James Ducker
Dan Ashworth (centre) did not develop a strong working dynamic with Omar Berrada (left) and Jason Wilcox (right) Credit: Getty Images/Chris Brunskill
(Left to right) Omar Berrada, Dan Ashworth and Jason Wilcox
Dan Ashworth (centre) did not develop a strong working dynamic with Omar Berrada (left) and Jason Wilcox (right) Credit: Getty Images/Chris Brunskill
When an ashen-faced Dan Ashworth walked across the front of the press room at Old Trafford on Saturday evening, shortly before Ruben Amorim came in to face the media after Manchester United’s 3-2 defeat by Nottingham Forest, most would have attributed his glumness to an error-strewn loss.
As he disappeared through an exit door on the other side of the room, though, few could have imagined the 53-year-old would very shortly be leaving the club for good after just 159 days as sporting director.
Given United spent almost as long trying to extract Ashworth from Newcastle before agreeing a compensation deal just shy of £3 million with the Tyneside club, his departure after five months will do little to quell the sense of perpetual soap opera around Old Trafford.
From United’s perspective, it was clear things were not working out with Ashworth behind the scenes and, as bad as the optics may be, it was better to bite the bullet and make what has been described as a “very difficult” decision than limp on and allow a faltering alliance to fester.
In hindsight, many fans may now view some of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s remarks to the United We Stand fanzine on Saturday with a greater level of interest and intrigue. “You can’t just flick a light switch and sort out recruitment,” United’s co-owner had said. “It’s all about people and we need to find the right people. There is major change to come to achieve elite status. But already there has been huge change at this club.”
Berrada wields huge influence
Ratcliffe and his Ineos team felt they were getting one of the “right people” in Ashworth and were prepared to wait for him, even though that meant he was not able to formally start until July 1 and did not play a hands-on role in the moves to replace and then ultimately keep former manager Erik ten Hag at the end of last season.
The belief was that in chief executive Omar Berrada, who formally began work just under a fortnight after Ashworth after completing a period of gardening leave from Manchester City, technical director Jason Wilcox, who started in April, and Ashworth, United had assembled a talented, experienced trio to reshape football operations at a club that have lost their way on and off the pitch for a decade. Wilcox was to report into Ashworth who, in turn, was to report into Berrada.
Yet whereas there has been a strong working dynamic and understanding between Berrada and Wilcox, who knew each other well from their time together at City, multiple sources have told Telegraph Sport that synergy did not extend to the same level with Ashworth.
Ashworth had been put in overall charge of football performance, recruitment and operations – in effect the general manager of football. But, while in his other roles at Newcastle, Brighton and the Football Association, Ashworth had established considerable governance over football matters, he is understood to have encountered much more crossover in terms of roles and responsibilities at Old Trafford and did not hold the power or authority he probably envisaged.
Perhaps if United had appointed a chief executive who was less hands-on from a football perspective, the relationship with Ashworth may have evolved differently, but Berrada wields huge influence at Old Trafford under the new regime and that is only growing.
That much was evident in the pursuit of Amorim to replace Ten Hag. Berrada had been the driving force behind the appointment of the 39-year-old Portuguese head coach from Sporting, a process the sporting director might ordinarily expect to lead on.
Indeed, it seems all the more instructive now that, while it was Berrada who led the delegation that travelled to Lisbon to meet Sporting officials and complete a deal for Amorim after Ten Hag’s dismissal was announced on October 28, Ashworth remained in Manchester to support interim manager Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Dan Ashworth with Ruben Amorim
Ashworth did not play a key role in the recruitment of Ruben Amorim
Ashworth had established the closest relationship with Ten Hag of the three of them, with Berrada and Wilcox firmly of the view a change of manager and approach was essential if United were to move forward.
Whereas Berrada and Wilcox gelled, not only with each other but with Ineos’ wider way of working, Ashworth did not prove the same fit and that became more and more apparent as the weeks and months passed. Ratcliffe has been scathing of United’s recruitment practices and data analysis, which he says is in the “very poor bracket” and stuck “in the last century”, and wants robust action taken on both fronts.
Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui pose with Manager Erik ten Hag and Sporting Director Dan Ashworth after signing for Man Utd
Ashworth, pictured after the signing of Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui, was the closest of United’s new executive team to former manager Erik ten Hag Credit: Getty Images
Ratcliffe recognised only two-thirds of the intended “golden triangle” between Berrada, Wilcox and Ashworth was working seamlessly and is not the sort to dally when problems arise, prompting United to instigate the separation.
There were no fireworks and ugly fall-outs and even now there is little sense of any bad blood, with insiders stressing what an “excellent professional” Ashworth is and how it has been a delicate and unwelcome situation for all parties to navigate. He leaves with the club’s best wishes. But a change was considered unavoidable.
No rush to appoint replacement
Berrada has very quickly earned the trust of Ratcliffe and his principal lieutenants, Sir Dave Brailsford and Jean-Claude Blanc, respectively Ineos’ director of sport and chief executive, who were appointed to United’s football club board when Ratcliffe acquired a 27.7 per cent stake in February and are the billionaire’s eyes and ears. Ratcliffe’s admiration for Berrada shone through when he told United We Stand in the week: “We have a great chief executive in Omar”.
As City’s chief football operations officer, Berrada worked closely on recruitment, negotiations and player contracts with sporting director Txiki Begiristain and that was part of the appeal for Ineos: hiring a chief executive with a strong football acumen and voice.
What happens next will be interesting. United are not thought to be in a rush to appoint a replacement for Ashworth and if a new sporting director comes in down the line it will be interesting to see if there are changes to the profile or responsibilities of that position. What is clear is he must gel with Berrada and Wilcox. There cannot be too many cooks treading on each other’s toes and getting in each other’s way.
For now, though, Ashworth’s exit is another reminder to Ratcliffe and company that even the best laid plans at Old Trafford can go awry.
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