Newcastle United have already rejected at least one candidate for Sporting Director role after big decision…
For the second year in a row, Newcastle United are on the hunt for a sporting director to come in after last year’s appointment, Paul Mitchell, is already set to leave the club at the end of this month.
After the failure of Dan Ashworth, we weren’t sure things could get worse, but despite Paul Mitchell’s glowing resume, the former Monaco director has failed to do anything of note beyond negotiating a deal to offload Lloyd Kelly. At least Ashworth made some signings.
Paul Mitchell is now reportedly sitting in his office with his feet up as his responsibilities have been divided amongst the staff as he serves out the remainder of his notice.
Meanwhile, the board are deep into the process of finding his successor and has already made one critical decision, according to reports.
Advertisement
Steve nickson
newcastleunited.com
Steve Nickson isn’t in the running for Sporting Director
Newcastle are determined to recruit from outside of the club
In a deep dive into what’s going on, The Athletic reports that they have been told by several sources that Newcastle aren’t looking to recruit internally.
“The strong suggestion is that it will not be an internal promotion because, according to multiple sources, it is “too big a job” for that.”
That rules out Steve Nickson, who threw his hat in the ring to succeed Dan Ashworth, and it also rules out Eddie Howe’s nephew, Andy Howe, who is sharing the recruitment responsibilities with Nickson until the new director is appointed.
Advertisement
Steve Nickson wouldn’t be a good fit for what Newcastle are looking for
It may initially seem harsh ruling Nickson out straight away given his tenure at the club and that he’s worked under both Ashworth and Mitchell, but the feeling is Newcastle are leaning back towards a ‘club building’ sporting director more akin to Dan Ashworth, than a recruitment focused one such as Mitchell, which Nickson would certainly be.
The Athletic go on to say that there’s currently no clear favourite despite reports linking people with the role.
Perhaps more importantly, Eddie Howe is being kept in the loop this time around following the disaster of Paul Mitchell’s surprise arrival last year.
We just hope that Howe has some input, too. It’s one thing to be kept informed, but if he doesn’t get a say, we could still end up with that friction that plagued the pre-season last year.
Leave a Reply