The specifics don’t really matter too much. Everyone needs to be pulling in the same direction, and have complementary work philosophies. If Ashworth was the odd man out then it’s right he moves on and that we don’t waste any more time.
Dan "The Gardener" Ashworth Has Left | Venit, vidit, non vicit
- Thread starter Berbaclass
- Start date
The specifics don’t really matter too much. Everyone needs to be pulling in the same direction, and have complementary work philosophies. If Ashworth was the odd man out then it’s right he moves on and that we don’t waste any more time.
That came so left field that I don't even know what to say. I hope players and coaches care even a bit and continue doing their job.
If true it kind of reminds me of Fergie's story of why he sacked United's chief scout when he arrived. He wanted someone decisive who'll say: Yep, you should buy/not buy this player, and didn't get it. So he gave the job to Les Kershaw.
Inside Dan Ashworth’s shock Man United exit:
What irritated Ratcliffe and how it ended
Inside Dan Ashworth’s shock Man United exit: What irritated Ratcliffe and how it ended
Laurie Whitwell and Adam Crafton
Dec 8, 2024
Seeing Manchester United wait five months to get Dan Ashworth in as sporting director only to usher him to the exit five months later is a remarkable development that has left staff at the club stunned.
Ashworth attended United’s under-21 game against Sparta Prague at Carrington on Saturday morning, then watched the senior side face Nottingham Forest from the Old Trafford directors’ box — to the outside world conducting business as usual.
But 20 minutes after the final whistle, he took a rare route out of the directors’ lounge under the stands, walking through the press conference room alongside chief operating officer Collette Roche. He was on his way to Omar Berrada’s office, where he was told by the chief executive his brief time at United was coming to an end.
Ashworth had let people know it was difficult working in Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s newly assembled football leadership team and so perhaps there is some relief at the development.
In hindsight, it was possible to perceive a hint of awkwardness between the executives when Ashworth arrived in his seat ahead of the defeat to Forest, which he had invited family members to attend.
The 53-year-old is expected to have no shortage of offers. Several people in the game are privately pointing out how Arsenal are searching for a new sporting director and their managing director is Richard Garlick, a close colleague of Ashworth’s from their West Bromwich Albion days, although there are no indications of anything substantive at this stage.
Then West Brom director of football Garlick, left, speaking with Ashworth at a game in 2013 when he was working as the FA’s director of elite development (Mike Egerton – PA Images via Getty Images)
Nevertheless, his departure from United, as revealed exclusively by The Athletic on Sunday, was instigated by those at the top of the club. The sense among staff is a joint decision between Ratcliffe, Berrada, Sir Dave Brailsford, and co-owner Joel Glazer. Berrada’s role does cross over into the football department.
To explain the shock exit, The Athletic spoke to multiple people familiar with it who were speaking anonymously to protect relationships. United would not be drawn on any of the issues mentioned in our reporting and maintain the decision was mutual. Ashworth has been approached for comment.
The signs of disharmony were detectable at the very moment that Ashworth would have been expected to prove his worth. In searching for a replacement for Erik ten Hag as manager, Ratcliffe wanted to hear ideas from the man he had sanctioned spending around £2.5million ($3.2million) to bring in from Newcastle United due to his expertise at building structures. Ashworth, it is claimed, did not provide clear, compelling arguments for who to bring in.
Instead, there was a list and those he did propose had a theme: Premier League experience. Suggestions included Eddie Howe, despite the picture not always being rosy at Newcastle United; Marco Silva, the Fulham head coach; and Thomas Frank, the Brentford head coach. Graham Potter was another name mentioned by Ashworth, possibly as an interim until the end of the season.
Ratcliffe wanted more decisiveness and a dynamic appointment, someone with a certain charisma who was capable of shouldering the enormous responsibility and scrutiny that comes with leading one of the world’s biggest clubs.
It seemed no coincidence that after being quoted on Ten Hag’s contract extension and every signing brought in during the summer, there was nothing from Ashworth on the official announcement of Ruben Amorim’s appointment.
