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

[Menace]

Eales sounds a bit like a tosser to be honest. Jobs for the boys at its finest.

[Nucasol]

1 hour ago, Rich said:

Ooof

[KaKa]

1 minute ago, SUPERTOON said:

Do find it mad that Eales appointed him without any input from Howe mind. 

 

What's interesting as well is that there was an interview process taking place initially as well, similar to the approach we took with the manager hiring, and it was taking a while, and early on there was talk that Mitchell had already been decided against.

 

But then they later went back to Mitchell in a bit of a rush, and seemingly based off his relationship with Eales I presume.

 

Very strange. But then again I recall Mehrad and Amanda playing a big role in interviewing managers and going through that process, and so maybe without them there that approach was done away with.

[janpawel]

13 minutes ago, ponsaelius said:

Eddie is a fucking genius when you look at how destabilising this was and how shit things were genuinely looking in mid-December. To turn that round to our best season in living memory is insane 

Well said 👏

 

1 minute ago, KaKa said:

 

What's interesting as well is that there was an interview process taking place initially as well, similar to the approach we took with the manager hiring, and it was taking a while, and early on there was talk that Mitchell had already been decided against.

 

But then they later went back to Mitchell in a bit of a rush, and seemingly based off his relationship with Eales I presume.

 

Very strange. But then again I recall Mehrad and Amanda playing a big role in interviewing managers and going through that process, and so maybe without them there that approach was done away with.

Forgot about all of this, got no luck with our SD's do we

 

Hope our next one isn't such a big personality and happy to work in the back ground, like Liverpool have, Palace etc

[Kanj]

I don't think Eales is a bad guy by any means and am very thankful for all the hard work he has done for us. I will, however, not give him the pass, if he's the one reportedly uneasy over Mehrdad and Amanda's relationship with Howe.  They put the deal together to buy the club, never gave up, fought the PL, bought the club, hired Eddie, and supported him, the players and club staff in almost a start-up type way and worked their bollocks off to get us CL. They also hired Darren too ffs. It seems like Eales went way too far with this sporting director thing and it was never going to mesh with the manager's way of thinking. 

[RUHRLYASLEEVESUP]

19 minutes ago, Bimpy474 said:

 

Harsh on Froggy like.

Some may say 

[rebelrouser]

6 minutes ago, Kanj said:

They put the deal together to buy the club, never gave up, fought the PL, bought the club, hired Eddie, and supported him, the players and club staff in almost a start-up type way and worked their bollocks off to get us CL.

Didn't they also put us in the predicament where we had to sell Minteh and Anderson?

[The College Dropout]

5 minutes ago, KaKa said:

 

What's interesting as well is that there was an interview process taking place initially as well, similar to the approach we took with the manager hiring, and it was taking a while, and early on there was talk that Mitchell had already been decided against.

 

But then they later went back to Mitchell in a bit of a rush, and seemingly based off his relationship with Eales I presume.

 

Very strange. But then again I recall Mehrad and Amanda playing a big role in interviewing managers and going through that process, and so maybe without them there that approach was done away with.

Think going against Mitchell would've been a Mehrdad and Amanda vote.

 

Also think they were essentially running the club how they saw fit. Eales, Ashworth and co. basically on the periphery. They where very close to the ground and with Howe. As soon as Ashworth left, we quickly sorted a deal to extend Joelinton, which was Staveley and Howe's choice anad Ashworth was holding it up.

 

Again, there was good reason for that if we could sell Joelinton and bring in Ederson for a similar fee.

 

 

So when we got in the mess, they left because those led those decisions.

 

As others have said - everyone was there and got excited enough to buy Isak when we were close to signing Joao Pedro for half the fee. Everyone was beaming when we bought Tonali. It wasn't ust Staveley and Husband but that's life and business, someone needs to take the fall and the equity stuff is real.

[The College Dropout]

1 minute ago, rebelrouser said:

Didn't they also put us in the predicament where we had to sell Minteh and Anderson?

They did - but they also made us 98% of the decisions to win a trophy and qualify for CL 2 seasons out of 3.

 

And it's not like PIF and Eales weren't present for the money splashing.

[McCormick]

Super smug to say but I’m glad my wanker radar still works. Guy’s interview was all business speak, deflections, power plays and he just reeked of arrogance. Monaco fans said similar.

[KaKa]

3 minutes ago, McCormick said:

Super smug to say but I’m glad my wanker radar still works. Guy’s interview was all business speak, deflections, power plays and he just reeked of arrogance. Monaco fans said similar.

 

My view is that he was brought in with the brief of needing to be strong with Eddie as he was doing too much, and it all needed tightening up.

 

Not necessarily all wrong, and not even necessarily something Howe would be completely dead against, but needed to be done far more diplomatically and less bullishly.

 

Was a weird time with the whole PSR fallout, and so maybe that influenced Eales going with too strong an approach.

 

Good it's all been resolved now though, and hopefully lessons learned.

[Shadow Puppets]

That Craig Hope article sure makes for good drama, but it’s Craig Hope… I’ve witnessed first hand a number of times how economical is he with the truth (direct from the subjects he’s written about).
 

From my interactions last summer, the bad feeling between Howe and Mitchell had been blown all out of proportion. They had some differences of opinion, but nothing that was overly drastic.

 

As far as I’m aware, too, this Mitchell departure has everything to do with Eales leaving.

[The College Dropout]

Just now, KaKa said:

 

My view is that he was brought in with the brief of needing to be strong with Eddie as he was doing too much, and it all needed tightening up.

 

Not necessarily all wrong, and not even necessarily something Howe would be completely dead against, but needed to be done far more diplomatically and less bullishly.

 

Was a weird time with the whole PSR fallout, and so maybe that influenced Eales going with too strong an approach.

