Ashworth lasted just over five months at United
Ashworth lasted just over five months at United
Ruben Amorim admitted Dan Ashworth's departure from Manchester United is a "bad situation".
Ashworth was axed by United on Saturday night after only five months and six days as the club's inaugural sporting director. Ashworth was opposed to Amorim's appointment as United head coach as he felt he would be too hands-on and had pushed for Gareth Southgate.
Chief executive Omar Berrada drove the pursuit of Amorim and convinced him to accept the United job amid interest from Manchester City in Amorim to potentially replace Pep Guardiola in the summer. Sir Jim Ratcliffe omitted Ashworth when he praised members of the United hierarchy in an interview with fanzine United We Stand.
"The first thing I want to say since the first day I felt great support from the ownership, from Omar, from them also, from Jason (Wilcox), and Dan was part of that," Amorim said. "And I really, really, really [received] support from Dan also.
READ MORE: Most United players supportive of Amorim's squad rotation amid complaint from squad member
READ MORE: Fixer or fraud? Meet the Ineos man at United you've not heard of
"But this is football and sometimes this happens, happens with players, with coaches, I know it's not the best situation but the important thing is we continue in our way. The path is really clear for everybody and I think this can happen in football."
Amorim disputed the suggestion United are a more unstable club than when he joined on November 11. "I don't think so. I felt since day one the support from everybody. One person leaving don't change nothing.
"Of course, it's a bad situation. Like I said, we are talking about a human being, a professional, that supports us as a team but I think the most important thing is the vision is really clear and that don't change if one person leaves."
United courted Ashworth for longer than he stayed in post at the club but the 53-year-old was not aligned with Ratcliffe's vision and United are not expected to replace him.
Amorim was reluctant to dwell on United's specific vision but stressed the end goal was to make the club Premier League champions again. "No, I don’t think so [that there were disagreements]. I cannot tell you about the vision at just a press conference but we want to take this club to winning the Premier League and to be an elite club like this club should be.
"In this way we have to make changes because of the context. I don't know, you could change the coach, because you don't have results you could change the coach.
"So you can have a vision but sometimes you make a slight change of direction to find the same goal, so this could happen in football, we are focused on winning the Premier League, that is the main goal."