Mills issues Newcastle sporting director claim after confirmed manager news
Newcastle United are “in A&E” right now and need a manager who can “grind out results”, according to Danny Mills.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-Leeds United and England defender insisted Newcastle need to find a sporting director before hiring a new manager.
Interim boss Graeme Jones revealed, via Sky Sports, before his side’s loss to Chelsea that he had not been told whether he would be in charge for the trip to Brighton & Hove Albion next weekend.
The 3-0 defeat to the European Champions means Newcastle are now six points from safety.
“I said from the first day, the most important person is the sporting director,” Mills told Football Insider‘s Connor Whitley.
“They set the agenda, they have the blueprint of the football club and they employ the manager. That is the most important person that you need to get in and sorted.
“Then you talk about recruitment, who’s in charge of recruitment? That’s the next most important person, then it becomes the manager.
“Newcastle are second from bottom. You look at those fixtures up to the new year, they could have easily played half of their games and they could have maybe 12, 13 points.
“When you look at that fixture list, are they going to win three of the next eight games? I’m not sure they will.
“You’ve got to get somebody who is going to just grind out results for a little bit and get them out of that situation. If you’re in the bottom three come the new year, players look at that and think ‘Why are we going to go there?’. What sort of players are they going to attract?
“Yes, you can throw massive amounts of money at them, but are they really the sort of players you want in times of crisis? It’s not going to be easy, it’s not.
“It’s a two-stage process, I work in the business world and it’s like when you go into a company in administration. There’s a 100-day plan to stop the bleeding.
“That’s what it is. Newcastle right now are in the emergency room. They’re going into A&E. Can you find the problem and stop the bleeding?
“Once you’ve done that, you go into recovery and start to rebuild. But they’ve got to get through the next 100 days before they can even think about heading up the table.”
In other news, Kieran Maguire has issued a surprise Man City-Newcastle United prediction after a boardroom row twist.