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

[John P]

21 minutes ago, Bellis80 said:

I think the manager has earned the right to pick his own players now to some extent. But I also think it’s impossible to for him to have the time to watch enough football to know how good other players are outside of the Premier League.

He's not doing it single handedly man, we've got a massive team of analysts, a lot of them will be doing work in identifying players 

[The College Dropout]

11 minutes ago, Rich said:

Howe’s doing the work regardless, though. It’s probably not the healthiest, but it’s how he wants to do things.

I don't think he is. Howe wants involvement in major transfers - that's fine.

 

I think Mitchell wanted a Chelsea style approach, maybe what's become the Liverpool style approach. That's not going to work with us, we need a City style approach - every siginng requires Pep approval. That doesn't mean Pep does all the scouting. But the players are signed FOR Pep and what Pep wants.

[PauloGeordio]

2 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

I don't think he is. Howe wants involvement in major transfers - that's fine.

 

I think Mitchell wanted a Chelsea style approach, maybe what's become the Liverpool style approach. That's not going to work with us, we need a City style approach - every siginng requires Pep approval. That doesn't mean Pep does all the scouting. But the players are signed FOR Pep and what Pep wants.

Just give Eddie what he wants (except a Wilson pay as you play deal ).

[Zero]

In theory, the DOF should stay for a long time and thus the transfer made by DOF should be for the long term squad building, instead of short term benefit which would benefit the manager more than the club. It’s kinda risk-hedging practice.

 

however given our status this might not be applicable. Put it simple, I don’t think we can find a better manager than Howe, so the risk of losing Howe outweighs the impact of making bad transfers

[Yorkie]

43 minutes ago, Rich said:

The fact Howe is incumbent and doing brilliantly clearly hasn’t helped, like.

 

We don’t have to have a traditional DoF/Sporting Director just because it’s seen as the ‘done thing’.

 

We might be able to bastardise the role somewhat to minimise friction with the first team side of things.

 

Agree with this. Just get another body in to help with the job of signing players but reduce their scope to set the tone.

 

The big wigs obviously had a vision to implement a DoF/Head Coach structure but the coach they appointed in haste turned out unexpectedly to be the GOAT. For that reason it just doesn't seem necessary and we should ride the wave of the traditional boss performing incredibly well, until it's no longer working. 

 

When that time comes, if there needs to be a stopgap managerial appointment to hold the fort until they appoint their corporate visionary, who then picks his man, so be it. We couldn't afford that back in 2021, we needed the maximum amount of competence we could possibly find. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

But we still don’t know what the reason behind any of this is. It could be that they just didn’t think Mitchell was the right guy, a different one could be fine. 
 

I love Howe more than anything but I still want the club to have a setup and a system which isn’t too reliant on one man and can continue strategically if the manager changes. Of course Howe’s influence should be very important and they all should be able to work together. 
 

I haven’t read any of the local journos waffling about this, so apologies if other people know some actual facts that I’m not considering. 

 

 

Edited yesterday at 08:57 by AyeDubbleYoo

[Yorkie]

Just now, AyeDubbleYoo said:

I love Howe more than anything but I still want the club to have a setup and a system which isn’t too reliant on one man and can continue strategically if the manager changes. 

 

This is the root of my skepticism, like. The DoF is still one man, just a different one. 

[Tiotes Witch Doctor]

Anyone mentioned bringing Keegan in as DoF yet? Not long before that one gets floated like a bad stench.

[RobsonsWonderland]

Could it be coincidence that it was the same weekend the Chairman was at the match.

 

You can imagine there must have been some sort of meeting held about transfers and plans.

 

Did everyone not see eye to eye or was his list of targets not aligned to either the  financial or managers plans.

 

Frustrating but at least Amanda kept everyone updated... The silence over the past year has been deafening 

[JT24]

5 minutes ago, Tiotes Witch Doctor said:

Anyone mentioned bringing Keegan in as DoF yet? Not long before that one gets floated like a bad stench.

Aye, saw a comment on Facebook suggesting Staveley back as CEO and Keegan as DoF. 

[Kid Icarus]

10 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

 

This is the root of my skepticism, like. The DoF is still one man, just a different one. 

Exactly and I think it's fair to say that Howe has set the identity for how we play now. Agree that we need someone for continuity, but it should be about upholding and expanding on the existing principles Howe has put in place and that's it.

[kingxlnc]

Keegan could be an amazing ambassador but not a DoF with the admin and technicalities of the role

[kingxlnc]

Hugo Viana would have been a good shout had Man city not come in

[TRon]

1 hour ago, Ghandis Flip-Flop said:

My big concern about all of this is what happens when Howe moves on for whatever reason? I’m still scarred by the transitions from Keegan to Dalglish and Robson to Souness.

 

My vision for a DoF is someone who implements a single culture, vision and tactical acuity across the whole club, from the academy, to the reserves to the first team. So that transitions are as effective and seamless as possible.

