Paul Mitchell to leave club by mutual consent at end of June (Official)

[Abacus]

7 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

2 months ago around the time of the Cup win?

Might be. The article isn't very specific, though.

 

Or also around the time Howe fell ill and was desperately battling for that CL spot, I suppose. 

 

All I meant by mentioning it was, I wouldn't be too surprised if it was kept under wraps from him for a bit.

[The College Dropout]

2 minutes ago, Abacus said:

Might be. The article isn't very specific, though.

 

Or also around the time Howe fell ill and was desperately battling for that CL spot, I suppose. 

 

All I meant by mentioning it was, I wouldn't be too surprised if it was kept under wraps from him for a bit.

The Geordie Journos said it wasn’t a surprise. Mitchell wasn’t getting on with others at the club.  His style wasn’t going down well and I don’t think his vision fit with Howe. 

[Zero]

It’s quite clear that he simply can’t / doesn’t want to stay in the club without Eales.

[Cf]

32 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

Yeah I don’t disagree with most of that. I’m definitely not saying the manager should be dictated to.
 

Of course you would seek to avoid that situation by having the DOF and manager in alignment, probably by hiring a manager that fits what the club are planning to do. You would hire a manager that suits the squad the club has developed over time, as you say. 
 

It’s a bit more complicated when you already have a world-class manager in place. 
 

We still don’t know what the reason for Mitchell leaving is though, so I don’t think power struggle with Howe is very likely. 

 

 

 

 

Agree - I suspect the term power struggle overblows what has happened, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's a more nuanced case of the job wasn't what he was expecting given the amount of power Howe has.

 

Or it's because Eales is going.

[KaKa]

1 hour ago, r0cafella said:

Why would he leave Saudi? He obviously went for the money. Unless your saying we've had them so the financial trickery of buying him out of palace deal for us to get him for nought?

 

And maybe on top of that he's already working for us while they pay him.

 

In the age of clubs selling themselves things back and forth to avoid PSR, who knows 

 

All purely speculation of course.

[Menace]

Considering the time difference, the communication issue, not being hands on with the players/regular meetings etc - I very much doubt it.

[Mattoon]

Well it sucks slightly that it's a revolving door around the top of the management ecostructure for one reason or another, stability seems to be a dirty word. But I'm confident that PIF are learning as they go along and at least in the short/medium term Howe seems to have the club on an even keel.

 

I'm not saying Howe needs reeling in or is any kind of issue but to go back to what someone else was saying earlier (sorry forgot who it was now), I think he needs someone above him to challenge him and his decisions. And I say that from a management roll myself, sometimes it's hard to see the forest for the trees and it needs an outside perspective to point things out and to question things to make you process eventualities you may not have considered yourself.

 

I'm sure now PIF have a better understanding of the remit required and are looking for the right person for that roll. I'm not overly concerned, but it would be nice to have an off season without additional drama in the fold.

[KaKa]

11 minutes ago, Menace said:

Considering the time difference, the communication issue, not being hands on with the players/regular meetings etc - I very much doubt it.

 

Except no one can actually prove he is even in Saudi ...

 

Keep an eye out for someone in a hat and sunglasses lurking around behind the scenes at the club going forward 

[Kanj]

1 hour ago, Abacus said:

Might be. The article isn't very specific, though.

 

Or also around the time Howe fell ill and was desperately battling for that CL spot, I suppose. 

 

All I meant by mentioning it was, I wouldn't be too surprised if it was kept under wraps from him for a bit.

where is this article ? Can’t find it. 

[wyn davies]

3 hours ago, jackyboy said:

Is Dennis Wise still available?

I dam well hope not.🤣🤣

[Dokko]

If Howe is going to have full control (better one direction than 2 opposite Imo) then you just need someone who can sell the club and get the deal over the line. Keegan was the master at this, but probably doesn't fully believe in the ownership to get on board on an official capacity.

[macphisto]

Made me laugh, what Thai fans think of Mitchell leaving 😂

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 12:22 by macphisto

[Dr Venkman]

Eales:

Quote

Part of the importance of Paul coming in with Eddie, is to let Eddie do the strengths he’s got … take away from him some of the things that if it was up to Eddie, he would spend all his time and every waking hour on.

 

What we have to do is channel Eddie onto what he does best and that is on the grass, with that he is phenomenal in terms of putting that team together.

