Dr Gloom

welcome back btw. I thought we lost you to N-O long ago

only 59, he came out of nowhere that world cup to win the golden boot, if i remember correctly

Gordon, Isak, Botman, Bruno and Tonali are the most high-profile signings under Howe. Only one of them is English with premier league experience. And even he was one with potential rather than an established elite player.

Seven spokes of the wheel wanker

No - chicken, wine and creepy dancing is on the agenda this Saturday

I think you’re probably right and Mitchell has just made the mistake of clumsily trying to manage up in public. He’s clearly not as clever as he thinks he is but I sincerely want him to succeed in the role he was hired to do. He does arrive with a good reputation so here’s hoping they bury the hatchet, keep this shit behind closed doors from now on and he works well with Howe. I think that’s what we all want - apart from the knackers on twitter who still want Howe out

I’m prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt but the first impressions aren’t great, from the quotes I’ve seen from him. I’ve encountered this sort of character in my career before: management-speak, self-exculpatory and refers to himself in the third person. Here’s hoping they get it sorted behind closed doors, he gets on with doing the job he was hired to do, he works well with Howe instead of trying to blame-shift and we’re not exposed to more of his drivel.

It was your analogy. I dunno wtf you’re on about tbh. UNSUBSCRIBED!

he was vague, which is why Howe took it personally and why the majority of supporters seem to be backing the manager rather than the new DoF

Mitchell isn’t the CEO though, is he? If Eales had uttered similar shite to the media perhaps Howe wouldn’t have reacted in the same way. My understanding is Howe reports to Eales/PIF, not to Mitchell. And that Mitchell is there to support and work together with Howe, to identify and secure targets together. No point the DoF signing players the manager doesn’t want, is there? But maybe I’m wrong and Howe does now report to Mitchell. I don’t know but that would explain the tension too - not exactly a charm offensive by the new boss is it, assuming Mitchell is Howe’s boss, particularly when you consider how Howe has outperformed in his role to date. If some incoherent new hire steamed into my office and slagged off my work in public, in a vague and incoherent way, we’d be having words. More than a strongly-worded email too. It’s no surprise Howe is fucked off. Mitchell has got plenty of time to sort this shit out but he and Eales need to make sure everyone is on the same page next time before Mitchell goes flapping his gums again. Howe is the one with credit in the bank at this stage.

takeaway for mitchell: don't say a bunch of vague and provocative shit which could potentially piss off your new colleagues to the media without making sure everyone is on message first 👍

again, i don't think eddie sees it that way. if eddie had batted the questions away in his signature style i might be inclined to agree with you but it's pretty obvious he's got the hump

i guess we'll see. i'm not getting vibes that eddie sees it that way, but i hope it all blows over and mitchell proves himself a top DoF capable of working with the best british manager in the business

this is the point I was alluding to earlier about the commercial team. they weren’t criticised by Mitchell. Seems he’d rather hang out the manager to dry

the point is Mitchell didn’t clarify what he meant about any of this, effectively placing the blame on Howe and creating an unnecessary shitstorm. Put yourself in Howe’s shoes. I would be seething if a colleague had suggested similar in public without explanation about my work too. I agree that the sales to satisfy psr in a July were frantic and suboptimal. This is the world of psr we are constrained by, exacerbated by the ongoing struggle to try to shift Mike Ashley-era players that no club will take off our hands. But Mitchell didn’t go into enough detail on any of this stuff, effectively leaving Howe out to dry and creating this shitstorm in the media. Howe has done an unbelievable job as manager and de facto DoF for a lot of his time here and deserves massive credit. He didn’t deserve to have his work criticised in such a clumsy way by his new colleague. If Mitchell he’d been more considered and diplomatic, the media wouldn't have jumped on the story, Howe would have batted the questions away as he usually does instead of biting and we wouldn’t still be arguing about it two weeks later.