Newcastle United's sporting director Paul Mitchell is unhappy at the club and could walk away after just two months in the role.
That is what The Sun have gone with to try and generate some clicks during the international break, and it appears to be based on precisely naff all.
The article tries to reignite the tension between Paul Mitchell and Eddie Howe and uses Darren Eales as the catalyst for backing Howe over Mitchell ... which didn't happen.
It goes on to suggest that the board are unhappy with Mitchell for not saying that he would block Howe from joining England were he offered the job.
Of course, they mention "sources within the club" but don't use an actual quote which suggests that these sources are in their mind.
We understand how hard it is to get any content seen during an international break, but resorting to making stuff up to destabilise the club when it's actually just starting to come together is pretty pathetic.
But then, what else would we expect from that rag?
We don't claim to know what's going on behind the scenes, we have no "sources", but what we do have is common sense, and we also read a lot about what's going on in and around the club, and we can't see any way that this report holds water.
The disharmony was real, we all saw it, but Paul Mitchell spoke to journalists for two hours the other day and none of them came away with the impression that Mitchell was on the verge of walking away.
His comments from that interview have ruffled some feathers for sure, but they are mostly of those who are no longer with the club. There will be a few people still at the club who will be less than happy with what he said, but there's more chance of them leaving the club than a board-appointed sporting director.
Things are far from perfect after a turbulent summer, sure, but do you think Paul Mitchell would have got to where he is today by walking away as soon as things didn't go his way?
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
21 | 30 | 50 |
2 |
Arsenal
|
22 | 22 | 44 |
3 |
Nottingham Forest
|
22 | 11 | 44 |
4 |
Chelsea
|
22 | 17 | 40 |
5 |
Manchester City
|
22 | 15 | 38 |
6 |
Newcastle United
|
22 | 12 | 38 |
7 |
Bournemouth
|
22 | 10 | 37 |
8 |
Aston Villa
|
22 | -1 | 36 |
9 |
Brighton
|
22 | 5 | 34 |
10 |
Fulham
|
22 | 4 | 33 |
11 |
Brentford
|
22 | 1 | 28 |
12 |
Crystal Palace
|
22 | -3 | 27 |
13 |
Manchester United
|
22 | -5 | 26 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
22 | -16 | 26 |
15 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
22 | 10 | 24 |
16 |
Everton
|
21 | -10 | 20 |
17 |
Wolves
|
22 | -19 | 16 |
18 |
Ipswich
|
22 | -23 | 16 |
19 |
Leicester
|
22 | -25 | 14 |
20 |
Southampton
|
22 | -35 | 6 |