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Sir Jim Ratcliffe has broken his silence on why Dan Ashworth’s spell as Manchester United sporting director lasted just five months.
Manchester United’s pursuit of Ashworth from Newcastle United last year ironically lasted longer than his spell at Old Trafford. Newcastle and Man United agreed a compensation fee last summer after Ashworth had been placed on gardening leave from his sporting director role on Tyneside.
But by early December, Ashworth was dismissed from his role at Old Trafford in what was later revealed as a costly decision by Ratcliffe and Manchester United. According to Manchester United’s financial figures for the second quarter of the 2024-25 season, Ashworth was paid £4.1million in compensation by the club.
It’s been a season to forget for The Red Devils, who currently sit 14th in the Premier League table with 10 games left to play. The club are on course for successive lowest league finishes since 1990 since Ratcliffe became a minority owner.
The under-fire Manchester United chief addressed Ashworth’s spell when speaking to club legend Gary Neville on The Overlap this week. Neville worked alongside Ashworth during his time with England and the Football Association and pointed to the sporting director’s success during his brief spell at Newcastle as well as Brighton & Hove Albion before that.
In a guarded and cagey response, Ratcliffe said: “You may know Dan better than I do, I'm sure you do, but I don't want to go into the details of [his departure] because I don't think it serves any it doesn't serve much purpose.
“I mean at the end of the day it was chemistry. Maybe a bit more than chemistry but let's just say chemistry and it didn't work.
“I know it's an unpopular decision and it's seen as an error and it was an error [to appoint Ashworth] but again I think slightly in our defence we did recognise it as being something that would not work and therefore we decided we would make a change what would have been far easier because of the scrutiny that we knew we would get in the media would have been to live with it but I wasn't prepared to live with it.
“That has to be part of our mentality at Manchester even though we're having to make unpopular decisions if we think it's the right thing then we're going to do it.”
Sir Jim Ratcliffe criticises ‘absurd’ Newcastle United prior to Dan Ashworth’s appointment
Ratcliffe’s regrets over appointing Ashworth are clear and the fact Manchester United spent months in talks with Newcastle over a compensation fee almost certainly makes matters worse. Ratcliffe went public in his criticism of Newcastle when pursuing Ashworth this time last year.
Speaking to BBC in February 2024, Ratcliffe said: "I think Dan Ashworth is a ten out of ten sporting director - one of the best around. He would be very good for Manchester United.
"Ultimately, you can't really criticise Dan for looking at maybe the most coveted job in football as a sporting director - particularly with the challenge at Manchester United. What doesn't make sense is for Dan Ashworth to be sat doing nothing for 18 months.
“We'll have to see how it unfolds. What I do think is completely absurd, is suggesting a man who is really good at his job sits in his garden for one and a half years.”
Perhaps he should have left Ashworth to his gardening after all.
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