 

Eddie:

Quote

“So, as long as I am happy, feel supported, feel free to work in the way that I want to work, I have not thought of anything else other than Newcastle.”

 

Mitchell:

Quote

Should our scouting and recruitment be driven more extensively with a wider reaching net? It definitely should, because this is becoming a really nuanced space now, when you can't just capitally fund everything every year and buy loads of players at peak age and peak price. Of course it needs to be, and that's the responsibility of me, the scouting team and Eddie. 

 

Is it fit for purpose? Not last winter gone, the winter before that. Is it fit for purpose in the modern game? Because other clubs that have adopted a different approach over time, with more intelligence, more data-informed than we are, actually prospered in this window. That's where we have to grow to be now.

 

You look at the money we have invested up to this point, £250 million net over the last two-and-a-half years. Was our model in place to be able to spend more to the levels we would have liked to enhance the team? I don't think it was, because we haven't sold a player during that time, barring what we were forced to do through PSR. 

 

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. There definitely has to be a more strategic approach that we haven't had the last two-and-a-half years. I'll know whether we've done a good job in five years' time.

 

NUFC:

Quote

Darren Eales to step down as CEO for health issues

 

Mitchell:

Quote

I'm leaving at a time that is right for me and the club, particularly with Darren Eales - someone who I have worked so closely with in my career - moving on soon.

 

 @TBG

 

@AyeDubbleYoo am I putting 2 and 2 together and making 5?

 

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 12:42 by Dr Venkman

[Kanj]

Give it a rest. He’s leaving ffs. Onward. 

[r0cafella]

11 minutes ago, Dr Venkman said:

Eales:

 

Eddie:

 

Mitchell:

 

NUFC:

 

Mitchell:

 

 @TBG

 

@AyeDubbleYoo am I putting 2 and 2 together and making 5?

 

 

 

 

You are. 

 

Eales is obviously seriously ill and should have been replaced ages ago so he can rest. 

 

I do believe differences over job scope/ targets led to Mitchell's demise though. 

[ToonAbroad]

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6387324/2025/05/28/paul-mitchell-newcastle-exit-inside-story/

Good read - essentially links it to Eales and nothing more than that.

[r0cafella]

4 minutes ago, ToonAbroad said:

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6387324/2025/05/28/paul-mitchell-newcastle-exit-inside-story/

Good read - essentially links it to Eales and nothing more than that.

Indeed but they also knows nought so going with the official story is the safe route. 

[Abacus]

 

2 hours ago, Kanj said:

where is this article ? Can’t find it. 

Errm, not sure how to share it. It doesn't say much new.

 

https://www.thetimes.com/article/44f1d290-08aa-4557-b747-8563c73075d5?shareToken=3a9886837d3ea5db4a5d9e931032a134

[The Prophet]

4 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

Indeed but they also knows nought so going with the official story is the safe route. 

 

They'll just be reporting the party line, as per.

[Haz]

I trust this guy buggering off Will not become this summers disruption excuse for an unimpressive window?

[PauloGeordio]

2 minutes ago, Haz said:

I trust this guy buggering off Will not become this summers disruption excuse for an unimpressive window?

It’ll be the reason for the best one in 3 years! 

[SUPERTOON]

29 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

Indeed but they also knows nought so going with the official story is the safe route. 

Even manage to throw the usual names in as transfer targets 

[JP]

Anyone got a TL;DR on Craig Hope's article just now?

Could be some juicy bits but its behind paywall

 

[Scottish Mag]

5 minutes ago, JP said:

Anyone got a TL;DR on Craig Hope's article just now?

Could be some juicy bits but its behind paywall

 

 

Spoiler

Paul Mitchell's Newcastle downfall: Four-word mantra that doomed him straight away, fears he would force out Eddie Howe and the high-profile boss players thought he'd bring in, reveals CRAIG HOPE
 

It took only a few days, but after arriving on Tyneside and approaching diplomacy the same way a bull does china, the writing was on the wall for Paul Mitchell.

He was shocked and disappointed when Mail Sport revealed that his opening addresses to players and staff were not well received.
 

Maybe he did intend well. And maybe, it was hoped back then, he would soften his abrasive manner in light of the early feedback.
 

That, it is said, did not happen, and his exit after less than a year as sporting director will not be mourned by the majority at St James’ Park. Some very quickly suspected he wanted his own manager at the expense of Eddie Howe.
 

Players spoke of Mauricio Pochettino, who Mitchell worked with at Tottenham, being that man, not that they welcomed the thought of losing Howe.

