Gary Neville
Gary Neville has criticised Manchester United for their handling of Dan Ashworth's exit
Gary Neville has torn into Manchester United over Dan Ashworth's exit, saying it was "not a great look" for the club as he criticised their "weak statement" announcing his departure.
United revealed the bombshell news Ashworth was leaving Old Trafford after just five months in the job despite chasing the sporting director for many months and paying £3million to bring him from Newcastle earlier this year.
Ashworth reportedly didn't fit in with Sir Jim Ratcliffe's hierarchy, with United officials instigating his exit, and Neville has questioned what happened to result in him leaving so suddenly.
"Something like that can’t be mutual," Neville told Sky Sports. "There have been mass redundancies within the club, a complete overhaul of the executive of the club in terms of the CEO, CFO, sporting director, technical director and now manager recently. You would’ve expected large changes, but not for this position.
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"Ashworth was headhunted for many months, he was chased for about 10 months. He was on gardening leave for four or five months, they paid millions of pounds to get him.
"I worked with Dan at the FA for two years, and he’s been very successful everywhere he has been. Brighton, West Brom, the FA and Newcastle most recently. I’m most shocked this has happened, it’s not a great look at all. It’s something that’s going to need a lot of explaining."
United's statement announcing Ashworth's exit was just 41 words long. Neville called it "weak" and believes the club should come forward and explain what happened between the two parties.
"The statement the club have put out is really poor," he added. "Man Utd haven’t had a voice for 10 years. They’ve lost their authority and their boldness. They’ve been getting it back a little bit in the last 12 months, but it’s really clear there’s a fracture here.
"You can’t bring someone in like Dan Ashworth, lose him after five months and think something hasn’t gone wrong. Fans are going to be asking what’s gone wrong. They’re going to speculate, there’s going to be huge voids.
"You’re better off punching us in the face with the truth sometimes when it’s so obvious something has gone wrong, between the personalities of Dan Ashworth and Omar Barrada, Dave Brailsford, whoever it is who hasn’t got on with each other. Just tell us, because it’s obvious something has happened. That statement is weak."
United will now go into the January transfer window with a hole in their hierarchy after Ashworth had a big role to play in the signings of Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui, Manuel Ugarte and Joshua Zirkzee - costing the club around £200m.
Manager Ruben Amorim has struggled in his first handful of games, winning two, losing two and drawing once and he'll be eager to bring in new recruits next month.
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