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

Former Newcastle technical director Dan Ashworth and other members of his old recruitment team are reportedly angry over comments from his replacement Paul Mitchell, who said the club’s transfer structure was “not fit for purpose”.

Mitchell said last week that the transfer strategy he pursued at Newcastle was all wrong, vowing to exert his influence at the club after playing only a ‘supporting’ role this summer.

The new sporting director has been criticised by fans and club legend Alan Shearer after failing to sign Eddie Howe’s main target Marc Guehi last month.

The Magpies walked away from a £70m deal for the Crystal Palace defender and ended the transfer window with just two new signings, costing just £10m, leaving Howe frustrated.

“I think it’s hard to have a predefined strategy,” he said. “Does our scouting and recruiting need to be more comprehensively driven with a broader scope? It certainly should be, because this is becoming a very nuanced space now, where you can’t just capitalize every year and buy loads of players at their peak age and peak price. Of course you have to, and that’s the responsibility of myself, the scouting team and Eddie.

Dan Ashworth is reportedly angry over recent comments made by Paul Mitchell

‘Is it fit for purpose? Not last winter, but the winter before that. Is it fit for purpose in the modern game? Because other clubs who have taken a different approach over time, with more intelligence, more data-informed than us, have thrived in this window. That’s where we need to grow now.

‘Look at the money we’ve invested so far, £250m net over the last two and a half years. Was our model set up to allow us to spend more at the levels we would have liked to have to strengthen the squad? I don’t think so, because we haven’t sold a player in that time, other than what we were forced to do through PSR.

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

“We didn’t have the sales window that we thought we had – and we need to look at that strategy as well, is that right? It was all geared towards the head coach. There definitely needs to be a more strategic approach that we haven’t had in the last two and a half years. I’ll know in five years’ time whether we’ve done it right.”

And The Telegraph claims to have learned from multiple sources that ‘Mitchell’s criticism has not gone down well with those involved in signing players before he took over.’

The same goes for Ashworth, who is now sporting director of Manchester United.

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

It is alleged that one of them even claimed that he wanted to blame others for his own failure in signing a star player.