‘Wrong’ - Paul Mitchell breaks silence on Eddie Howe relationship at Newcastle United
Paul Mitchell has labelled Eddie Howe an "extremely talented” manager while opening up about their Newcastle United relationship.
A turbulent start to St James’ Park life saw Mitchell thrown into a chaotic summer transfer window. Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi left as co-owners, with Dan Ashworth also departing as sporting director.
Mitchell ended his football sabbatical to take over the reins from Ashworth in July. With little time to prepare for the Newcastle gig, the transfer focus was pinned on Marc Guehi, a player Howe liked.
The Magpies could not get Guehi over the line due to Crystal Palace demanding over £70million. Only promising youngster William Osula, free agent Lloyd Kelly and backup goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos arrived - with no significant first-team upgrade.
This unsettled supporters, causing Mitchell to front up to the media in September and promise a more hands-on role. Various media circles speculated whether the 43-year-old and Howe could work together - an observation both downplayed.
The duo were spotted seated next to each other at last Saturday’s boxing showdown between Chris Billam-Smith and Gilberto Rodriguez in Saudi Arabia. Fast forward a few days and Mitchell had bold praise for the Toon boss.
“I am not a big social media fan or a media fan in general but we work closely,” he told a fan event at the STACK on Wednesday. “It is a natural collaboration. He is the head coach and manager of the club, and I am the sporting director.
"This notion that we are in each other's pockets and spend every working hour in each other's company is wrong. Eddie is an elite professional and it would be remiss of me or any sporting director to be looking over his shoulder, to be on the training pitch or to micromanage somebody that is extremely talented at what he does.
"My job is to support him. To collaborate, support, challenge and debate all for the benefit of the football club. But we have a very talented head coach and our collaboration is as frequent or infrequent as it needs to be. I am fortunate to have been doing this a long time with some really good intelligent coaches and Eddie definitely falls into that bracket.”
Mitchell also detailed how his role involves more than just working alongside Howe regarding the first team. He added: “But I have other responsibilities as well. Long, mid and short-term. I have to support Steve at the Academy to grow our next wave of talent to help the first team and, as Darren Eales says, also look at growing and developing players to enhance our revenue streams.
"The trading model is an important element of the modern game. Unfortunately, not as the myth of the media would like, I can't hold hands with Eddie as much I'd like to. We had the luxury of being at the boxing (in Saudi Arabia) together which was nice and we had a great time. But I have other responsibilities which are equally as important."