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The Guardian
2 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Paul Mitchell's Newcastle exit leaves Eddie Howe in position of maximum strength
The table was all wrong. In retrospect it offered the first clue that lack of emotional intelligence would prove central to Paul Mitchell's undoing at Newcastle. It was early last September when reporters were invited to St James' Park to meet the club's then newish sporting director. As Mitchell strode into the windowless Sir Bobby Robson suite and took his seat at the head of a very long rectangular table he neglected to notice that journalists at the opposite end were isolated from the conversation. Sure enough, he was questioned so intensely by those clustered around him that others struggled to get a word in edgeways. While it took me more than an hour of a 90-minute briefing to seize a fleeting opportunity to ask a question, an adjacently seated colleague never managed to say a single word to Dan Ashworth's successor. Mitchell appeared oblivious. Supporters might think: 'So what?' But it appeared indicative of a wider carelessness that helps to explain why the sporting director will be leaving Newcastle by 'mutual consent' this month. The previous year Ashworth had conducted a similar exercise at the training ground. On walking into the media room the then soon-to-be Manchester United‑bound sporting director surveyed rows of formal seating, shook his head and began dragging chairs into a more inclusive circle. That way everyone felt equal and could easily participate. It was a common‑sense move that won hearts and minds. Emotional intelligence is an unquantifiable yet imperative component in football's high-stakes world of fragile egos and, sometimes, almost paranoid insecurity. Mitchell shortage of soft skills provoked a needless civil, and turf, war with Eddie Howe last autumn. If failing to recognise the need for circular seating represented a mistake, his repeated reiteration that Newcastle's ostensibly successful transfer policy was 'not fit for purpose' proved incendiary. Given the manager demands a final say on signings and his nephew, Andy Howe, is a key figure in the recruitment department, it seemed arrogant macho posturing. Sadly this humility bypass would obscure the considerable good Mitchell has done on Tyneside, most notably appointing the injury-prevention specialist James Bunce. It might have been different had Amanda Staveley and her husband, Mehrdad Ghodoussi, still been around as directors and minority owners to smooth the sporting director's rough edges. Staveley is all about deal-making facilitated by emollient human connectivity. During the two and a half years she and Ghodoussi ran Newcastle on behalf of the majority owner, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, a sense of harmony prevailed. Yet since the couple were forced out last summer – apparently for assorted reasons, including a confusing overlap with the role of the chief executive, Darren Eales – the club has seemed colder and more corporate. Stress levels have risen. It did not help that Ashworth – admired by Howe for his humility and 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' approach that, paradoxically, would preface his swift Old Trafford downfall – had been persuaded the Mancunian grass was greener. Or that Eales, who had been diagnosed with blood cancer, announced he would depart once a successor was identified. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion With that moment drawing close, the chief executive and Mitchell, old friends from their Tottenham days, leave at a juncture when Howe operates from a position of maximum strength. After winning the Carabao Cup and securing a second Champions League qualification in three years, his fiercely protected power base looks bombproof. The manager's undeniable, if occasionally high‑maintenance, brilliance camouflages considerable behind‑the‑scenes turmoil at a club where the boardroom churn is hardly conducive to stability. While the available funds of about £100m need to be spent urgently yet intelligently on restocking Howe's slender squad, Newcastle's second‑tier women's team have just released 12 players and confront a complicated crossroads. PIF could do worse than replace Mitchell internally. The former Sunderland and Hibernian manager Jack Ross holds an MA in economics, has written two children's books and is head of Newcastle's strategic technical football partnerships. The former executive with the Scottish players' union and the global FifPro is smart, nuanced and empathetic; he champions women's football and, unlike his bosses, is an excellent communicator. Counterproductively, communication between the media and the Saudis is nonexistent. Yasir al‑Rumayyan, Newcastle's chair, has never spoken to reporters, let alone explained the ownership strategy or why potential moves to a new stadium and/or training ground remain pending. That might seem irrelevant to fans. Yet if, as is widely believed, purchasing the club was really all part of a sportswashing exercise intended to clean up the kingdom's blood-stained image while bolstering its embryonic tourism industry, it is also distinctly odd. Perhaps there is an acceptance that Saudi Arabia's human rights record is so atrocious that awkward questions are best avoided, but maybe it's simply a lack of empathy. Whatever the reason, the disconnect jars. The lack of trust between Mitchell and Howe ultimately spelled divorce. When eventually I asked the former whether the manager's instinctive wariness of outsiders meant winning his confidence was hard work, the reply – 'You sound like you know him better than I do' – sounded only half-joking. After that calamitous briefing the manager blanked the sporting director for a fortnight before Eales negotiated a truce that endured to the point where the announcement last Tuesday of Mitchell's impending exit prompted mild surprise. After all this, maybe the Saudis regret allowing the emotional intelligence embodied by Ashworth, now a senior Football Association executive, and Staveley to slip through their fingers.
