Paul Mitchell Newcastle United interview reaction

Shields Gazette

Dominic Scurr reflects on Newcastle United sporting director Paul Mitchell's interview following the summer transfer window.

Transcript

00:00I'm Nick Scurr here outside St. James' Park where we've been speaking to Paul Mitchell

00:06today, Newcastle's Sporting Director after a difficult transfer window by Paul Mitchell's

00:12own admission. He said obviously coming in partway through didn't help things and this

00:18was very much a window where he was there to support Eddie Howe rather than lead the

00:24summer recruitment drive. So possibly explains why Newcastle weren't able to land any major

00:32signings really. Paul Mitchell pointed to a structure, a pre-existing structure was

00:36very much in place that ultimately wasn't there to be ripped open and started again

00:42by him. So yeah, it was an eye-opening probably hour and a half we had with Paul Mitchell

00:49in terms of Newcastle's summer business, which was stressed a lot of the decisions

00:55made in the summer transfer window were rather long-term than short-term. The general consensus

01:02and fans may disagree with this, is that Newcastle's squad generally speaking is strong and is

01:07competitive enough to challenge for the positions Newcastle want to get into. You may disagree

01:14with that, I personally would say it's maybe a little bit below that, but Paul Mitchell

01:20believes in the squad, he said he believes in the squad. A decision was made that Newcastle

01:24felt they were overpaying for certain targets and then things went no further. One thing

01:30Paul Mitchell did say is the club, this is a bombshell really I thought, the club didn't

01:35have the scouting network in place to identify appropriate targets quickly enough to land

01:42in this transfer window. So that was a big takeaway, Newcastle had money to spend, they

01:49chose not to spend it because they feel that money will be better spent in future transfer

01:55windows where certain players didn't name names, but you know who I'm probably talking

01:59about, may become cheaper. And in terms of what you spend here and now, Newcastle may

02:07have felt they were overpaying for certain targets and again PSR is a factor, but ultimately

02:15Newcastle had money to spend, chose not to spend it because they think it'll be better

02:19spent in future transfer windows. So yeah, there's a lot to digest in the hour and a

02:28half, that was more or less a summary of what you'd probably want to hear in terms of the

02:33transfer fallout. Paul Mitchell, almost like Eddie Howe, a bit of a, can we get to the

02:40bottom of this, because Eddie Howe distanced himself from Newcastle's transfer business

02:43very much this summer. Paul Mitchell also did the same a little bit, which for the guy

02:47who's coming in and meant to be spearheading the transfer business is interesting, but

02:55Paul Mitchell said he had a supportive role in this transfer window, in future transfer

02:59windows that will change, that will become more of a controlling role, working in unison

03:04with Eddie Howe and Darren Eales as the club look to pursue their future transfer targets.

03:11So yeah, there'll be more to come on everything Paul Mitchell said, on the record at least,

03:18over on the Shields Gazette, so be sure to check that out. But yeah, overall summary

03:22which was interesting from Paul Mitchell, almost distancing himself from the initial

03:28transfer window, said there's lessons to be learned for the club based on the structure

03:33that was in place. So basically, honest in admitting that Newcastle were just not in

03:40the best position to do what was possibly needed this summer, people would argue, but

03:48they've ultimately looked at things with a five-year, three-year plan in place and can

03:55we get to where we want to be in the next three, five years and will sort of jump in

04:02the gun and try and assign a player that perhaps Eddie Howe isn't quite the right profile for

04:09Eddie Howe or quite the right profile for Newcastle United or do we wait, be patient

04:15and get that player in a future transfer window and invest that money that was there. Fans

04:19will be saying, well why didn't you strengthen key areas that everyone knows wants to be

04:25strengthened, the right wing position, Newcastle did make a deadline day offer or deadline

04:31day approach for Anthony Alanga from Nottingham Forest, but again, it comes back to that overpaying,

04:39is it the right profile, the right money Newcastle want to spend here and now and yeah, in terms

04:45of not getting alternatives, it all goes back to Paul Mitchell feeling that Scouting Network

04:51is not to his satisfaction, so I think personally that's the big takeaway for me, Newcastle

04:58almost not fit for the ambitions of the club and the PSOR sort of pressures they are under

05:07at this moment in time, but Paul Mitchell was positive in saying those will come and

05:14in future transfer windows Newcastle will be able to be more proactive by basically

05:19playing it a little bit, I wouldn't say safe because they've took risks by not signing

05:24anyone but almost not sort of setting up the stall and going we're not overpaying, we're

05:29not going to sign a player who Eddie Howe doesn't want and Paul Mitchell also stressed that

05:34Eddie Howe remains very much involved, it's not his job to almost convince Eddie Howe

05:40to sign a player that Eddie Howe doesn't want to sign and doesn't want to work with it.

05:46In any job, if you get told to do something you ultimately don't want to do, then getting

05:54convinced to actually do that is difficult and that's what Paul Mitchell alluded to and

05:59there's been problems with managers here in the past, Kevin Keegan being a big one where

06:04that has unravelled very quickly, so that's a dangerous precedent Newcastle would set

06:09and speaking of precedent, I'm going around the houses here a little bit, in terms of

06:16again didn't name Mark Gahee as such Paul Mitchell but if Newcastle were going to break

06:22the transfer record this summer which they had the finances to do, let's remember, if

06:27they had overpaid for a player which I think everyone would probably agree that £65-70

06:33million for Mark Gahee is overpaying, then it sets a dangerous precedent moving forward

06:40for future transfers because then any defender Newcastle want to strengthen, any winger they

06:46want to sign, any player of any area, it goes back to well you paid £70 million for Mark

06:52Gahee, so it pays what we feel our players worth and it sets a dangerous precedent when

07:00you get into a position of overpaying for players. So yeah, that's basically a brief

07:05summary of what Paul Mitchell said, you may agree with it, you may disagree with it, I

07:09think all in all it was nice to see Paul Mitchell go on the record and speak openly, honestly

07:18and in some ways about Newcastle's transfer shortcomings this summer, ultimately the bottom

07:26line is it's a long-term project, patience is required, some fans may be sick of hearing that

07:30after three years into this project it seems like a backward step, a bit of a regression,

07:35but Newcastle, the bottom line message from Paul Mitchell was Newcastle are still on course to

07:41get where they need to be, it just might take a little bit longer than initially hoped and

07:47initially expected. So yeah, more to come from everything Paul Mitchell said over on the Shields

07:52Gazette website, be sure to check that out and yeah, more to come from that during the

07:56international break, so yeah, nice to get a bit of stuff on the record, a bit of fresh news and

08:03things like that during the international break which is usually quite quiet, so yeah,

08:08be sure to check all that out, be sure to follow myself Dom Skirt on, I was going to say Twitter,

08:13on X and Mouth of the Time podcast on X as well for all of your latest Newcastle United updates,

08:20so thanks for watching, thanks for listening and there's more to come

08:24from Paul Mitchell over on the Shields Gazette, cheers.

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