Four things Paul Mitchell will change at Newcastle United - and three he won't

Mitchell, by his own admission, played a passive supporting role following his arrival as sporting director in July. The club ended the summer transfer without making a major signing despite a prolonged pursuit of Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi.

For Mitchell, this summer was about supporting the pursuit of Eddie Howe’s transfer targets and analysing the club’s process and strategy so that he can implement change for future windows.

Here’s what Newcastle’s new sporting director is looking to change at the club...

His responsibilities

Prior to Mitchell’s arrival, Newcastle has already planned out a transfer strategy for the summer. Several deals were already lined up with Lewis Hall, Lloyd Kelly and John Ruddy.

The signing of Odysseas Vlachodimos was more of an improvised deal to help the club comply with Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rules by reaching a trade-off with Nottingham Forest for Elliot Anderson and ultimately avoid a points deduction. Then Will Osula is a player who had been monitored for an extended period by Newcastle assistant manager Jason Tindall.

Newcastle’s business was carefully planned and determined in terms of targets. Marc Guehi was already identified as a top target and the club, through Mitchell, tried and were ultimately unsuccessful in agreeing a deal.

Even the apparent last-minute discussion regarding Anthony Elanga was something the club were comfortable doing as they had already scouted the player and held talks with Forest back in June.

“My job was to support and I took that responsibility very seriously,” Mitchell said. “You're just part of the agreed sign-off on the strategy.

“There are things we got wrong in our strategy for sure. Me coming in when I did probably wasn’t the best timing for the organisation but what it has done is allow me to witness a process.”

Now Mitchell’s involvement in future windows will see him take more of a driving seat in the recruitment process, putting the plans in place for future windows. While he almost distanced himself from the summer business in some ways, he made it clear that the onus would be on him to put the plans in place so that the club can continue to improve and grow through future transfer windows.

Newcastle United’s recruitment strategy

A big takeaway from Mitchell’s interview was him highlighting the club’s potential shortcomings in terms of recruitment. Although this is the same recruitment strategy that signed the likes of Bruno Guimaraes, Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon, Mitchell stressed that a ‘wider reaching net’ is required in future windows to help the club identify talent Howe wants to be part of his squad.

Although he didn’t say it wasn’t explicitly, he asked the question whether the recruitment strategy was ‘fit for purpose’ and in need of modernising.

More balance is also needed between looking at signing Premier League players, which was a big focus this summer, and potentially undervalued players abroad that can be effective in the side for a much lower cost. Mitchell pointed to his work done with Monaco previously as an example of implementing such a strategy.

Newcastle United’s transfer acumen

Newcastle have not been a good selling club, particularly since the takeover which has seen significant investment into the first-team squad with little return in terms of outgoings. In terms of making significant profits on players, the reactive sales of Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh to Nottingham Forest and Brighton respectively back in June are the only examples.

That came from the club being backed into a corner in terms of PSR and a potential points deduction. In terms of smart and savvy player trading, the club are well behind their Premier League rivals.

Mitchell pointed to Liverpool’s recruitment strategy which has seen them sell several top players over the years to reinvest into the squad and help the team progress.

So big player sales, whether people like it or not, will be part of Newcastle’s future.

Mitchell said: “Can we spend to the same level as what we've spent the last two and a half years? When sustainability is real, you cannot keep spending and not selling any football players. The maths doesn't work. 

"I think you look at the teams that have really heavily spent this summer, they've sold players at certain points in the last couple of years, that has helped fund their spends this year, we haven't in the last two and a half years.

“They come in equal measure, you know, and that's the responsibility of the holistic club, from the head coach, who is very widely influencing all of these decisions, to myself in my new responsibility as the sporting director, to the CEO, to the overarching business.”

PSR management

The changes Mitchell will be looking to implement all boil down to the same focus, adhering to PSR. Every decision Mitchell will make moving forward will be with PSR in mind to ensure the club avoids falling on the wrong side of the loss threshold.

Eddie Howe admitted as such that PSR wasn’t really in Newcastle’s thinking when the takeover happened and the initial transfer windows that followed due to the years of neglect and lack of investment from the previous owner. The £250million net transfer investment since the takeover led to the club facing a points deduction unless until some last-minute transfer acrobatics with Forest and Brighton.

It’s a situation the club never wants to find itself in again and part of Mitchell’s remit will be to ensure that is the case.

We’ve discussed what Mitchell is looking to change at Newcastle, but what about what he wants to keep the same?

Eddie Howe

Although Mitchell couldn’t completely rule out an England exit for the Newcastle head coach, he stressed: “We want Eddie Howe as our head coach for as long as we can.”

Mitchell admitted he has been impressed seeing Howe work and is excited to see where the club can go working alongside him.

But an important point to note is that Mitchell would be involved in the hiring and firing process regarding head coaches and their staff.

Newcastle Women’s team

The departure of Dan Ashworth and Amanda Staveley, both of whom invested a lot of time into developing the Newcastle Women’s team since the takeover, raised questions as to the direction of the club following successive promotions.

But Mitchell has pledged to continue the upward trajectory of the women’s side having recently agreed a new long-term deal with head coach Becky Langley. It remains an important part of the project.

Newcastle United’s ambition

Although it may take longer than first anticipated, Mitchell echoed Newcastle chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan’s message of wanting to be ‘number one’. The club’s sporting director stressed that that would not be limited to just number one on the pitch, but every possible department from commercial to the academy.

It may require patience, but the message was clear that the club’s ambition hasn’t wavered.