Newcastle hires Mr Fix-It to help star players with daily chores such as paying bills
NEWCASTLE United has taken on a Mr Fix-It to help its star players with daily chores — such as paying their TV licences.
The Saudi-owned club appointed Jamie Morren as a liaison officer.
He is helping big-bucks signings, such as Brazilian Bruno Guimaraes and Dutchman Sven Botman, settle in on Tyneside.
His job is to take care of tasks such as paying bills and setting up direct debits so they can concentrate on playing.
The lifelong United fan said: “The whole point of my job is to take away any kind of distraction for the players so that football is the only focus.
“It could be things like setting up direct debits, paying bills, finding houses, cars, transport.
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“Imagine you’re 22, you’re moving to a country you’ve never been to before and someone says, ‘By the way, have you paid your TV licence?’
“In the summer, it took a good 10 minutes of convincing Sven that TV licences were a real thing.
“If I moved to Brazil at 24 years old, for example, I wouldn’t know how to set up a direct debit or pay council tax or whatever.
“I think some people look at it and think, ‘you’ll just do everything for them’, but it’s a case of making sure they’re adjusted so they don’t have worries of ‘I don’t understand what this means’ or ‘what on earth is a TV Licence’ and making sure they’re completely comfortable and settled in that sense.
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“They’re moving to a new environment, a new country, often with no family with them, and they’re having to learn all of these new things on top of perhaps learning a new language.
“It’s not just about ‘my boiler’s gone off, can you show me how to get it back on?’ It is about making sure you’re there if a player does have an issue.
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“We’re a family, and player care is part of that.”
And the mollycoddling seems to be working — with the Magpies fourth in the Premier League.