Ashworth was said to have had little input on selecting Amorim as United’s new head coach, with Berrada a major influence on the Portuguese getting the job. It was Berrada who flew to Lisbon when Ten Hag was sacked to negotiate with Sporting CP president Frederico Varandas face-to-face.
Berrada played a big role in the appointment of Amorim as Ten Hag’s replacement (Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)
There are other reasons for that, such as it being described as a one-person job, with United wanting to show respect by sending the equal counterpart. United also needed someone at Carrington to run the club, with Ashworth staying to support interim manager Ruud van Nistelrooy. But it is also notable that Berrada went because he, rather than Ashworth, knew the people at Sporting.
Ratcliffe had met Amorim the week before, as United were in Istanbul facing Fenerbahce, with Brailsford also present. Ratcliffe likes to understand big decisions before signing off and he got on well with Amorim, whose charisma has made an early impression on fans and players.
Ratcliffe felt Ashworth should have been much more assertive in targeting a new head coach and should have looked beyond those people he already knew.
He was also said to have raised eyebrows at Ashworth taking a holiday on Amorim’s second day at Carrington. There were mitigating circumstances, with Ashworth marking a significant family event having postponed previous attempts for work reasons. His absence, around the same time, from November’s executive committee (ExCo) meeting was however seen by some as a further indication all was not well. Ashworth had attended the ExCo summit in October at INEOS headquarters in London, as well as the previous one in Barcelona.
Friction was also apparent when Ashworth proposed bringing in a data company to evaluate the candidates to replace Ten Hag. Ratcliffe was said to have reacted badly, countering that it was Ashworth’s job to know such matters rather than outsource, while also making him question United’s in-house capabilities.
Ratcliffe at the FA Cup final at Wembley (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
In his interview with fanzine United We Stand, Ratcliffe said: “Data analysis comes alongside recruitment. It doesn’t really exist here. We’re still in the last century on data analysis here.”
Ashworth oversaw all the summer signings, which included some influence from Ten Hag. Ashworth was tasked with making things work with Ten Hag and sanctioned the signings of Noussair Mazraoui and Matthijs de Ligt, two preferences for the manager, among a spend of around £200m. Joshua Zirkzee, who moved to United in the summer from Serie A side Bologna, was seen as more of a club-led transfer. He had been on Newcastle’s list of potential transfers at the start of the year.
But there are also questions about what Ratcliffe thought he was getting in Ashworth and whether due diligence was done, despite long-standing relationships. Ashworth is primarily an operations manager, according to people who have worked with him, rather than a transfer guru. He made a good impression at Carrington, where he was regarded as “the man” at the top of all sporting functions, hence why his exit now has caused such shock. Colleagues say he is honest, very intelligent and a good figurehead.
In a bid to explain the decision, Brailsford, Berrada and technical director Jason Wilcox addressed players and staff at Carrington on Sunday, going through the turbulence experienced and why they felt a change was necessary. Berrada and Wilcox are close, having worked at Manchester City together.
The relationship between Ratcliffe and his primary football executive had become strained after the only public address given by Ashworth as a United employee. Before kick-off in the Liverpool game on September 1, Ashworth and Berrada spoke to journalists to map out their thoughts on how the summer window had gone and what might come next. Both denied being involved in Ten Hag staying and extending terms after United’s FA Cup final victory, but they were across the decision, according to sources.
Those responses irritated Ratcliffe. Berrada and Ashworth had been on gardening leave, so understandably had to be careful on the record, but both were in communication on United business before they were officially in the building.
(Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images)
Ratcliffe felt the concept of gardening leave “absurd”, so wanted his incoming executives to get started straight away. For instance, Berrada was in meetings when Ten Hag’s future was agreed upon.
At times, as the proposed arbitration with Newcastle loomed, Ashworth went radio silent. There was much greater legal sensitivity around his appointment than that of Berrada, but Ashworth had been in touch with United colleagues and involved in some meetings about prospective managers when Ten Hag’s future looked in deep jeopardy.