Rather, they and many inside the training ground were concerned about the content and delivery of Mitchell’s initial meetings and what it could mean for the future of Howe and the club. He walked into those introductions not with a blueprint, but sandpaper.
 

He spoke of being ‘elite’. Players and staff thought their work in taking the team from 19th to the Champions League already fitted that description.

He spoke about playing style. They thought that was Howe’s domain.
He spoke about going on a journey with him. They thought the journey was well underway and that he was joining them.

He spoke about his work ethic, first in, last out. When one staff member later remarked, ‘Haven’t seen you in a while’, it did not go down well.

But, by then, many had given up on having a relationship with Mitchell. Some felt he never knew their names. There was, it is said, a lot of ‘big man’ and ‘mate’. He probably could have got away with that, if his relationship with the one colleague who really mattered was better.
 

Mitchell and Howe did not get on. So much so, insiders feared the head coach could be forced to walk away after his work, and that of others, was clumsily picked apart by this brash outsider. And this was long before the sporting director went public with what he had been saying in private.
 

We understand he made no secret of his belief that the club overpaid for Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento, two players who would win England caps before the season was out. Instead of embracing Howe’s strengths, it was as if Mitchell felt intimidated by them, like the supply teacher who realises the smart kid could take the lesson.
 

It is claimed he would often use the phrase ‘I don’t care who I upset’. He should have done. It showed a lack of self-awareness that would prove his undoing. Never was that more apparent than in the Sir Bobby Robson suite inside St James’ on September 4.
 

There, during a 90-minute briefing with journalists, he said that the club’s transfer strategy was ‘not fit for purpose’. He said it several times. As one source said: ‘It went down like the Titanic. Talk about aggravating the staff you’re supposed to be leading.’
 

In his defence, some of what he said that day made sense. He was right to say the club had to operate smarter when it came to recruitment in a PSR world. In fact, some walked away believing him to be a visionary.
 

But tunnel vision was Mitchell’s problem. It was his way or the highway and he did not have the smarts to look in his rear-view mirror and realise that the bumpy road travelled by others had been negotiated with skill, feeling and care. Indeed, his words that afternoon were careless. For the best part of a fortnight after, he and Howe did not speak.
 

Belatedly, there was a peacemaking envoy by chief executive Darren Eales, who appointed Mitchell without Howe’s prior knowledge having worked with him at Tottenham. By this point, those close to him say, Howe had resolved to win. Not to win the civil war that had needlessly been allowed to develop, but to concentrate on winning football matches. On winning a trophy. On winning qualification to the Champions League. He did all of that.
 

There was whispered suspicion among some insiders that, during the early weeks of the season, defeats were strengthening Mitchell’s position. What does that say for the harmony of the club?
 

As one source said: ‘The training ground culture changed during that time. Everyone was on eggshells. There did not need to be this friction. It was baffling what the club did by creating that situation.’
 

To think, Newcastle risked losing Howe by an act of self-sabotage. Mitchell should never have been appointed. There was no due diligence, bar previous acquaintance. When the new transfer chief promised he would deliver the signing of Marc Guehi and failed, he offered up a book of alternatives akin to second-class stamps.

‘Bad players, good money,’ said one source. In January, Mitchell did negotiate a couple of decent sales. But, again, there were no incomings. Howe’s hand was weakened, but he and his players came back stronger. Between December 14 and April 16 there were 19 wins from 24 games, including the Carabao Cup final.
 

One image from the victory parade, carried in giant form in the Mail on Sunday, shows a beaming Howe waving to the crowd aboard the open-top bus. Next to him, Mitchell looks like he’s dropped a pound and found a penny. Club sources say he has been considering his future for a while.
 

When Howe then delivered on the £100million-plus transfer kitty that comes with the Champions League, perhaps it was only right that he would oversee its investment. He has shown his approach to be fit for purpose, after all.
 

There was no real surprise when learning that Mitchell would be leaving this week – the club say it was a mutual decision – but there was more surprise at the timing, on the eve of the summer window. Then again, it’s better for all parties to admit a mistake now than to go shopping for a king size bed when you are sleeping in separate rooms.
 

All of this is not to say Mitchell will not and cannot be a very good sporting director elsewhere. He clearly has ideas and self-belief. But if he learns one lesson from his brief time at Newcastle, it should be that a little humility can go a long way.

 

[Rich]

Ooof