As reported by Craig Hope at The Mail, Newcastle’s head of recruitment Steve Nickson is understood to have been left frustrated by the arrival of Paul Mitchell which has limited his role at the club.
Nickson has been at Newcastle since 2011 and over the last decade has helped to unearth some gems for the first-team, despite many expecting him to be moved on following the PIF-backed takeover.
However, Nickson has proved his worth over the last three years, though he is now disappointed with the reduction in responsibility as sporting director Mitchell took the reigns a few months ago.
Following the departure of Dan Ashworth, Newcastle were in need of a new sporting director and Nickson himself had been taking action to fill the role, with Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi big fans of his work ethic and eye for talent.
Despite Mitchell now diluting his role after claiming our transfer strategy was ‘not fit for purpose’, Nickson is still willing to get his head down and work hard for the club he has spent 13 years at.
So, it seems he could well stay as part of a new recruitment and scouting structure Mitchell is working on behind the scenes to level up our performance off the pitch, but it’ll be interesting to see how he fits and if the changes ultimately work for Nickson after a testing few months on Tyneside.
My taken on our transfer strategy not being fit for purpose is this.
We have largely signed English players since PIF came in – obviously there is the likes of Bruno & Isak who aren’t – but how much scouting was needed to know their quality?!.
Mitchell brought the likes of Son and Mane to the PL.
His working practice is to search far and wide for talent – Son cost £22m, Mane only £10m but look at the impact both had in the PL.
Newcastle don’t have that scouting network, they never have.
With Ashley we had Graham Carr bargain hunting & to his credit he did well under the circumstances. But even when he found a gem, Ashley often wouldn’t sign off on it.
Since then it seems our scouts have been tasked with finding young English talent for the youth set up – the signings we’ve made certainly suggest that.
I think Mitchell may want to cast the net further than that – Pivas may be the first sign of that.
We need to wait and see.
Sharpy17(Quote)
First Trippier from Madrid, Botman, Isak, Bruno, Minteh, the young Australian.
Then Gordon, Barnes, Burn, Hall, Livremento. A mix of many leagues. Mitchell has had a few roles in a short time and only been a DOF in the last few years, mainly scout or then head of recruitment. Lasting a couple of years at each club? Why did he leave own accord or pushed? So his 5 year plan or until he’s found out. Let’s see. Hwtl
Kiddafromthetoon(Quote)
I also think the decision to retain Ashworth on ‘gardening leave’ has bitten us as well – and it was only ever going to really. We knew the outcome was he’d end up at Man Utd, so to drag that out only delayed the appointment of a new SD and ultimately limited his time in the transfer window.
It was a naive move by the club, and a pretty pointless battle in the end.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Kidda – other than Trippier in Spain (but he hardly needed scouting) you are talking France and England with the rest 🤷🏼♂️. You can’t tell me you honestly believe we are utilising the Asia, African or South American leagues for player recruitment can you?!.
As for your analysis of Mitchell’s career – you aren’t wrong. But I’d urge you to take a look at Ashworths and you’ll see all the same points you’ve made about Mitchell – various roles & often no longer than 3 years in any post 🤷🏼♂️.
Sharpy17(Quote)
I agree with Sharpy that there has been more a focus on the prem league .. we ended up with issak when Howe was interested and could not get Calvin Lewis and solanke !
Paul Mitchell has worked at RB leipzeig, Monaco ,Red bull, club Brugge , spurs and Bournemouth and all those clubs appreciated him highly ..time will tell his impact
Mike(Quote)