Ratcliffe’s instinct had been to move on from Ten Hag, who was himself anticipating his dismissal. The lukewarm greeting from Ratcliffe to Ten Hag when he went to lift the FA Cup spoke volumes. But Ratcliffe and everyone else was persuaded to stick with him given there was so much change elsewhere at the club, as well as difficulties in appointing Thomas Tuchel with no viable alternative.
Therefore, the backing given by Berrada and Ashworth to Ten Hag during that briefing before the Liverpool game in September took Ratcliffe by surprise. Berrada and Ashworth wanted to update fans on how they thought the summer had gone, but Ratcliffe felt it was an unnecessary juncture at which to speak. It is perhaps telling no directors have spoken with journalists about Amorim’s arrival.
Since then, Berrada has impressed with his work on Amorim and also around the club. He regularly holds meetings with staff to understand their daily commitments and listen to thoughts on improving practices. The mood at United is described by several sources, who were speaking anonymously to protect their jobs, as “very low” given the 250 redundancies and cost-cutting, but Berrada’s visibility is appreciated.
(Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
In United’s first quarter financial results, a statement by Berrada touched on United’s “cost and headcount reductions” remaining “on track”, a reference to Ratcliffe’s determination to make the company as lean as possible. This is an aspect Ashworth allegedly had issues over; he was said to be reluctant to reduce jobs in his areas, a hesitation Ratcliffe could not countenance.
Ashworth has expressed to people a feeling of working in a highly pressurised environment and suggested he may not have left Newcastle had he known Amanda Staveley would subsequently depart. Howe’s strong relationship with Staveley, at the time a Newcastle minority shareholder and director, had been built before Ashworth’s arrival at the club and the Newcastle manager had always had a direct dialogue with her, so did not go via Ashworth.
But Ashworth was demonstrating to those at Carrington, his base, that he wanted to embrace the job. He was talking about changes he wished to make to improve the sporting structure, leaning into his strengths. He is regarded as a very good general manager after his work at the FA and Brighton, understanding how to keep a football club running smoothly. Brailsford established a relationship with Ashworth after they worked on an FA panel together in 2016.
Ashworth once described himself as being at the centre of several spokes of a wheel, but United is Ratcliffe’s wheel and he wanted more from a sporting director. Ratcliffe could have waited until the end of the season to make the change given how acting now can be seen as an embarrassing about-turn. It was only February when he was describing Ashworth as “clearly one of the top sporting directors in the world”, ranking him “10 out of 10”.
But, aged 73, Ratcliffe has shown himself as a man in a hurry and having decided things weren’t working, concluded it was better to cut the cord immediately and move on. Teething problems are not uncommon when new regimes take charge of clubs.
The development will, though, inevitably bring scrutiny on Ratcliffe and the INEOS/United hierarchy. There are accusations those at the top of the club are guarded to challenge one of Britain’s richest men given his power. Sources say Brailsford is one of the only people who talks honestly with him, regarded as an important trait by those who witness the dynamic. The Glazer family are majority shareholders, but Joel, the most engaged sibling, is satisfied to take a back seat on football calls.
His curtailment of Ashworth’s time at United is evidence for those who believe he gets overly involved in his football club. Others insist Ratcliffe wants to simply keep abreast of all major matters, as would be expected of someone investing £1.2billion into the club, but his influence is felt at all levels.
Ratcliffe told UWS: “I don’t make the decisions, but I like to feel comfortable that we’re making the correct decisions. I do get involved in most of the big decisions, but ultimately so that I can understand the rationale behind them.”
In that same interview with UWS, Ratcliffe confessed to making mistakes at United. “Our antenna wasn’t perfect at United and we’ve made one or two errors, but they’re a lot better than they would have been than if we’d not done Nice and Lausanne. There is major change to come to achieve elite status. If you shy away from the difficult decisions, nothing much is going to change.”
