Paul Mitchell To Leave Saints

Off to Everton???

Isn't Walsh doing that job?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3731689/Tottenham-Hotspur-transfer-guru-Paul-Mitchell-hands-resignation-ahead-exit-north-London-side.html

My take is that he was promised the moon on a stick..... Levy just gave him a stick.

Break the bank and bring him home.

Mission completed Agent Mitchell, RTB

Obviously some tension between Levy and the likes. He is seemingly an incredibly difficult person to deal with.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3731689/Tottenham-Hotspur-transfer-guru-Paul-Mitchell-hands-resignation-ahead-exit-north-London-side.html

According to that article Mitchell oversaw the following players joining Spurs in 2014:

Ben Davies; Michel Vorm; Eric Dier; DeAndre Yedlin; Federico Fazio; Benjamin Stambouli; Dele Alli.

In fact of that list only Alli joined after Mitchell (because he actually joined in 2015). Then 2 of the later 8 (in 2015 and 2016) he also brought into Saints (Wanyama and Toby). Maybe the man is not so good after all.

Off to Everton???

Isn't Walsh doing that job?

Both my immediate thoughts.

Both my immediate thoughts.

Maybe he's going to Leicester??

Telegraph's report on it: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/08/09/tottenhams-head-of-recruitment-leaves-club-days-before-start-of/

Maybe he's going to Leicester??

That makes a lot of sense. Though Everton could have more than one recruitment person, I doubt they're the same roles.

My take is that he was promised the moon on a stick..... Levy just gave him a stick.

and poked it up his arse, thereby completing the contract

Maybe he's going to Leicester??

from this http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/08/09/tottenhams-head-of-recruitment-leaves-club-days-before-start-of/

He is under contract until the end of 2017 and that presents problems for him were he to go elsewhere.

I'm guessing he won't be going anywhere for a while unless spurs get a load of cash in compensation.

from this http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/08/09/tottenhams-head-of-recruitment-leaves-club-days-before-start-of/

 

He is under contract until the end of 2017 and that presents problems for him were he to go elsewhere.

 

I'm guessing he won't be going anywhere for a while unless spurs get a load of cash in compensation.

Yeah, noticed that after the other posts - he'll just have to sit on a pile of money and resist the temptation to arrange his next job for 16 months' time.

Well, a new club could buy out his contract. It arguably wont be mega bucks for a premier league or even a championship club to do so.

It will be interesting to see what happens as it seems he can look after the transfer window closes. Maybe resigning there is no compensation fee to pay.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/09/tottenham-head-of-recruitment-paul-mitchell-quits-nightmare

.. it has been suggested... LOL

Well, a new club could buy out his contract. It arguably wont be mega bucks for a premier league or even a championship club to do so.

I was thinking that's what happens with players and managers, and it's not like there's not loads of money floating around football or anything. Would be a smart investment for Saints, multiple reasons to bite the bullet on this one, Mitchell may be another with "buyers remorse" from going to big clubs and finding the grass isn't greener.

Always good for us when the grass turns out not to be greener elsewhere.

How delicious, whatever the reasons for his wanting out. Whoever he joins next will have the benefit of all the knowledge of the players that Spurs were scouting, just as Spurs did when Mitchell left us. Sweet.

I was thinking that's what happens with players and managers, and it's not like there's not loads of money floating around football or anything. Would be a smart investment for Saints, multiple reasons to bite the bullet on this one, Mitchell may be another with "buyers remorse" from going to big clubs and finding the grass isn't greener.

I would have been very surprised if he could not just hand in his notice, its not like he's a player (or even a manager), work contracts normally have get out clauses both ways, usually a week or a month, sometime 3. From the article it appears he only has to wait until the end of the current transfer window, so in this case 3 weeks (suspect his contract is worded such that notice will always be the end of next transfer window or number of months whichever is longest). No-one will have to buy out his contract. Really wouldn't be shocked to see him back at Saints either.

Peversely, I found the news about Mitchell's Spurs exit very enjoyable. Levy must be a loathsome preck to work for.

The hype around this guy is ridiculous, He's a scout FFS. The club tell him what we want and he goes and finds it. We recruited perfectly well without him as did Spurs.

The hype around this guy is ridiculous, He's a scout FFS. The club tell him what we want and he goes and finds it. We recruited perfectly well without him as did Spurs.