New York Times
5 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
Eddie Howe isn't celebrating Paul Mitchell's exit. Uncertainty is a team-killer
'My job is to get us in five years' time to our ambition,' Paul Mitchell said, not long after his appointment as Newcastle United's sporting director. 'We have to be smarter, more intelligent.' By the time he leaves his post, at the end of June, Mitchell will have lasted barely one of those years. In June 2022, when Dan Ashworth began work as Newcastle's sporting director after four months of gardening leave at Brighton & Hove Albion, he spoke about 'helping the club to grow and achieve long-term success'. Twenty months later, he was again tending his beautiful roses and waiting to join Manchester United. Advertisement For Newcastle and sporting directors, long-term is very much the wrong term. Mitchell's role was '90 per cent recruitment', according to Darren Eales, the chief executive, which by the very blunt metric of actually buying first-team players, makes his tenure 100 per cent unsuccessful, so far at least — Mitchell has another month to shift that dial and the club are pushing to get transfers done. Ashworth, said Mehrdad Ghodoussi — who, along with Amanda Staveley, his wife, initially ran Newcastle post-takeover and were minority owners — would be a 'key hire, the person that drives the football operation, who creates the structure. It's like building a house: if you don't have the right foundations, it will fall down.' To continue that analogy, Ashworth left with the roof not yet fitted and the cement still wet. There is another theme here, too. Over the space of 16 months, Mitchell, Ashworth, Ghodoussi and Staveley will all have departed and so, too, will Eales, who arrived on Tyneside two months after Ashworth and who announced last September that he had been diagnosed with a chronic form of blood cancer. They are all pivotal figures, responsible for running the club, buying players, setting budgets or setting the tone and much else besides. On the pitch, Eddie Howe's team was a model of excellence and stability for the second-half of the season just ended, winning the club's first domestic trophy for 70 years and qualifying for the Champions League. Above him in the boardroom, it has been constant churn. Does this churn matter? Given the Carabao Cup win, a pair of Wembley finals over two years, playing in Europe's leading club competition for two seasons out of three, and successive league finishes of fourth, seventh and fifth, arguably not at all. Who cares what the suits are doing when Howe has discovered alchemy? Advertisement Yet this — categorically — would not be a theory Howe himself subscribes to and those who have portrayed Mitchell's rapid exit as some kind of victory have called it wrong. There was no celebrating. What Howe wants is new players as quickly as possible and his immediate concern was about the knock-on effects of losing the man whose role was supposed to be '90 per cent recruitment'. Howe said as much on Sunday after Newcastle's place in the Champions League next season was cemented. 'Speed is key for us and I've reiterated that many times internally because we have to be dynamic,' he said. 'We have to be ready to complete things very, very quickly because good players don't hang around for long.' Newcastle have not signed a first-team-ready player for three consecutive transfer windows. Last summer, they sold Elliot Anderson, who had been earmarked for a significant role, to Nottingham Forest to help balance the books. They also sold Yankuba Minteh, who his since made 32 Premier League appearances for Brighton as a right-winger, a position Howe has wanted to reinforce for years. In January, they trimmed more fat they didn't really have, selling Miguel Almiron back to Atlanta United and allowing Lloyd Kelly to join Juventus, initially on loan but with an obligation to buy. In financial terms, those deals were necessary and represented decent business, but in football terms, which is what Howe cares about, it left his squad desperately shallow. After all that, they now have headroom under the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules (PSR). They have scope for manoeuvre — and a good thing too, because the squad needs a significant refresh. Howe wants a goalkeeper, a right-winger, a centre-half and potentially a forward. Targets have been deliberated over and fixed upon. Advertisement What he doesn't