The technical director Jason Wilcox and Ashworth with Amorim following the coach’s arrival at the club (Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)
The cost of hiring Ashworth, having his input on a summer spend reaching £200million, and then dismissing him before Christmas can be put down as a major error, especially at a time when Ratcliffe has hiked ticket prices to £66 per person, no concessions, in a bid to raise around £1.5million for the rest of the campaign. Morale among staff at United is still reeling after the 250 redundancies and cost-cutting that continues, with the traditional office Christmas party cancelled.
Whether United fill Ashworth’s position remains to be seen. Agents have complained of not knowing who to speak to at United regarding transfers, citing several potential figures. That level of executive was viewed as potentially bloated and it may be that others pick up more responsibilities.
Wilcox, who is a regular at training sessions, is said to have struck up a good rapport with Amorim. Christopher Vivell, the interim director of recruitment, could see his job become permanent.
The same could be said for Sam Erith, who arrived as interim performance director in September. James Morton, professor of exercise metabolism at Liverpool John Moores University, is also a frequent presence at Carrington. He has led the delivery of the INEOS X programme, which aims to link all the INEOS Sport departments. Matt Hargreaves, as director of negotiations, has primarily handled the club’s transfer talks in the past two summer windows.
Whatever the solution, Ashworth’s departure so soon into his tenure — after all the attention on securing his services — was not part of the plan.
(The athletic)
What irritated Ratcliffe and how it ended
Inside Dan Ashworth’s shock Man United exit: What irritated Ratcliffe and how it ended
Laurie Whitwell and Adam Crafton
Dec 8, 2024
Seeing Manchester United wait five months to get Dan Ashworth in as sporting director only to usher him to the exit five months later is a remarkable development that has left staff at the club stunned.
Ashworth attended United’s under-21 game against Sparta Prague at Carrington on Saturday morning, then watched the senior side face Nottingham Forest from the Old Trafford directors’ box — to the outside world conducting business as usual.
But 20 minutes after the final whistle, he took a rare route out of the directors’ lounge under the stands, walking through the press conference room alongside chief operating officer Collette Roche. He was on his way to Omar Berrada’s office, where he was told by the chief executive his brief time at United was coming to an end.
Ashworth had let people know it was difficult working in Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s newly assembled football leadership team and so perhaps there is some relief at the development.
In hindsight, it was possible to perceive a hint of awkwardness between the executives when Ashworth arrived in his seat ahead of the defeat to Forest, which he had invited family members to attend.
The 53-year-old is expected to have no shortage of offers. Several people in the game are privately pointing out how Arsenal are searching for a new sporting director and their managing director is Richard Garlick, a close colleague of Ashworth’s from their West Bromwich Albion days, although there are no indications of anything substantive at this stage.
Then West Brom director of football Garlick, left, speaking with Ashworth at a game in 2013 when he was working as the FA’s director of elite development (Mike Egerton – PA Images via Getty Images)
Nevertheless, his departure from United, as revealed exclusively by The Athletic on Sunday, was instigated by those at the top of the club. The sense among staff is a joint decision between Ratcliffe, Berrada, Sir Dave Brailsford, and co-owner Joel Glazer. Berrada’s role does cross over into the football department.
To explain the shock exit, The Athletic spoke to multiple people familiar with it who were speaking anonymously to protect relationships. United would not be drawn on any of the issues mentioned in our reporting and maintain the decision was mutual. Ashworth has been approached for comment.
The signs of disharmony were detectable at the very moment that Ashworth would have been expected to prove his worth. In searching for a replacement for Erik ten Hag as manager, Ratcliffe wanted to hear ideas from the man he had sanctioned spending around £2.5million ($3.2million) to bring in from Newcastle United due to his expertise at building structures. Ashworth, it is claimed, did not provide clear, compelling arguments for who to bring in.
Instead, there was a list and those he did propose had a theme: Premier League experience. Suggestions included Eddie Howe, despite the picture not always being rosy at Newcastle United; Marco Silva, the Fulham head coach; and Thomas Frank, the Brentford head coach. Graham Potter was another name mentioned by Ashworth, possibly as an interim until the end of the season.