First time I took any notice of him was when he appeared in the promo video for the new pavilion, talking about the Black Box and scouting. Within 2 weeks of that video he was gone.

The hype around this guy is ridiculous, He's a scout FFS. The club tell him what we want and he goes and finds it. We recruited perfectly well without him as did Spurs.

Not forgetting Mayuka, Forren, Taider, Osvaldo and Ramirez under his watch as well so not everything he touched was gold.

Not forgetting Mayuka, Forren, Taider, Osvaldo and Ramirez under his watch as well so not everything he touched was gold.

Taider

The hype around this guy is ridiculous, He's a scout FFS. The club tell him what we want and he goes and finds it. We recruited perfectly well without him as did Spurs.

I'm sure he is, but he's a scout that knows how to use a computer properly, which gives the club a bunch of analytical data the "eye test" dinosaurs don't have and don't much like to complete, and a leg up on most of the old school network with all the inbuilt flaws of human nature and judgement. It's as Moneyball as you can get - the data over a long period usually doesn't lie, whilst people are often mistaken and themes, tropes and narratives can influence judgement. But you need to be able to make the data mean something in the context of improving the team.

As for the ones that didn't work out, a couple were clearly not black box jobs (Mayuka looked like a typical "signed off the back of a good international tournament" flawed signing, but at least he was relatively cheap) and a couple (Osvaldo and Taider

Only Forren and very arguably Ramirez were recruits which looked like they fitted the "usual profile" but didn't work out from that list.

The fact Forren was signed the same day as Pochettino was put in charge shows that there's also a role for the manager/head coach's input in filtering out the chaff, but that's as much because they make the decision on picking the team and might have previous experience of working with players in repetitive training sessions which gives them a unique insight to the individuals, as their "eye test" abilities alone. It's also why managers like to sign players they know, which seemed to go ok for Koeman.

As for "Spurs recruited perfectly well without him", how did that "spending the Bale money" go for them? Rhetorical question, it was the poor results for the money they spent that made them turn to Mitchell in the first place.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/10/tottenham-georges-kevin-nkoudou-marseille-collapse

No connection, say Spurs...

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/10/tottenham-georges-kevin-nkoudou-marseille-collapse

 

No connection, say Spurs...

Merely coincidence with Levy is behaving like an arse again and staff leaving....

They were talking about him on Talksport today, bloke from Evening Standard (I think) said that it was David Pleat who was behind the Dele Alli signing not Paul Mitchell.

I'm sure he is, but he's a scout that knows how to use a computer properly, which gives the club a bunch of analytical data the "eye test" dinosaurs don't have and don't much like to complete, and a leg up on most of the old school network with all the inbuilt flaws of human nature and judgement. It's as Moneyball as you can get - the data over a long period usually doesn't lie, whilst people are often mistaken and themes, tropes and narratives can influence judgement. But you need to be able to make the data mean something in the context of improving the team.

 

As for the ones that didn't work out, a couple were clearly not black box jobs (Mayuka looked like a typical "signed off the back of a good international tournament" flawed signing, but at least he was relatively cheap) and a couple (Osvaldo and Taider

 

Only Forren and very arguably Ramirez were recruits which looked like they fitted the "usual profile" but didn't work out from that list.

 

The fact Forren was signed the same day as Pochettino was put in charge shows that there's also a role for the manager/head coach's input in filtering out the chaff, but that's as much because they make the decision on picking the team and might have previous experience of working with players in repetitive training sessions which gives them a unique insight to the individuals, as their "eye test" abilities alone. It's also why managers like to sign players they know, which seemed to go ok for Koeman.

 

As for "Spurs recruited perfectly well without him", how did that "spending the Bale money" go for them? Rhetorical question, it was the poor results for the money they spent that made them turn to Mitchell in the first place.

Yet despite his reputation as a transfer superstar not one of our signings was a Mahrez type known gem plucked for a snip. Every single one of the signings we made was an international player already, they'd already proven themselves in the top flight of another countries league. If he'd got us one or two like mahrez, or if he'd got us the likes of Wanyama and Van Dijk before Celtic got them there might be a case to say he's he's got something. As it is he's got us players who cost millions, were already established international players and had experience of top football and in most cases champions league football as well. Anyone we did sign on the cheap was a disaster.

