At the beginning of July, Newcastle announced the appointment of Paul Mitchell as their sporting director, replacing the Manchester United-bound Dan Ashworth. It was a real coup to lure a man who had an incredibly strong reputation after working with the likes of Tottenham, RB Leipzig and Monaco.
Not even a week later, Staveley left the club. In practical terms, it would change very little; every key job in the football, finance and commercial departments, which she had initially taken on after the takeover from previous owner Mike Ashley, had been filled by an industry-leading expert.
But in terms of perception, it was huge; Staveley remains incredibly popular with fans, as the instigator in usurping the ever-unpopular Ashley, and she was a huge emotional support to the players and, crucially, Howe.
It means Darren Eales, the CEO, is left to take a more proactive role at the front of the club. In an in-house interview with club media, Eales said Mitchell’s role would be “90% recruitment”, which differed from Ashworth who was “the centre of the wheel”, as he himself put it, looking after the academy, scouting and women’s team.
Ashworth had also reportedly been unable to build a close relationship with Howe, who is known to be very private, trusting the “inner circle” of his coaching staff. With Mitchell coming in, as well as James Bunce – the new performance director whom he worked with at Monaco – and a streamlined brief which on the surface infringes on Howe’s role, the structure around the head coach has changed.
While on a pre-season training camp in Germany, Howe didn’t ease the tension when he said he needed to be happy with the dynamic for his sake and Newcastle’s. It was a very deliberate message to say he needs to be allowed to do his work.
Following a pre-season win at Hull on 27 July, Howe spoke of “positive talks”, “multiple daily recruitment meetings” and the need for “collaboration”.