Ratcliffe wanted more decisiveness and a dynamic appointment, someone with a certain charisma who was capable of shouldering the enormous responsibility and scrutiny that comes with leading one of the world’s biggest clubs.
It seemed no coincidence that after being quoted on Ten Hag’s contract extension and every signing brought in during the summer, there was nothing from Ashworth on the official announcement of Ruben Amorim’s appointment.
Ashworth was said to have had little input on selecting Amorim as United’s new head coach, with Berrada a major influence on the Portuguese getting the job. It was Berrada who flew to Lisbon when Ten Hag was sacked to negotiate with Sporting CP president Frederico Varandas face-to-face.
Berrada played a big role in the appointment of Amorim as Ten Hag’s replacement (Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)
There are other reasons for that, such as it being described as a one-person job, with United wanting to show respect by sending the equal counterpart. United also needed someone at Carrington to run the club, with Ashworth staying to support interim manager Ruud van Nistelrooy. But it is also notable that Berrada went because he, rather than Ashworth, knew the people at Sporting.
Ratcliffe had met Amorim the week before, as United were in Istanbul facing Fenerbahce, with Brailsford also present. Ratcliffe likes to understand big decisions before signing off and he got on well with Amorim, whose charisma has made an early impression on fans and players.
Ratcliffe felt Ashworth should have been much more assertive in targeting a new head coach and should have looked beyond those people he already knew.
He was also said to have raised eyebrows at Ashworth taking a holiday on Amorim’s second day at Carrington. There were mitigating circumstances, with Ashworth marking a significant family event having postponed previous attempts for work reasons. His absence, around the same time, from November’s executive committee (ExCo) meeting was however seen by some as a further indication all was not well. Ashworth had attended the ExCo summit in October at INEOS headquarters in London, as well as the previous one in Barcelona.
Friction was also apparent when Ashworth proposed bringing in a data company to evaluate the candidates to replace Ten Hag. Ratcliffe was said to have reacted badly, countering that it was Ashworth’s job to know such matters rather than outsource, while also making him question United’s in-house capabilities.
Ratcliffe at the FA Cup final at Wembley (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
In his interview with fanzine United We Stand, Ratcliffe said: “Data analysis comes alongside recruitment. It doesn’t really exist here. We’re still in the last century on data analysis here.”
Ashworth oversaw all the summer signings, which included some influence from Ten Hag. Ashworth was tasked with making things work with Ten Hag and sanctioned the signings of Noussair Mazraoui and Matthijs de Ligt, two preferences for the manager, among a spend of around £200m. Joshua Zirkzee, who moved to United in the summer from Serie A side Bologna, was seen as more of a club-led transfer. He had been on Newcastle’s list of potential transfers at the start of the year.
But there are also questions about what Ratcliffe thought he was getting in Ashworth and whether due diligence was done, despite long-standing relationships. Ashworth is primarily an operations manager, according to people who have worked with him, rather than a transfer guru. He made a good impression at Carrington, where he was regarded as “the man” at the top of all sporting functions, hence why his exit now has caused such shock. Colleagues say he is honest, very intelligent and a good figurehead.
In a bid to explain the decision, Brailsford, Berrada and technical director Jason Wilcox addressed players and staff at Carrington on Sunday, going through the turbulence experienced and why they felt a change was necessary. Berrada and Wilcox are close, having worked at Manchester City together.
The relationship between Ratcliffe and his primary football executive had become strained after the only public address given by Ashworth as a United employee. Before kick-off in the Liverpool game on September 1, Ashworth and Berrada spoke to journalists to map out their thoughts on how the summer window had gone and what might come next. Both denied being involved in Ten Hag staying and extending terms after United’s FA Cup final victory, but they were across the decision, according to sources.
Those responses irritated Ratcliffe. Berrada and Ashworth had been on gardening leave, so understandably had to be careful on the record, but both were in communication on United business before they were officially in the building.
(Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images)
Ratcliffe felt the concept of gardening leave “absurd”, so wanted his incoming executives to get started straight away. For instance, Berrada was in meetings when Ten Hag’s future was agreed upon.
At times, as the proposed arbitration with Newcastle loomed, Ashworth went radio silent. There was much greater legal sensitivity around his appointment than that of Berrada, but Ashworth had been in touch with United colleagues and involved in some meetings about prospective managers when Ten Hag’s future looked in deep jeopardy.
Ratcliffe’s instinct had been to move on from Ten Hag, who was himself anticipating his dismissal. The lukewarm greeting from Ratcliffe to Ten Hag when he went to lift the FA Cup spoke volumes. But Ratcliffe and everyone else was persuaded to stick with him given there was so much change elsewhere at the club, as well as difficulties in appointing Thomas Tuchel with no viable alternative.
Therefore, the backing given by Berrada and Ashworth to Ten Hag during that briefing before the Liverpool game in September took Ratcliffe by surprise. Berrada and Ashworth wanted to update fans on how they thought the summer had gone, but Ratcliffe felt it was an unnecessary juncture at which to speak. It is perhaps telling no directors have spoken with journalists about Amorim’s arrival.
Since then, Berrada has impressed with his work on Amorim and also around the club. He regularly holds meetings with staff to understand their daily commitments and listen to thoughts on improving practices. The mood at United is described by several sources, who were speaking anonymously to protect their jobs, as “very low” given the 250 redundancies and cost-cutting, but Berrada’s visibility is appreciated.
(Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
In United’s first quarter financial results, a statement by Berrada touched on United’s “cost and headcount reductions” remaining “on track”, a reference to Ratcliffe’s determination to make the company as lean as possible. This is an aspect Ashworth allegedly had issues over; he was said to be reluctant to reduce jobs in his areas, a hesitation Ratcliffe could not countenance.
Ashworth has expressed to people a feeling of working in a highly pressurised environment and suggested he may not have left Newcastle had he known Amanda Staveley would subsequently depart. Howe’s strong relationship with Staveley, at the time a Newcastle minority shareholder and director, had been built before Ashworth’s arrival at the club and the Newcastle manager had always had a direct dialogue with her, so did not go via Ashworth.
But Ashworth was demonstrating to those at Carrington, his base, that he wanted to embrace the job. He was talking about changes he wished to make to improve the sporting structure, leaning into his strengths. He is regarded as a very good general manager after his work at the FA and Brighton, understanding how to keep a football club running smoothly. Brailsford established a relationship with Ashworth after they worked on an FA panel together in 2016.
Ashworth once described himself as being at the centre of several spokes of a wheel, but United is Ratcliffe’s wheel and he wanted more from a sporting director. Ratcliffe could have waited until the end of the season to make the change given how acting now can be seen as an embarrassing about-turn. It was only February when he was describing Ashworth as “clearly one of the top sporting directors in the world”, ranking him “10 out of 10”.
But, aged 73, Ratcliffe has shown himself as a man in a hurry and having decided things weren’t working, concluded it was better to cut the cord immediately and move on. Teething problems are not uncommon when new regimes take charge of clubs.
The development will, though, inevitably bring scrutiny on Ratcliffe and the INEOS/United hierarchy. There are accusations those at the top of the club are guarded to challenge one of Britain’s richest men given his power. Sources say Brailsford is one of the only people who talks honestly with him, regarded as an important trait by those who witness the dynamic. The Glazer family are majority shareholders, but Joel, the most engaged sibling, is satisfied to take a back seat on football calls.
His curtailment of Ashworth’s time at United is evidence for those who believe he gets overly involved in his football club. Others insist Ratcliffe wants to simply keep abreast of all major matters, as would be expected of someone investing £1.2billion into the club, but his influence is felt at all levels.
Ratcliffe told UWS: “I don’t make the decisions, but I like to feel comfortable that we’re making the correct decisions. I do get involved in most of the big decisions, but ultimately so that I can understand the rationale behind them.”
