Former Newcastle sporting director Dan Ashworth ‘hurt’ by replacement Paul Mitchell’s claims that transfer structure was ‘not fit for purpose’

Former Newcastle sporting director Dan Ashworth and other members of his old recruitment team are reportedly upset by comments from his replacement Paul Mitchell that the club’s transfer structure was ‘not fit for purpose’.

Mitchell said last week that the transfer strategy he walked into at Newcastle was all wrong as he promised to stamp his influence on the club after playing only a ‘supporting’ role this summer.

The new sporting director has found himself under fire from fans and club legend Alan Shearer after failing to land Eddie Howe’s top target of Marc Guehi last month.

The Magpies walked away from a £70million deal for the Crystal Palace defender and closed the window with only two new signings at a cost of just £10m, leaving Howe frustrated.

‘I think it’s difficult coming into a predefined strategy,’ he said. ‘Should our scouting and recruitment be driven more extensively with a wider reaching net? It definitely should, because this is becoming a really nuanced space now, when you can’t just capitally fund everything every year and buy loads of players at peak age and peak price. Of course it needs to be, and that’s the responsibility of me, the scouting team and Eddie. 

Dan Ashworth is reportedly upset with recent comments made by Paul Mitchell

‘Is it fit for purpose? Not last winter gone, the winter before that. Is it fit for purpose in the modern game? Because other clubs that have adopted a different approach over time, with more intelligence, more data-informed than we are, actually prospered in this window. That’s where we have to grow to be now.

‘You look at the money we have invested up to this point, £250 million net over the last two-and-a-half years. Was our model in place to be able to spend more to the levels we would have liked to enhance the team? I don’t think it was, because we haven’t sold a player during that time, barring what we were forced to do through PSR.

Paul Mitchell said the transfer strategy he walked into at Newcastle was not fit for purpose

‘We didn’t have the sales window we thought we would have – and we have to look at that strategy as well, was that right? It was all aligned with the head coach. There definitely has to be a more strategic approach that we haven’t had the last two-and-a-half years. I’ll know whether we’ve done a good job in five years’ time.’ 

And The Telegraph claim to have been told by multiple sources that ‘Mitchell’s criticism has not gone down well with those who were involved in signing players before he took over.’

That includes Ashworth, who is now sporting director of Manchester United. 

Some are said to have privately expressed their frustration about Mitchell’s comments on recruitment, insisting they are proud of their work at St James’.

It is claimed that one even insisted it was an attempt to blame others for his own failings to sign a star player.