need is confusion or delay. In his leaving statement, Mitchell said 'the club is in a fantastic position to continue building', but the architect left with Ashworth's defection and now the contractors and engineers are going too. When it comes to the bigger-picture stuff, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), Newcastle's majority owners, are notoriously slow to move, and an interim structure needs to be capable of swift decisions. The club say it will be, but judgement can only be deferred. Mitchell's departure, in tandem with Eales — and at least partially caused by it, given their long-standing relationship — means a second consecutive summer of upheaval for Newcastle and Howe who, at this stage, has no inkling of who he will be reporting to next season and who his immediate boss will be. This feels sub-optimal. Football and football people crave certainty. Players want to know precisely what their roles are and to look around their dressing-room knowing team-mates feel the same. Managers want to know what to expect from their players and feel confident that tactical instructions will be carried out. From above, they want authority and backing. Uncertainty is a team-killer. When Staveley and Ghodoussi left Newcastle last July, Howe lost two huge allies and advocates. The three of them had worked closely together in the early days post-takeover, forging a tight, intimate relationship and he was kept informed of everything, good or bad. They left a vacuum. Newcastle felt like less of a family and more corporate. When Mitchell arrived, Howe was given scant notice. If that was bruising, then Mitchell's forthright, brusque personality and desire to make his own mark at Newcastle did not help the healing process. 'It was the wrong attitude to come in with,' an associate of Howe said, speaking on condition of anonymity. 'If the club was really at a low point then you could understand that idea of changing everything. It didn't need that. It just needed a bit of support.' After the PSR shambles, when Newcastle held negotiations with Liverpool over selling Anthony Gordon, Chelsea enquired about Alexander Isak, and after Mitchell led a long, fruitless pursuit of Crystal Palace's Marc Guehi, Newcastle's dressing-room was rife with uncertainty. Every player knew they had a price. With no quality additions, they were less convinced about Newcastle's ambitions. Howe felt less certain in his relationships. He was less clear about what the club's vision was, so how could he persuade his players? In a sport of marginal gains, Newcastle began the season a few percentage points off. They were inconsistent, either nabbing results while not playing well or playing better but proving incapable of seeing games out. With no reinforcements and little support network, it was left to Howe and his backroom team to shake players out of it. It meant months of introspection and effort. Advertisement 'No one fully understands apart from Eddie and his staff just how difficult this season has been,' the associate said. 'Things could have gone very differently.' This was the byproduct of uncertainty. In the meantime, Howe and Mitchell muddled along. They were not stags butting heads. The early tension had first been around personality and then transfers and with Newcastle unable or unwilling to buy anybody, transfers were largely irrelevant. They were never going to be close mates, but Howe put his head down and got on with it. Perhaps that tension would have flared up again this summer. Perhaps Mitchell's expertise and experience would have come to the fore and everyone would have been delighted. Perhaps his legacy will turn out to be the 'fantastic position', he spoke about and Newcastle will get their deals done, which is the minimum Howe deserves after a truly transformational season. Howe has delivered an elite performance. Newcastle's team operated at an elite level for six months, showing what they are capable of. Their marketing and commercial departments are getting there after long years of shrivelled ambition, but in terms of infrastructure and facilities they are not yet an elite club. 'That's what we want to be,' Howe said when The Athletic put these points to him last weekend. 