Dan Ashworth has parted ways with Manchester United as their sporting director in a surprising move after just five months at the helm.
After a long pursuit for the former Newcastle chief, the Red Devils were able to officially secure the services of Ashworth on July 1 – with part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe hailing him as ‘one of the top sporting directors in the world’.
However, that relationship has not come to fruition with Sunday’s announcement that the 53-year-old has departed.
Manchester United statement on Dan Ashworth
A club statement said: ‘Dan Ashworth will be leaving his role as Sporting Director of Manchester United by mutual agreement.
‘We would like to thank Dan for his work and support during a transitional period for the club and wish him well for the future.’
Although United have said the decision was mutual, the manner and timing of Ashworth’s departure will raise more questions for Ratcliffe’s Ineos group – with the playing squad languishing in 13th in the Premier League after a dismal 3-2 home defeat by Nottingham Forest on Saturday evening.
Ashworth had, along with the rest of the United hierarchy, been part of the decision to hand former manager Erik ten Hag a new contract in the summer, having been quoted in the official announcement in June.
However, Ten Hag was sacked in October, with that contract extension adding to a sizable compensation bill of £10.4million, before the appointment of Ruben Amorim, who took charge last month after United paid around £11m to get him from Sporting Lisbon.
Ashworth was also involved in an expensive summer of recruitment, with the combined fees for Leny Yoro, Manuel Ugarte, Matthijs De Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui and Joshua Zirkzee costing around £200m.
United spent around five months trying to prise Ashworth out of his previous role at Newcastle, with the 53-year-old going on gardening leave, but Ineos must now try again to fill one of the most important roles at the club or alter the structure once again.
Ashworth reportedly met with chief executive Omar Berrada after the final whistle on Saturday. He was seen quickly passing through the press conference room to another part of the stadium with chief operating officer Collette Roche.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe admits making ‘one or two errors’
Sunday’s announcement comes one day after the publication of an interview with Ratcliffe in the United We Stand fanzine, in which the 72-year-old admitted he had made ‘one or two errors’ in terms of getting the right people in place at United.
Referring to French club Nice and Swiss side Lausanne, also part of the Ineos sporting empire, Ratcliffe said: ‘If I hadn’t done Nice and Lausanne then we wouldn’t have come into United knowing that it’s quite a journey to get to the point where your antenna is working.
‘Our antenna wasn’t perfect at United and we’ve made one or two errors, but they’re a lot better than they would have been than if we’d not done Nice and Lausanne.’
