Dan Ashworth has been confirmed by Newcastle United as the first sporting director of the club’s new era.
He has a sizeable job turning the club around and meeting the lofty ambitions of the owners. Here is his in-tray as he starts in the new job:
Create a ‘vision’
Everything changed when the Saudi PIF-backed consortium took over Newcastle and yet, scratch beneath the surface, and little really has.
A big spend on players, some smart moves that have created goodwill in Newcastle and backing Eddie Howe aside, the club still operates in much the same way as it did under Mike Ashley. Ashworth will change that. It is, says one senior source, a “big bang” moment.
More from Football
Ashworth won’t guarantee the club Champions League football in two years, but if you look at his work with England and Brighton, it feels pretty certain that he will ensure a club moving in the right direction.
The idea is Ashworth will oversee everything, ensuring departments work better together and an overarching “vision” of what the club wants to be and how it will get there will be articulated. Think a black and white version of England’s DNA document.
The club’s hierarchy accept the spend on staff in the coming years will be sizeable. Departments were hollowed out under Mike Ashley, corners cut. Ashworth will be tasked with bringing in the best people in football to fill key roles at the club – and his presence will lend the project, as one senior source puts it, “instant credibility”.
Newcastle aspire to challenge the Premier League’s best but their operations are a long way off.
Just one example: the club’s loan manager Shola Ameobi operates in a team of one, organising moves out and monitoring players at other clubs. Clubs like Liverpool, by contrast, have a team of analysts doing the same job.
Ashworth has to modernise the club from top to bottom.
Improve recruitment
Unlike, say, Manchester United, Newcastle’s record in the transfer market is far from disastrous. They have bought pretty well (although not enough) and Ashworth will inherit a well thought of head of recruitment in Steve Nickson, who anticipated the rise of the South American market and has embedded Newcastle in Brazil.
But their scouting network isn’t the biggest and some of the structures need to be overhauled. One scout recalls being sent to local Championship and League One games last season when the club were looking for players to deliver an instant uplift in results.
The club have been late adopters of data, too.
Transform the academy
Thanks to a lack of joined up thinking and investment, Newcastle haven’t produced nearly enough footballers in recent years.
There has been talent in the academy but no proper plan. Ashworth can make a real difference by creating a pathway from the club’s youth teams to the first team. He will find a sharp, modern-thinking academy director in Steve Harper, the club’s former goalkeeper who has impressed agents with his desire to improve things.
Ashworth will also be handed the remit of completing the transformation of the women’s team, which will be incorporated into the club this summer.
Make Newcastle smart sellers
Newcastle are hamstrung by the number of mediocre players on their books with long contracts to run – a consequence of the lack of foresight of the previous regime, who were content to keep things ticking along as Mike Ashley waited for a sale. “It is having a material impact on our summer transfer window,” admitted one senior source to i.
Ashworth’s job in the summer window is to negotiate exits for many of those. But it won’t be easy, with many of those on good contracts which will be financially out of reach of Championship clubs who might want to take them.
The longer term goal is to replicate Liverpool’s trick of being good sellers – cashing in when the player is at peak value but a ready-made replacement has been lined up who can take the team forward. It sounds easy, but is the consequence of a good use of data, having a long-term approach to team and squad building and a playing and recruitment philosophy which every department buys into.
from Football | News and analysis from the Premier League and beyond | iNews https://ift.tt/fGoHp2L
Post a Comment