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Dan Ashworth left Newcastle United to join Manchester United - but didn’t last very long at Old Trafford.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has revealed why Manchester United parted ways with Dan Ashworth - just five months after he joined from Newcastle United.
Ironically, the Red Devils took the same number of months to appoint Ashworth as sporting director. He was placed on gardening leave by Newcastle in February last year and the two clubs didn’t agree a compensation package until July 1.
Ashworth formed part of a new executive team overseen by Ratcliffe and Sir Dave Brailsford with Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox also headhunted from Manchester City and Southampton, respectively.
It is understood Ashworth played a crucial role in keeping former manager Erik ten Hag before around £200million was spent last summer on the likes of Leny Yoro, Manuel Ugarte, Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui and Joshua Zirkzee.
But following an underwhelming start to the campaign, Ten Hag was sacked in November and Ashworth followed the Dutchman out of the exit door just under a month later. Man United’s struggles have continued under new boss Ruben Amorim, currently sitting 14th in the Premier League table.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe opens up Dan Ashworth’s departure
In a wide-ranging interview with Man United legend Gary Neville on The Overlap, Ratcliffe addressed Ashworth’s departure, which cost a reported £4.1million in compensation.
“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,” Ratcliffe said.
“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.
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“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 U-turn
Ratcliffe’s comments are a major U-turn on what he said around this time last year, where he labelled Ashworth as ‘10/10’.
Speaking to the BBC, 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.”
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