Dan Ashworth and Sir Jim Ratcliffe (Photo by Dan Mullan, Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
Former Manchester United sporting director Dan Ashworth looked to have made himself a very powerful enemy in the form of co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Ashworth left his position at Man Utd yesterday, the club announced, in a surprise move given that he’d only started working with the Red Devils back in July after a lengthy saga that saw him poached from rivals Newcastle.
Still, it seems one key factor in Ashworth’s downfall at Old Trafford was his poor relationship with Ratcliffe.
This comes across in a report from the Daily Mail, which states that Ashworth left Ratcliffe furious with comments he made to the media about the club’s decision to stick with Erik ten Hag as manager back in the summer.
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Ashworth didn’t exactly give a strong backing to Ten Hag, saying that this decision was made before he joined the club, and the Mail claim this went down like a lead balloon with Ratcliffe.
A year of absolute chaos at Manchester United
Sir Jim Ratcliffe watches Aston Villa vs Manchester United
Sir Jim Ratcliffe watches Aston Villa vs Manchester United (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Ashworth’s departure is just the latest big change in what has been a chaotic year for Man United, perhaps their worst since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement back in 2013.
There have been plenty of low points since Fergie decided to call it a day, but there hasn’t been anything quite as crazy as all the changes we’ve seen at Old Trafford in recent months.
First, there was the ownership change, which then also resulted in the appointments of new key figures at board level such as Ashworth, as well as others like Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox.
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Dan Ashworth during a Man United game earlier this season
However, that new regime has not proved stable, with Ten Hag given a new deal before being sacked not that long afterwards, with Ruben Amorim recently replacing him as manager.
And now Ashworth has gone too, just five months after joining, with it now being anyone’s guess what happens next with MUFC.