 

Good it's all been resolved now though, and hopefully lessons learned.

It was a power play by Eales man. He knows Mitchell well.

 

I'm convinced they set Howe up to fail and be seen as someone that can't work within "a system". Everyone's language in the press was pointed and purposeful. Had we finished 8th, no trophy, most people would be happy for Howe to go - thank him for his work - and go ahead into a new direction. Or at least have Eddie do what Mitchell and Eales wanted - for him to focus on coaching.

 

We still need someone to challenge Eddie but they have to be better aligned than what Mitchell brought to the table.

[Pixelphish]

Reads like an assassination piece but it's easy to believe when he instantly came across like a corporate dickhead.

[JT24]

1 minute ago, The College Dropout said:

It was a power play by Eales man. He knows Mitchell well.

 

I'm convinced they set Howe up to fail and be seen as someone that can't work within "a system". Everyone's language in the press was pointed and purposeful. Had we finished 8th, no trophy, most people would be happy for Howe to go - thank him for his work - and go ahead into a new direction. Or at least have Eddie do what Mitchell and Eales wanted - for him to focus on coaching.

 

We still need someone to challenge Eddie but they have to be better aligned than what Mitchell brought to the table.

Not like you to be chatting utter nonsense. 

[Kanj]

16 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

They did - but they also made us 98% of the decisions to win a trophy and qualify for CL 2 seasons out of 3.

 

And it's not like PIF and Eales weren't present for the money splashing.

 

Bang on. Which continues to be ignored by people! 

 

[Cronky]

Eddie seems to be more of an old-fashioned manager who wants a very high measure of control over the football side. I think this is the underlying reason for Mitchell's departure.

The arguments for a DOF centre on a) Easing the burden on the Team Manager and b) Making sure that the entire squad doesn't need a total overhaul every time a Manager leaves.

In Eddie's case, he has an appetite for hard work and likes to commit to the long-term. I think we have to make an exception of him and give him the authority that he wants.

This does, of course, mean that anyone in the Sporting Director chair would have to accept a more limited role. This may make it difficult to recruit a top name. Personally, that's a pill I'm prepared to swallow if it keeps Eddie at the helm.

[PauloGeordio]

2 minutes ago, Cronky said:

Eddie seems to be more of an old-fashioned manager who wants a very high measure of control over the football side. I think this is the underlying reason for Mitchell's departure.

The arguments for a DOF centre on a) Easing the burden on the Team Manager and b) Making sure that the entire squad doesn't need a total overhaul every time a Manager leaves.

In Eddie's case, he has an appetite for hard work and likes to commit to the long-term. I think we have to make an exception of him and give him the authority that he wants.

This does, of course, mean that anyone in the Sporting Director chair would have to accept a more limited role. This may make it difficult to recruit a top name. Personally, that's a pill I'm prepared to swallow if it keeps Eddie at the helm.

Technical director instead? 

[Keegans Export]

We can only speculate on what is quite limited concrete information, so I'll speculate...

 

What it comes down to (in my opinion) is this muddled mess, not exclusive to NUFC, of CEOs, Directors of this and that, managers and head coaches. Who is ultimately in charge? It looks to me as if Eales sees (or saw) himself as ultimately the top of the pile. He champions Mitchell to be his guy on the football side and Eddie, ultimately, reports to his Director of Football. 

 

The problem is that Eddie already had his feet under the table and has been doing a magnificent job, so is he the top man on the footballing side of things, including incomings and outgoings?

 

"Power struggle" is the dramatic way of putting it but I reckon that's basically what's going on. 

 

Anyway, Howe has clearly done enough to justify being the final decision maker. Yes, he'll need people making arguments for and against but he leads the show. Let's be honest, if it all goes to shit he'll be the one who loses his job because of it so I don't blame him really.

[Ben]

I imagine it was a Bruce recommendation, he got us Eddie after all God bless him 

[Kid Icarus]

1 hour ago, JT24 said:

So we believe Craig Hope now?

 

1 hour ago, OpenC said:

 

  this is a very fair point

 

1 hour ago, Ikon said:

Only when it suits  

 

Whether we believe all of it or part of it, a huge part of it is still just a description of what we know Mitchell did and found very strange like. We don't really need any journalists to confirm it with opinions or sources opinions that are the same as ours.

[OpenC]

2 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

 

Whether we believe all of it or part of it, a huge part of it is still just a description of what we know Mitchell did and found very strange like. We don't really need any journalists to confirm it with opinions or sources opinions that are the same as ours.

 

Yeah that's fair Some of what he said and did didn't reflect well on us; this early departure doesn't reflect well on us. Just a bit of an inglorious episode all round. Onwards and upwards

[Lazarus]

I wonder if Mitchell tried owt when Eddie was in hospital and that was the final straw??

 

Also, the sporting director role seems to have a lot of overlap with the managers role. Hopefully the next person in has a very well defined job description.

[midds]

16 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

 

 

 

Whether we believe all of it or part of it, a huge part of it is still just a description of what we know Mitchell did and found very strange like. We don't really need any journalists to confirm it with opinions or sources opinions that are the same as ours.

Exactly. None of us were in the thick of it but there were plenty of dots to be joined and what Hope has presented tonight seems more than plausible and none of it too outlandish to dismiss. There's details in there of phrases used and it's a bit too direct to be complete bullshit. . He could be exaggerating or embellishing things a bit but I'm happy to join the dots and look at the picture he's made. It felt very sudden at the time and there was clearly tension in pre-season. If anyone comes out and refutes it then I'll be open to change my mind but Hope's story stacks up pretty well imo

[KaKa]

23 minutes ago, Lazarus said:

I wonder if Mitchell tried owt when Eddie was in hospital and that was the final straw??