'That's what we're desperate to continue to be. But if I answer that with a definitive yes, I'm not sure it would be wise. I'll let you judge. But we crave that, we want that. Now my summer will be focused purely on trying to make us stronger and better for every challenge we're going to face.' But now he will also have to focus on forging new partnerships, with Eales' replacement and Mitchell's, whatever their job descriptions are and whatever the new structure is. Once again, there will be different people who are tasked with running Newcastle or who are instrumental in shaping what Newcastle should be, either as a squad or as a club. To a certain extent, Howe knew what he would be getting with Mitchell: a headache. Now he doesn't know again. In part, this is to do with circumstances. In an ideal world, a CEO would appoint the sporting director who would seek out the best fit as manager, but at Newcastle they did it the other way around. Equally, nobody could have predicted Eales' illness and, after this extraordinary and rewarding season, he must now belatedly take care of himself and his family. Advertisement To return to the start, there will be no winner from Mitchell's departure if, come August, Howe looks around his dressing room and again sees uncertainty flicker in his players' eyes. And to borrow again from Ghodoussi's analogy, if building a club is really like building a house, do Newcastle yet have the 'right foundations'? Or are they once more being knocked down in order to start over? One thing is certain: their master craftsman cannot be expected to keep picking up the pieces.
Forbes
6 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Paul Mitchell's Newcastle United Exit Was Inevitable When He Arrived
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 22: Anthony Gordon of Newcastle United (C) poses for a photo ... More with Newcastle United Sporting Director Paul Mitchell (L) and Newcastle United Head Coach Eddie Howe (R) after signing a long term contract on October 22, 2024 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. (Photo by Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images) Just days into Paul Mitchell's reign as sporting director at Newcastle United, it felt like his presence would cause issues. Having joined in early July last year, Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi, the two founding members of the Saudi Arabian-backed ownership group on Tyneside, departed. That felt significant, because it saw battle lines drawn in a saga that only came to a head this week, as Mitchell left not even a year into his tenure. Eddie Howe, Newcastle's head coach, saw Staveley and Ghodoussi as major allies in the club's hierarchy. He hadn't enjoyed the strongest working relationship with Mitchell's predecessor, Dan Ashworth, before his long drawn out departure for Manchester United, and when CEO Darren Eales appointed Mitchell, giving Howe only 24 hours notice, it was a dangerous paradigm shift. Howe had just led Newcastle to a seventh-placed finish in the Premier League, and though he had suffered at the hands of a generational injury crisis, missing out on European qualification having competed in the Champions League that season was a major disappointment. His position was precarious. Decisions were being made without him, and Mitchell came in to assume a role which involved '90% recruitment' according to Eales. Howe had the final say on player signings and sales, and any infringement on that would certainly cause friction, which suddenly felt inevitable. When Ashworth left, it was said he found Howe's manner of working frustrating; preferring to confide in his coaching 'inner circle', rather than him. Mitchell appeared and immediately stepped on toes, publicly criticizing the transfer policy he inherited. It was clear he didn't mind who he upset; did he want a partnership? Howe was being linked with replacing Gareth Southgate as England at the same time, which only amplified the tension. At a press conference at the Adidas headquarters in Germany two weeks after Mitchell joined, he was cold and calculated, clearly sending a message that his position wasn't to be compromised. Whilst his commitment to Newcastle never wavered, he had to be given the freedom to do his job as he saw fit. Days later, after a pre-season friendly at Hull City, he tone softened, speaking of the need for 'collaboration'. But it didn't matter anyway. No first team signings arrived last summer much to everyone's annoyance. Profit and Sustainability Rules had been a hindrance, but Mitchell had nothing to show for his brash entrance, other than a much-publicized failure to sign England defender Marc Guehi. Howe