Newcastle United appoint Paul Mitchell as sporting director

[Over The Line]

Newcastle United are delighted to announce the appointment of Paul Mitchell as the club's sporting director.

A former player whose playing career ended in early retirement due to injury, Paul is a well-respected sporting executive with a track record of success.

His non-playing career started in scouting and recruitment, initially at MK Dons, before prominent roles at Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, RB Leipzig, Red Bull Soccer International and AS Monaco.

His recruitment success as director of scouting and analysis at Southampton helped the club to secure promotion back to the Premier League and become regular competitors in the top half of the table. A unique and progressive recruitment strategy enabled the Saints to outperform many of its rivals despite having a lower budget, and he further cemented his reputation during a successful spell as head of recruitment at Tottenham Hotspur.

Paul joined RB Leipzig in 2018 as head of recruitment and club development, combining traditional scouting with data-driven analysis, before moving into a new role as technical director in Red Bull's global football division.

In 2020, he joined AS Monaco as the club's sporting director, devising and implementing a long-term development plan and transforming the club’s performance and profile, as well as implementing improvements at Belgian club Cercle Brugge, part of the ownership's portfolio.

Paul Mitchell said: "It's with immense pride that I accept the responsibility of being Newcastle United's new sporting director.

"I've seen the recent growth and ambition of the club. This, plus the amazing fan base, made the decision to join an easy one.

"I can’t wait to get started and help continue the organisation's growth and long-term competitiveness in all areas of elite football performance."

Darren Eales, Newcastle United's CEO, said: "We are delighted to welcome Paul to Newcastle United. He brings a successful track record and wealth of experience to the club.

"His extensive and diverse experience in football leadership, cultural change and recruitment mean he is the ideal person to lead our sporting directorate.

"We look forward to working with Paul and supporting him in our pursuit of long-term, sustainable success."

Was probably worth a new thread on this one to start fresh after Cashworth.

[bodacious benny]

Seems to have decent experience and the red bull recruitment strategy has unearthed some gems.

[Over The Line]

Very much enjoyed how Ashworth was played out in public, this went under the radar with no ITK's or leaks from the club.

The sooner people (twitter mainly) realise 'ITK's' and journalists tend to know nothing the better.

[bodacious benny]

Very much enjoyed how Ashworth was played out in public, this went under the radar with no ITK's or leaks from the club.

The sooner people (twitter mainly) realise 'ITK's' and journalists tend to know nothing the better.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE HYSTERIA AND MASS PANIC?!?!?!?!

[Over The Line]

Very much enjoyed how Ashworth was played out in public, this went under the radar with no ITK's or leaks from the club.

The sooner people (twitter mainly) realise 'ITK's' and journalists tend to know nothing the better.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE HYSTERIA AND MASS PANIC?!?!?!?!

We have enough of that with Dan Burn at left back.

[lassassinblanc]

Great appointment. Paul is great at what he does and a genuinely nice bloke too

[TJR]

Seems like a good appointment. Better track record on the recruitment side of things than Ashworth so could be an upgrade.

[Don Sholeone]

Some clubs listed there with some great recent successes with talent, looks like a great acquisition.

[jpg]

Seems like a good appointment with a good track record. This being announced almost immediately after Ashworth finally joined MU suggests they’ve had this lined up for a while… In which case he can hopefully come in and hit the ground running?

[Over The Line]

Exclusive: James Bunce (ex Monaco performance director) will be joining new sporting director Paul Mitchell at NUFC as restructuring of hierarchy continues. It’s likely his role will be director of performance.

Never heard of him before but I'm convinced it means we are winning it all.

Imagine having a director of performance under Ashley

Edit: taken from when he was appointed at Monaco. Sounds like something we definitely needed to improve on after last season:

Under the direction of Sporting Director Paul Mitchell, the role will see James focus on injury prevention and risk reduction, monitoring physical preparation, performance, medical, nutritional and psychological aspects.

[beatski]

Exclusive: James Bunce (ex Monaco performance director) will be joining new sporting director Paul Mitchell at NUFC as restructuring of hierarchy continues. It’s likely his role will be director of performance.

Never heard of him before but I'm convinced it means we are winning it all.

Imagine having a director of performance under Ashley

Edit: taken from when he was appointed at Monaco. Sounds like something we definitely needed to improve on after last season:

Under the direction of Sporting Director Paul Mitchell, the role will see James focus on injury prevention and risk reduction, monitoring physical preparation, performance, medical, nutritional and psychological aspects.

Boggis and Bean to sign next

[drewdavis]

How many transfers will be made this season and why is there so much silence

[lassassinblanc]

How many transfers will be made this season and why is there so much silence

We've brought in 5 players, (Albeit 2 of them are keepers,1 was pre arranged, 1 was for u23 team and the other was a free transfer)

Do you expect a signing a day?
Or for the club to just be bidding for everyone and make it public?

As i said many times buying a footballer isn't like buying a loaf of bread, calm down we'll make more signings before the end of the window

[originallad]

How many transfers will be made this season and why is there so much silence

We've brought in 5 players, (Albeit 2 of them are keepers,1 was pre arranged, 1 was for u23 team and the other was a free transfer)

Do you expect a signing a day?
Or for the club to just be bidding for everyone and make it public?

If anything it's like buying a house. And even after you think everything has been agreed it falls through at the last minute.

As i said many times buying a footballer isn't like buying a loaf of bread, calm down we'll make more signings before the end of the window

[originallad]

How many transfers will be made this season and why is there so much silence

We've brought in 5 players, (Albeit 2 of them are keepers,1 was pre arranged, 1 was for u23 team and the other was a free transfer)

Do you expect a signing a day?
Or for the club to just be bidding for everyone and make it public?

As i said many times buying a footballer isn't like buying a loaf of bread, calm down we'll make more signings before the end of the window

If anything it's like buying a house. And even after you think everything has been agreed it can fall through at the last minute.

[bodacious benny]

I think we'll see 2-3 good signings in a short space of time.

Quite a few teams haven't done a huge amount so far, which is to be expected as the Euros and Copa America will have restricted availability / access to players.

[Over The Line]

I'm quite enjoying the silence for a bit. I think we are just scarred from the Ashley era still.

Stay off social media and everything feels much more chill.

[lassassinblanc]

We've brought in 5 players, (Albeit 2 of them are keepers,1 was pre arranged, 1 was for u23 team and the other was a free transfer)

Do you expect a signing a day?
Or for the club to just be bidding for everyone and make it public?

As i said many times buying a footballer isn't like buying a loaf of bread, calm down we'll make more signings before the end of the window

If anything it's like buying a house. And even after you think everything has been agreed it can fall through at the last minute.

Exactly a lot of moving parts

To break it down a little more

Transfer Fee
How Transfer fee will be paid ie installments over x years
Possible visa checks etc (Brexit has made this a lot more taxing)


On player side
Wages
Image rights negotiations
Agent fees % negotiations

There's many many more parts too but as said not simple tasks.

[bodacious benny]

Heard on a podcast that West Ham backed out of signing someone (can’t remember who) as the agent was asking for £10m in agent fees. Greed to the extreme and football needs to do something about it to bring them under control. The fee for the player was only £30m!

Whilst I’m sure they provided a valuable service to players, that kind of request is just obscene and in no way justifiable.

[Livin' Ra Mento Loco]

Heard on a podcast that West Ham backed out of signing someone (can’t remember who) as the agent was asking for £10m in agent fees. Greed to the extreme and football needs to do something about it to bring them under control. The fee for the player was only £30m!

Whilst I’m sure they provided a valuable service to players, that kind of request is just obscene and in no way justifiable.

It was Jonathan David