I would have been very surprised if he could not just hand in his notice, its not like he's a player (or even a manager), work contracts normally have get out clauses both ways, usually a week or a month, sometime 3. From the article it appears he only has to wait until the end of the current transfer window, so in this case 3 weeks (suspect his contract is worded such that notice will always be the end of next transfer window or number of months whichever is longest). No-one will have to buy out his contract. Really wouldn't be shocked to see him back at Saints either.

I thought I read somewhere that he had a 12 months notice period, and that he had handed in his notice 6 months ago (relations actually broke down a lot quicker than being reported), and they negotiated for him to server 6 months and then after this go on gardening leave for 6.

Obviously him and the board have kept it all hush hush, as only just been made public last few days.

Break the bank and bring him home.

No chance after Alderweireld. That can be directly attributed to this guy.

No chance after Alderweireld. That can be directly attributed to this guy.

In terms of him alerting Spurs? :S

Duplo.

Yet despite his reputation as a transfer superstar not one of our signings was a Mahrez type known gem plucked for a snip. Every single one of the signings we made was an international player already, they'd already proven themselves in the top flight of another countries league. If he'd got us one or two like mahrez, or if he'd got us the likes of Wanyama and Van Dijk before Celtic got them there might be a case to say he's he's got something. As it is he's got us players who cost millions, were already established international players and had experience of top football and in most cases champions league football as well. Anyone we did sign on the cheap was a disaster.

Why would we be worried about signing unknowns when there were precisely these players with that kind of pedigree available for relatively little and with proven stats to show their likelihood of fitting in and being successful? You're using the wrong metric. He's not about finding a dirt cheap high risk gem (and Leicester weren't even watching Mahrez when they found him, so I'm not sure what kind of amazing skill that takes), he's more about identifying players with some kind of pedigree who'll suit a system and are more likely than not to improve a team.

Sam Cunningham ‏@samcunningham

Mauricio Pochettino says he is 'very disappointed' with Paul Mitchell's decision to hand in his resignation. Full story @MailSport.

My heart bleeds for Pochettino. I am sure he couldn't give a **** about how "Very disappointed" Saints felt when he poached him. What goes around, comes around.

No chance after Alderweireld. That can be directly attributed to this guy.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3731689/Tottenham-Hotspur-transfer-guru-Paul-Mitchell-hands-resignation-ahead-exit-north-London-side.html

..........now there's a man with ambition...

Bound to rock up at Leicester

Ah just read the link ... Not a bad guess

Maybe he's going to Leicester??

Bound to rock up at Leicester

Perhaps not....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/09/05/leicester-in-talks-with-eduardo-macia-about-replacing-former-hea/

Sam Cunningham ‏@samcunningham

Mauricio Pochettino says he is 'very disappointed' with Paul Mitchell's decision to hand in his resignation. Full story @MailSport.

Don't know (or care) where Mitchell will end up, but isn't Pochettino's comment just a little hypocritical ?

.." very disappointed at (PM) decision to hand in his resignation..." Guess what Mauricio.. .there were quite a lot more at SFC who felt the same about YOU !

Forgot about all this.... That's some serious notice period.

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/news/14964208.Saints__former_head_of_recruitment_Paul_Mitchell_serving_huge_notice_period_at_Tottenham/?ref=rss

Unsure on validity.

RB Leipzig have appointed former Southampton and Tottenham head of recruitment Paul Mitchell as their new chief scout. [sport Buzzer] #RBL

Unsure on validity.

Nothing showing on their official website or English Twitter feed.

Nothing showing on their official website or English Twitter feed.

Referenced on the Guardian on an article re: Lookman as imminent as a part of an overhaul they are doing. They have apparently came out and said their current u18 crop is the worst they have seen in years.

Less harsh publicly perhaps but arguably we should be looking at refreshing our structures, shame we couldn't tempt Mitchell back.

Unsure on validity.

It was mentioned in a Guardian article yesterday, didn't have time to search for a thread to update it though!

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2018/feb/05/ademola-lookman-slips-slides-from-everton-into-leipzig-affections

We're quite dopey when it comes to spotting lower league talent.

Lookman / Gray / Alli weren't exactly secrets.