focussed on winning matches. HERZOGENAURACH, GERMANY - JULY 16: Newcastle United Head Coach Eddie Howe (L) laughs with Newcastle ... More United Sporting Director Paul Mitchell (R) during the Newcastle United Pre Season Training Camp at the Adidas HomeGroup Training Facilities on July 16, 2024 in Herzogenaurach, Germany. (Photo by Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images) Poor performances and results may have strengthened any cause Mitchell had for replacing Howe with his own man; by early December, Newcastle was 12th in the Premier League. Fundamentally, Newcastle's structure differed from its rivals. Because the club was in such serious relegation trouble when the takeover happened in October 2021, Howe was appointed as head coach first. Usually, the sporting director would arrive and have a say in appointing a person who aligns with their vision. Both Ashworth and Mitchell struggled to adjust to Howe's existing strong power base, and having joined with huge reputations, egos may have played a big part in the disfunction. Howe stayed and that is where things began to turn. While Mitchell's influence on youth recruitment is clear, with Malaga winger Antonio Cordero the most exciting recruit, the lack of first team signings has been an issue. But Howe battled on to win Newcastle's first domestic trophy in 70 years and secure a Champions League spot without any major additions. The power dynamic has moved back in his favour, irreversibly so with regards Mitchell, even if they began to work together by the end. Mitchell had also said his role at the club was linked to Eales - who appointed him after they worked together at Tottenham Hotspur. The unfortunate news of Eales' blood cancer diagnosis, which will see him leave soon, will undoubtedly be a factor in the decision. The timing of Mitchell's departure on Tuesday was the biggest surprise, rather than the departure itself. But it also felt symbolic; as soon as the opportunity arose after the season ended. Howe had spoken to Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Newcastle's chairman, after Sunday's final game against Everton. He laid down demands so a quick and dynamic start to the transfer window, keen to avoid a repeat of last summer. He was unusually bullish when speaking to the press, and Mitchell leaving means there is no doubting who is calling the shots. Targets have been set, work has already begun. Howe is back in main control of signing players, flanked by his nephew Andy and Steve Nickson, head of recruitment. There are no immediate plans to replace Mitchell, with anyone coming in likely suffering the same fate in terms of unsettling the mood and challenging Howe. But a technical appointment, somebody who negotiates and organises around the wishes of the manager rather than offering their own ideas, may be a better fit. Whatever happens, lessons must be learnt from the Paul Mitchell saga. Eddie Howe's success has given him the strength to dictate what he wants; he needs supporting, not challenging.
BBC News
27-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Newcastle sporting director to leave after one year
Newcastle United sporting director Paul Mitchell is to leave the club by mutual consent at the end of June, less than 12 months after his former Tottenham sporting director joined the Magpies in July 2024 to replace Dan Ashworth, who left St James' Park to join Manchester left United in December 2024, after just five months in his new role, and earlier this month agreed to return to the Football Association as head of elite men's and women's presided over a difficult summer transfer window, where Newcastle were forced into selling players such as Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh to meet the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules. Mitchell had reunited with Newcastle CEO Darren Eales, who recruited him at Tottenham Hotspur in 2014, but Eales will soon step down for health reasons."I'd like to thank everyone at Newcastle United for their support over the last year," Mitchell said."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."The club is in great hands on and off the pitch, and is in a fantastic position to continue building."During Mitchell's short tenure as sporting director Newcastle won the Carabao Cup - their first major domestic trophy in 70 years - before qualifying for next season's Champions League on the final day of the Premier League season.
