Paul Mitchell says the transfer strategy he walked into at Newcastle was not fit for purpose, as he promised to stamp his influence on the club after playing only a ‘supporting’ role this summer.
The new sporting director has found himself the target of criticism after failing to land Eddie Howe’s top pick of Marc Guehi last month. The Magpies walked away from a £70million deal for the Crystal Palace defender and they closed the window with only two new signings at a cost of just £10m, leaving Howe frustrated.
The head coach previously had more involvement with transfers, as part of a team alongside former sporting director Dan Ashworth, co-owners Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi and head of recruitment Steve Nickson.
But Mitchell says the club - who avoided breaching PSR by ‘the skin of their teeth’ in June - are paying the price for overspending, failing to sell players and for a depth and breadth of scouting knowledge that he believes is too small.
‘I think it’s difficult coming into a predefined strategy,’ he said. ‘Should our scouting and recruitment be driven more extensively with a wider reaching net? It definitely should, because this is becoming a really nuanced space now, when you can't just capitally fund everything every year and buy loads of players at peak age and peak price. Of course it needs to be, and that's the responsibility of me, the scouting team and Eddie.
Paul Mitchell says the transfer strategy he walked into at Newcastle was not fit for purpose
‘Is it fit for purpose? Not last winter gone, the winter before that. Is it fit for purpose in the modern game, with the modern challenges? Because other clubs that have adopted a different approach over time, with more intelligence, more data-informed than what we are, actually prospered in this window. That's where we have to grow to be now.’
Mitchell did not refer to Guehi by name, but said that Howe did not want to pursue other targets.
‘We had a player as the key, core target,’ he said. ‘We were still in dialogue (with Palace) all the way through, but Eddie was very clear, and it’s not up to me after seven weeks to say, “We’ll do this and that”, because I’m in a supporting role.
‘Were there options, of course there were, as that’s the responsibility of the department and the club. But Eddie was very clear that he had to feel comfortable that the person added value, because we have really good players. That’s why we ended up where we did.
‘And he’s smart, he was engaged in all the conversations about PSR, spend, cost, cash-flow, he’s a smart head coach that has the capacity to be kept updated on those conversations. And that was decision he took - it was that player, or he felt that he was comfortable with the quality that we have.’
But Mitchell says it was important the club were not held to ransom on a player.
‘It's about setting precedents to the market that we will pay fair value for the right profile,’ he said. ‘It shouldn't be misconceived of a lack of ambition, I just think that's the model you have to work in the modern game now. If we just spend, spend, spend once again, we become accountable to that by penalties, fines and points deductions, and that isn't good leadership, you’re being negligent.’
Howe said in July that for him to be happy at the club, the new working dynamic with Mitchell and performance director James Bunce had to be right.
On the addition of Bunce, Mitchell added: ‘I would like to believe someone as smart and intelligent as Eddie Howe would recognise quality wherever it came from. We’ve got to keep building that into our infrastructure. That goes for scouting as well. I think good players are becoming harder to find because scouting is so competitive.
‘But I think Eddie recognises good players and he also recognises this club is evolving to be bigger, and bigger and bigger. If you look at the super clubs, their infrastructure, their recruitment, they don’t just look at one market only. They have a wider scouting and recruitment network. I think Eddie is smart enough to understand - and he definitely is - that to go to the next level that you do have to diversify. Otherwise, you just stay local and retire. I think our ambition is much greater than that.’