really understanding this - there was legitimate uproar from fans, and even journalists, that Mitchell had just overseen one of the most pathetic transfer windows in recent memory.

 

To boot, then Howe came out and said he was not all that involved with transfers, effectively pinning the blame on Mitchell, when, by all other understanding, Eddie was dictating our summer targets in light of the Ashworth departure.

 

Did you think he was just going to fall on the sword 2 months into his new role? He knew what he said would ruffle feathers, but personally I'm glad the lad has the wherewithal to stand up for himself and not be a scapegoat for our window.

 

To be fair to Howe, I'm pretty sure he was refering to being hands off on the day to day negotiations.

 

All of this stuff is just getting misinterpreted by the media.

 

Going forward, it's just not worth them even trying to communicate because it just gets twisted every which way.

[TRon]

23 minutes ago, KaKa said:

 

Good.

 

Funny because Man United are still looking for a recruitment specialist to work under him.

 

I wonder why that is.

 

Because their recruitment has been recognised as one of almost continuing disaster for years now. This is what can happen when a new manager comes in and demands he signs his own players. If the manager is particularly savvy, it can work, we can look at Klopp where you might point as an example, but I stil think they have a very smart recruitment set up behind the scenes.

 

Currently I see Conte seems to be signing Lukaku at every club he gets work, it doesn't look like particularly good value when it happens either. They are both getting reunited at Napoli now if I'm not mistaken.

[Erikse]

26 minutes ago, Upthemags said:

Not really understanding this - there was legitimate uproar from fans, and even journalists, that Mitchell had just overseen one of the most pathetic transfer windows in recent memory.

 

To boot, then Howe came out and said he was not all that involved with transfers, effectively pinning the blame on Mitchell, when, by all other understanding, Eddie was dictating our summer targets in light of the Ashworth departure.

 

Did you think he was just going to fall on the sword 2 months into his new role? He knew what he said would ruffle feathers, but personally I'm glad the lad has the wherewithal to stand up for himself and not be a scapegoat for our window.

 

Agree. As long as Mitchell is telling the truth about the window and how they worked during it, I really don't mind it. It's just honesty at that point. If Howe doesn't want the truth to come out, maybe he should be consider changing his methods, if he thinks that those methods being revealed in public puts him in such a bad light. If he thinks that his methods are fine, then I don't see him being too annoyed about it.

 

 

Edited September 8 by Erikse

[Upthemags]

3 minutes ago, Coffee_Johnny said:

Don’t think Howe blamed anyone. 
I would expect Mitchell to take the lack of transfer activity firmly on the chin. Perhaps spin the ‘we will not be held to ransom’ line. Emphasise that overspending this window impacts on future windows and vice versa. By all means promise we’ll have a longer list of more ‘budding’ talent in future. But overall give a strong ‘don’t panic’ we’ve got this message. 

 

 

 

I found the honesty from Mitchell very refreshing after a summer of very little communication from the club. I think we were owed honesty after the window, too, and Mitchell realized that.

 

Mitchell, like it or not, is the new boss in town, and he's carving out power for himself and making it clear to all involved, eddie included, that he's the head honcho going forward. Was it the politest way of going about it, or the most respectful of everyone involved? No it wasn't. But thinking he'll take the blame for someone else's targets/strategy is just unreasonable imo.

[Upthemags]

3 minutes ago, Erikse said:

 

Agree. As long as Mitchell is telling the truth about the window and how they worked during it, I really don't mind it. It's just honesty at that point. If Howe doesn't want the truth to come out, maybe he should be considering changing his methods, if he thinks that those methods being revealed in public puts him in such a bad light. If he thinks that his methods are fine, then I don't see him being too annoyed about it.

 

 

 

Took the words out of my mouth

[McCormick]

I don’t find deflecting blame and management-speak “refreshing” but each to their own.

[robbo_11]

With anything as soon as someone new comes into an organisation they are going to look to make improvements. Last season we were decimated by injuries which resulted in a change of structure to bring in a specialist to look at improving this part of the club. If Botman came back early and was injured then it would be James Bunce getting pelters for allowing that to happen. 

 

Generally the better staff in senior management protect those in roles beneath them, however we've had a summer disrupted by change and come January hopefully those processes are smoother. If something isn't being done in the best way I'd rather someone come in and say that then just agreeing and if we're in the top four in December then holding off this summer might open us up for an exciting 2025.

[Kid Icarus]

Whatever your thoughts on Ashworth - I don't particularly like him - Mitchell's comments were more a reflection on him than those he was throwing under the bus.

 

I find the way people are brushing it off as nothing a bit weird tbh.

[TRon]

3 minutes ago, McCormick said:

I don’t find deflecting blame and management-speak “refreshing” but each to their own.

 

What did you think when Howe set out his stall on what he required when Mitchell came in and Staveley and Ghodoussi left?

[KaKa]

16 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

Because their recruitment has been recognised as one of almost continuing disaster for years now. This is what can happen when a new manager comes in and demands he signs his own players. If the manager is particularly savvy, it can work, we can look at Klopp where you might point as an example, but I stil think they have a very smart recruitment set up behind the scenes.

 

Currently I see Conte seems to be signing Lukaku at every club he gets work, it doesn't look like particularly good value when it happens either. They are both getting reunited at Napoli now if I'm not mistaken.

 

The point was Ashworth isn't that strong on recruitment.

 

This is why they have been looking for a recruitment specialist to work under him.

[Jack27]

Dan Ashworth feels slighted? Good, fuck him. Rat