Newcastle United have a new secret weapon that has almost become part of arch-rivals Sunderland’s arsenal.
Dr Ian Mitchell took over as the Magpies’ first head of psychology last week, a role he has already filled with great success for Gareth Southgate’s England team.
With a daunting encounter with Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday and a crucial game against Manchester United on Saturday, the league could have someone in the pipeline who can help the players and coaching staff cope with the pace and pressure of a tough schedule. during.
Significantly, Mitchell’s arrival coincided with Newcastle bucking the trend and training in Paris on Monday, a reversal of previous travel policy of players only seeing the stadium on match day. The camp admitted that the decision did not help in Milan, where the players were impressed by the size of the San Siro in the first half hour.
Eddie Howe described Mitchell’s appointment as a “huge moment” for the club, for which building the world’s best infrastructure and support staff is almost as important as building a competitive team.
His responsibilities are broad and include everything from supporting individual players to helping Howe and his coaches with their messages.
I understands that he will be involved in Newcastle’s support plan to support Sandro Tonali during his 10-month playing ban and will also be involved in the player recruitment process.
Dan Ashworth, the former England technical director and now Newcastle’s director of football, was the driving force behind the appointment, while Howe was also a strong supporter of the innovative new role.
Importantly, his work extends from the first team to Newcastle’s ambitious women’s team and the club’s academy. The first meeting with the core team on Thursday was short, informal and introductory.
“It was good. He introduced himself and explained why he was here. It’s up to the players to decide if they want to work with him individually,” club captain Jamaal Lascelles said.
“The message was definitely conveyed that he could be trusted and that he was clearly highly respected.”
His arrival in the north-east comes six years after Chris Coleman, recently appointed from Sunderland following his heroics for Wales at Euro 2016, attempted to bring him to the Stadium of Light. The Black Cats hierarchy were too short-sighted to see what a valuable asset he could be.
This revelation becomes apparent when Coleman writes the email. I a poignant reference to the man he drafted into the Wales squad to exterminate the demons that had prevented the national team from qualifying for a major tournament for almost half a century.
“Nice guy, he helped me a lot when I was in Wales,” he wrote. “Mitch would be great on a date with Eddie.”
So what did he actually contribute?
Dave Edwards was an experienced midfielder when Wales’ journey began in 2016. He fondly remembers Mitchell as “very approachable.”
“Ninety-five percent of the time it was about background information, being part of a group and being available, just talking to individuals and things like that,” he says.
“Team building exercises, quizzes and so on. Mitch was the driving force behind it.”
Work of Dr. Mitchell focused in part on helping Coleman and the coaches refine the messages they conveyed to players. There were “reflection” sessions – the overall message conveyed to the team was “us against the world.”
Another important part of his job is working on culture, something Newcastle players have spoken about enthusiastically under Howe.
“When we went to Portugal before going to France and spent some time together, we started doing team-building activities, working together in groups,” says Edwards.
He remembers one exercise: a problem-solving task in which players were divided into groups and asked to move from one part of the room to another, with certain restrictions placed on them. At first it seemed impossible, but then Mitchell walked around the groups and gave them some advice.
After repeated attempts, the teams began to quickly complete the task. Edwards’ group finished in last place, but were ultimately successful.
“He changed the way we think about how to get things done. Nothing is impossible,” he says.
“Mitch would never be dictatorial, he would just give bits of information and eventually you would take it away. We just thought it was a little funny, but he knew what he was doing.
“In France we always spent our evenings together as a team, rather than just disappearing into our rooms and being alone.
“Everything was together, we had quizzes almost every night, we created a sort of safe space where we went in the evenings and watched other games and brought in the physios and other staff. You were very rarely left alone unless you wanted to.
“Mitch played a big role in that.”
Tournament football is, of course, unique. In Newcastle this will be almost 24 hours a day, both for firefighting and large business operations. Will this work?
“It will probably work better in a club environment because he can build that trust,” Edwards said.
“He will build those relationships with the players and the staff. When you look at Newcastle you see Mitch all the time. Once you notice Mitch, you will notice him constantly, he will always be in the background, never in the foreground.
“You’ll see him talk a little bit and the players will really appreciate him and as that trust grows it will only get stronger.
“In this club environment, where he spends a lot of time together in the training center and in hotels on match days, he will be much stronger.”
Newcastle’s latest acquisition appears to be a wise decision.
Source: I News
I’m Dave Martin, and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. As a part of my work, I write for 24 News Reporters, covering mostly sports-related topics. With more than 5 years of experience as a journalist, I have written numerous articles on various topics to provide accurate information to readers.