Irish Times
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Manchester United face urgent dilemma: ditch Amorim or revamp the squad
Everything always seems clearer in the morning, and in the cold grey light of Thursday, the prognosis for Manchester United is bleak. While Tottenham face an awkward calculation – weighing up whether the delirium of a first European trophy in 41 years offsets their worst league season in terms of proportion of games lost – for Manchester United the equation is far starker. Ruben Amorim will only play in one way. He is committed absolutely, uncompromisingly, irrevocably to the 3-4-2-1. Liverpool considered him, looked at their squad, realised the two things did not go together, appointed Arne Slot and won the league. Manchester United looked at their squad, flinched at the horror, and seem to have reasoned it was such a mess that it was impossible to find a manager whose philosophy would fit. There was a dissenting voice, Dan Ashworth, but at the court of Jim Ratcliffe, reasoned doubts are as unwelcome as a free lunch. This is where Ratcliffe deserves credit. Where nobody else could see a pattern, he found one. It turns out this squad does have a unifying theme, and the appointment of Amorim uncovered it: what linked this disparate group of players, cobbled together under five permanent managers over 11 years, is that none of them can play 3-4-2-1. READ MORE The Europa League final was a mesmerisingly dreadful game of football. An average of 52 seconds elapsed between every pass Tottenham completed, and yet they still won with relative ease. Almost every one of the handful of chances United made – notably the Rasmus Højlund effort cleared off the line by Micky van de Ven and the second-half header Bruno Fernandes put wide – was the result of a Spurs error. Amad Diallo offered some invention in the first half but faded in the second. There was one little burst from Alejandro Garnacho. And that was it. With 72% possession, United were left to rely on individual inspiration from young forwards and Tottenham mistakes. It turned out Europa League form – United were unbeaten in European competition until Wednesday – was deceptive. Casemiro and Harry Maguire may thrive when there is a little more time on the ball, but up against Premier League opposition again, they struggled as they have all season. Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim (right) speaks to Casemiro during the Europa League final. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA The mind inevitably goes back to a comment Fernandes made after United had narrowly beaten Ipswich in February: Amorim, he said, had been shocked by how good a newly promoted side threatened by relegation could be. There are no Estrela Amadoras or Gil Vicentes in English football; the Premier League is relentlessly demanding in a way no other competition in the world is. The league may have clear financial stratifications but its wealth means the level even at the bottom end is, by global standards, extremely high. Which is, if course, how United and Spurs ended up in the Europa League final in the first place. And so United are faced with a dilemma. If they persist with Amorim, the squad will need a complete and total overhaul. Of the team who played in Bilbao, how many could be of use in a 3-4-2-1? Lenny Yoro and Patrick Dorgu, probably. Diallo, perhaps. Mason Mount and Fernandes, maybe, although neither offered much evidence on Wednesday night. That level of makeover will require hundreds of millions of pounds that United simply do not have. The way Ratcliffe has been speaking, there would not have been vast sums available even if United had been in the Champions League. Without any European football at all, budgets will be tight. And besides, which self-respecting player now would want to join United? The only reason to go to Old Trafford is for the surge players get when they leave: Scott McTominay will win Serie A if Napoli beat Cagliari on Friday; Marcus Rashford has been rejuvenated at Aston Villa; Antony can't stop scoring brilliant goals for Real Betis and either he or Jadon Sancho will lift the Conference League next week. The contrast with Kobbie Mainoo, young goalscoring hero of last season's FA Cup final transformed into peripheral figure, is unavoidable. Tottenham Hotspur's Yves Bissouma (left) and Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes battle for the ball during the Uefa Europa League final. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA In the days before profitability and sustainability rules and financial fair play, United could have spent their way out of trouble. That option is no longer available to them. This will be a long, slow rebuild. Barring astonishing public funding, a new stadium that might increase revenues will itself be a drain on resources. So the question United now face is clear: do they place their faith in Amorim, slowly build a squad that can play his way, accepting many of their first-choice signings may no longer be available to them, or do they make the switch and turn to a more flexible manager who may be able to elevate this squad. The problem there is that almost nobody seems to want to stay. Amorim and Fernandes both said that they would be prepared to leave if it is in the best interests of the club, the manager even offering to go without a payoff, which does not seem like the most complicated diplomatic code to crack. Garnacho described the season as 'shit' and hinted he would be open to offers and Luke Shaw said every player had to ask themselves whether they really want to be there. Frankly, why would anybody? For United, the question is how much they believe in Amorim. Because if he is going to fix things, it is not going to be quick. — Guardian
