Newcastle United: Paul Mitchell appointed Sporting Director
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00:00And that brings me neatly on to this question, because it's like, where do Newcastle go from
00:03here now? Because PSR is a thing of the past, at least for this summer. They can now look
00:08at spending and developing the squad ahead of the new season. Given the sales they have
00:13just made as well, what sort of spending power will they have going into the actual transfer
00:18window and who are the targets?
00:20I mean, ironically, regardless of what had happened before July the 1st, Newcastle would
00:26have had capacity to spend going into it, because this is the final year in theory of
00:32the current PSR regulations, and so this is the final three-year period. The 2021-22 season,
00:38when Newcastle made a substantial loss in excess of ÂŁ70 million, was always going to
00:42drop off. That was the first post-takeover season, so that is no longer considered. That's
00:46when Newcastle spent nearly ÂŁ100 million in the January window of 2022. And so Newcastle
00:51were going to have capacity to spend there anyway, but they've also managed to bring
00:55in funds, which helps with their calculation, their PSR calculation, over the entire three
01:00years, not just over the three years that they've just had, the new rolling figures
01:04as well. They also have the Adidas shirt manufacturing deal coming onto their accounts this year,
01:11so that gives them greater capacity to spend. Their revenue has also greatly increased from
01:15the 2021-22 season as well, given their commercial deals, and they hope to expand that going
01:19forward. So that's a long way of saying Newcastle do have, in theory, greater capacity to spend.
01:25Now, whatever they do spend, regardless of the PSR rules changing going forward, that
01:29still could have an effect longer term in terms of what Newcastle can do. So they still
01:33have to have and bear that in mind, but they do believe they have decent capacity to be
01:39able to materially strengthen their first-team squad and the first 11 itself. They want a
01:44right winger that's been a target long term, and they believe they can—or they hope they
01:49can bring someone in who's going to improve that area, probably walk straight into the
01:52first team, and that lifts the level of the squad, because then whoever drops out of the
01:55team comes in behind them. They need another centre-back, given the injuries they've got
01:59there, and they desire long-term to have that anyway, a long-term successor, really, to
02:01Fabian Scheer. Forwards-wise, if Callum Wilson goes, another forward may arrive. That's sort
02:08of up in the air as to what exactly will happen there, but other positions could be strengthened
02:13as well. Newcastle have not really got anything off the table in terms of what they would
02:17consider if they see a deal which they think is worth their while financially and which
02:21can materially strengthen the squad, they will look to do it. So, as fraught as the
02:25last couple of weeks have been, theoretically, going forward, now that Newcastle have Paul
02:29Mitchell as a sporting director in place as well, hopefully, they can have a positive
02:33final two months of the summer window.
02:34That brings me on to the last question, of course, a question I wasn't expecting to ask
02:38probably about half an hour ago this morning, Elisa, which was about Paul Mitchell, of course.
02:43A new sporting director appointed, a bit out of the blue, I think, for most people in the
02:48media circling Newcastle. Obviously, he had turned them down a couple of months ago when
02:53Dan Ashworth had just been placed on gardening leave, but now Newcastle managed to get what
02:57seemingly is one of their big targets for the replacement of Dan Ashworth. Yes, it had
03:02Dougie Freedman turn them down from Crystal Palace, but they've got Paul Mitchell, who
03:06was at Monaco, he's been at Southampton, Tottenham, and so seemingly, I mean, obviously, as I
03:10say, we'll find out more as the weeks and months progress, but for now, at least, on
03:15the surface, it seems like a pretty good appointment.
03:17Yeah, Newcastle are delighted with this deal. As you said, Paul Mitchell was under consideration
03:25early on and seemingly he seemed to distance himself a little bit from the early stages
03:29of the negotiations for whatever reason. I don't know exactly why, but Newcastle then
03:34went for Dougie Freedman. Johannes Spohr's of 777 group has also reached the final two,
03:39but seemingly, for whatever reason, Newcastle didn't seem convinced by him. It didn't bring
03:42him in. And before Dan Ashworth left last week, before that was confirmed, it seemed
03:48like a situation that was just dragging on. And this has taken us by surprise. I think
03:52it's seen just about everyone by surprise, but it is a positive appointment. Newcastle
03:55wanted, rather than Dan Ashworth, who is very much seen as someone who, I mean, he describes
04:01himself, it's almost cliché, as the sort of centre of the wheel and all the spokes
04:04coming off the wheel and that connects all the departments. What you have with Paul Mitchell
04:09is he will do some of that, but he is also a bit more of a recruitment specialist. That's
04:12where his focus has been, really, since he's retired from playing. He's worked at MK Don,
04:19Southampton, Spurs, very close to Richie Pochettino. He's then been at RB Leipzig, the Red Bull
04:25group and also Monaco. So he's very experienced across Europe. He's got a lot of very good
04:29contacts and Newcastle want someone who will help them even more on recruitment. I mean,
04:34the recruitment post takeover, I'd say, for the most part has been very, very good, but
04:37Newcastle maybe are behind other clubs when it comes to sort of data recruitment and the
04:41like. And so I'm sure Paul Mitchell's remit will be to improve all of that. And now he's
04:46in place with still two months of the window remaining, that can only be a positive as
04:50long as he, Eddie Howe and Andy Howe, who's the assistant head of recruitment, and Steve
04:56Nixon, the head of recruitment, are all largely aligned in terms of what Newcastle's plans
05:00will be going forward. That's something they need to quickly establish. I have no doubt
05:03that they will. And then, yeah, Newcastle will believe that they can have a positive
05:06remaining two months of the window.