Paul Mitchell has one month to leave a legacy that could impact Newcastle United for years and years.
He will, sources insist, work the entirety of June, despite this week’s confirmation of his imminent exit. Some find that bizarre, hardly conducive to best practice.
And so, heading into the biggest summer in the club’s recent history, with a spend of £100million expected, Newcastle will operate with an outgoing sporting director and outgoing chief executive. Whoever thought the arrival of wealthy owners would do away with dysfunctionality?
It is just as well they have Eddie Howe, his coaching staff and a squad of players who have bandaged those wounds with the bank notes of the Champions League.