 

 

This is me as well. I quite liked the idea of having some separation from the manager in this regard, but I guess it has got to a point where Howe has proven himself on just about every level that the board just don't want to fix it if it ain't broken. Totally understandable.

 

If Howe sees himself here for a long time, then you don't cut your nose off to spite your face by making him think twice. Let's just enjoy the ride while we can.

[Abacus]

Just a quick snippet from Martin Hardy in the Times. Apparently Mitchell had told PIF two months ago that he was considering his position. So it looks like this has been on the cards for a while.

 

The article says Howe was told he'd gone yesterday morning just before the announcement. What I'm not clear on from the article on was whether he was aware of the uncertainty leading up to that or not.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

42 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

 

This is the root of my skepticism, like. The DoF is still one man, just a different one. 

Yeah fair enough, but I guess once a department is established it continues even if the executive in charge changes. 
 

What you need is a club philosophy that informs what we do with recruitment and (eventually) manager selection. Maybe we could use Howe’s philosophy as the template since he has turned out to be an incredible manager for us. 

[JT24]

4 minutes ago, Abacus said:

Just a quick snippet from Martin Hardy in the Times. Apparently Mitchell had told PIF two months ago that he was considering his position. So it looks like this has been on the cards for a while.

 

The article says Howe was told he'd gone yesterday morning just before the announcement. What I'm not clear on from the article on was whether he was aware of the uncertainty leading up to that or not.

Good news in there that James Bunce will remain in his role. 

[KaKa]

7 minutes ago, Abacus said:

Just a quick snippet from Martin Hardy in the Times. Apparently Mitchell had told PIF two months ago that he was considering his position. So it looks like this has been on the cards for a while.

 

The article says Howe was told he'd gone yesterday morning just before the announcement. What I'm not clear on from the article on was whether he was aware of the uncertainty leading up to that or not.

 

Two months ago would have been March.

 

Coincidentally when Freedman was hired by a PIF owned Saudi second division club.

 

Interesting 

[r0cafella]

2 minutes ago, KaKa said:

 

Two months ago would have been March.

 

Coincidentally when Freedman was hired by a PIF owned Saudi second division club.

 

Interesting 

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?

[Cf]

52 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

But we still don’t know what the reason behind any of this is. It could be that they just didn’t think Mitchell was the right guy, a different one could be fine. 
 

I love Howe more than anything but I still want the club to have a setup and a system which isn’t too reliant on one man and can continue strategically if the manager changes. Of course Howe’s influence should be very important and they all should be able to work together. 
 

I haven’t read any of the local journos waffling about this, so apologies if other people know some actual facts that I’m not considering. 

 

 

 

 

This is generally overblown to me.

 

What is Howe doing that means we can't find a successor when the time comes?

 

Different managers obviously have different styles - hire one that suits your current squad. Only a few managers (your Ruben Amorims of the world) are going to build a squad that is so specialised that they limit their options.

 

Also setups and systems evolve - the person best placed to see and address this is the manager.

 

Don't get me wrong - overall direction is good. And one man can only do so much. Howe absolutely needs advisors, scouts, coaches, etc. But the concept of a DoF dictating to a manager/head coach the players they have and the system they should play just doesn't sit right.

[El Prontonise]

1 minute 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?

 

He'd be fucked tax wise if he came back to the UK so soon.

[Nucasol]

1 minute 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?

Simple way of avoiding dealing with dickhead Parish.

[The College Dropout]

15 minutes ago, Abacus said:

Just a quick snippet from Martin Hardy in the Times. Apparently Mitchell had told PIF two months ago that he was considering his position. So it looks like this has been on the cards for a while.

 

The article says Howe was told he'd gone yesterday morning just before the announcement. What I'm not clear on from the article on was whether he was aware of the uncertainty leading up to that or not.

2 months ago around the time of the Cup win?

[Cf]

13 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

Yeah fair enough, but I guess once a department is established it continues even if the executive in charge changes. 
 

What you need is a club philosophy that informs what we do with recruitment and (eventually) manager selection. Maybe we could use Howe’s philosophy as the template since he has turned out to be an incredible manager for us. 

 

This is more like what you want. A board, the manager, different departments, all on the same page so that if anyone leaves the rest are aligned on what replacements to bring in.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

5 minutes ago, Cf said:

 

This is generally overblown to me.

 

What is Howe doing that means we can't find a successor when the time comes?

 

Different managers obviously have different styles - hire one that suits your current squad. Only a few managers (your Ruben Amorims of the world) are going to build a squad that is so specialised that they limit their options.

 

Also setups and systems evolve - the person best placed to see and address this is the manager.

 

Don't get me wrong - overall direction is good. And one man can only do so much. Howe absolutely needs advisors, scouts, coaches, etc. But the concept of a DoF dictating to a manager/head coach the players they have and the system they should play just doesn't sit right.

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. 

 

 

Edited yesterday at 10:01 by AyeDubbleYoo