Almost like Newcastle United owners had a plan… 2 official connected announcements 3 days apart | OneFootball

It almost makes you think that the Newcastle United owners know what they are doing.

That they do things behind the scenes in the correct way.

Do things in a professional manner.

Rather than acting embarrassingly, continually pushing out propaganda via friends in the media.

The Newcastle United owners making two separate, but very much connected, announcements only three days apart.

Newcastle United official announcement – 1 July 2024:

‘Newcastle United and Manchester United have reached an agreement for the immediate release of Dan Ashworth from his contractual obligations at Newcastle United.

The terms of this agreement will remain confidential between the clubs.

Newcastle United thanks Dan for his service and wishes him well for the future.’

Newcastle United official announcement – 4 July 2024:

Newcastle United are delighted to announce the appointment of Paul Mitchell as the club’s sporting director.

A former player whose playing career ended in early retirement due to injury, Paul is a well-respected sporting executive with a track record of success.

His non-playing career started in scouting and recruitment, initially at MK Dons, before prominent roles at Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, RB Leipzig, Red Bull Soccer International and AS Monaco.

His recruitment success as director of scouting and analysis at Southampton helped the club to secure promotion back to the Premier League and become regular competitors in the top half of the table. A unique and progressive recruitment strategy enabled the Saints to outperform many of its rivals despite having a lower budget, and he further cemented his reputation during a successful spell as head of recruitment at Tottenham Hotspur.

Paul joined RB Leipzig in 2018 as head of recruitment and club development, combining traditional scouting with data-driven analysis, before moving into a new role as technical director in Red Bull’s global football division.

In 2020, he joined AS Monaco as the club’s sporting director, devising and implementing a long-term development plan and transforming the club’s performance and profile, as well as implementing improvements at Belgian club Cercle Brugge, part of the ownership’s portfolio.

Paul Mitchell said: “It’s with immense pride that I accept the responsibility of being Newcastle United’s new sporting director.

“I’ve seen the recent growth and ambition of the club. This, plus the amazing fan base, made the decision to join an easy one.

“I can’t wait to get started and help continue the organisation’s growth and long-term competitiveness in all areas of elite football performance.”

Darren Eales, Newcastle United’s CEO, said: “We are delighted to welcome Paul to Newcastle United. He brings a successful track record and wealth of experience to the club.

“His extensive and diverse experience in football leadership, cultural change and recruitment mean he is the ideal person to lead our sporting directorate.

“We look forward to working with Paul and supporting him in our pursuit of long-term, sustainable success.”

The media had zero prior idea that either of these announcements were to be made by the Newcastle United owners.

The Newcastle United owners insisting on doing things in a professional and confidential manner.

Quite hilarious that not a single journalist had a clue about any of this.

When the announcement was made on Monday that Dan Ashworth had been allowed to join Manchester United, so embarrassing that some part of the media, as well as clueless Man U fans, wanted to make out that this was a case of the Newcastle United owners caving in and forced to allow Ratcliffe and Man U some kind of cheap deal on Ashworth, due to PSR reasons.

Instead, quite clearly, the Newcastle United owners had absolutely no intention, regardless of anything else, to allow Dan Ashworth to start work at Old Trafford, until NUFC had their own new Sporting Director ready to come in.

The Newcastle United owners making Man U wait 19 weeks of gardening leave and only in the middle of the transfer window, before Dan Ashworth was allowed to start working for the Mancs. As for the compromise compensation, anybody who thinks that the secret figure agreed on, was in Man U’s favour, well, you’re wrong. Manchester United for sure were told this is what you have to pay now we have our new man, or else you can wait until January 2026 for Ashworth.

Paul Mitchell now announced as the new Newcastle United Sporting Director today, somebody with an excellent track record.

Dan Ashworth meanwhile having joined the shameless new Ratcliffe and Glazers regime. His arrival coinciding with a media exclusive revealing tax exile Sir Jim Ratcliffe is getting rid of 250 lowly paid staff.

All those people losing their livelihoods, with it reported that the money will go into funding the first team set-up, maybe even to help pay the Newcastle United owners the compensation for Dan Ashworth.

I couldn’t believe the number of comments I read from Manchester United fans celebrating 250 normal working people losing their jobs, with the money saved a pittance compared to what they spend on players and…. Sporting Directors.

A tale of how very differently these two clubs are run these days…