In that same interview with UWS, Ratcliffe confessed to making mistakes at United. “Our antenna wasn’t perfect at United and we’ve made one or two errors, but they’re a lot better than they would have been than if we’d not done Nice and Lausanne. There is major change to come to achieve elite status. If you shy away from the difficult decisions, nothing much is going to change.”
The technical director Jason Wilcox and Ashworth with Amorim following the coach’s arrival at the club (Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)
The cost of hiring Ashworth, having his input on a summer spend reaching £200million, and then dismissing him before Christmas can be put down as a major error, especially at a time when Ratcliffe has hiked ticket prices to £66 per person, no concessions, in a bid to raise around £1.5million for the rest of the campaign. Morale among staff at United is still reeling after the 250 redundancies and cost-cutting that continues, with the traditional office Christmas party cancelled.
Whether United fill Ashworth’s position remains to be seen. Agents have complained of not knowing who to speak to at United regarding transfers, citing several potential figures. That level of executive was viewed as potentially bloated and it may be that others pick up more responsibilities.
Wilcox, who is a regular at training sessions, is said to have struck up a good rapport with Amorim. Christopher Vivell, the interim director of recruitment, could see his job become permanent.
The same could be said for Sam Erith, who arrived as interim performance director in September. James Morton, professor of exercise metabolism at Liverpool John Moores University, is also a frequent presence at Carrington. He has led the delivery of the INEOS X programme, which aims to link all the INEOS Sport departments. Matt Hargreaves, as director of negotiations, has primarily handled the club’s transfer talks in the past two summer windows.
Whatever the solution, Ashworth’s departure so soon into his tenure — after all the attention on securing his services — was not part of the plan.
(The athletic)
To be fair, Ratcliffe joined United too late in the Summer, to have much of an effect even on transfers last Summer (unless they have been texting back and forth when they were not supposed to) so - hard to imagine him getting sacked over current state of the squad. If anybody should get stick for that - it would be Sir Dave Brailsford and his clearly useless "strategic review" of the club.
It feels more like either
1. Disagreement over Amorim appointment where Ashworth was overruled and he never got over it, maybe used Saturday loss to spit in Ratcliffe's face post-match
2. Saturday game made it painfully obvious that Amorim needs major overhaul of the squad and Ashworth said something very stupid about it, along the lines of "I will need 100M this January and 200M next Summer" where Ratcliffe wanted to hear aplan to recruit unknown gems, future superstars for $5-10M each
3. Christopher Vivell cozied-up with Berrada and convinced him that Ashworth is a moron and Vivell should get the job
3. All of the above
This also makes a lot of sense
When Southgate replaces Arteta 
There is obvious questions about the due diligence, however if it was clear that things weren't working out with Ashworth then I rather the club make a change now rather than persist.
@golden_blunder can we post Articles from paid outlets? Asking for a friend.
Precisely, and this belligerent idea that ‘standards have dropped’ is just denial of the reality. We aren’t that good, we haven’t been for a decade and we aren’t going to suddenly start winning the league again just because ‘we are man Utd’.
Sacking Ashworth only puts more attention on himself, and his competence in running a football club. That doesn't make a lick of sense.
Only logical explanation I can come to is that some sort of scandal is about to come out, and Ratcliffe wanted to end his association with Ashworth before it becomes public.
Howe? Surely not 
We shouldn’t really
Precisely. Until recruitment improves we won’t be challenging. You can’t bring in someone like Zirkzee at a club like Manchester United when you’re in dire need of lots of goals from the forward position. It was obvious he was never going to provide that. We used to bring in forwards like Berbatov and Van Persie. Zirkzee isn’t even in the same postal code as those two.
I called it early on, INEOS are absolute clowns, they will take this club to levels of circus we all thought weren’t possible!
I don’t think JZ is a bad signing, and he certainly isn’t a bad player however he isn’t a no.9 in the way that we need and I agree it was obvious he wouldn’t boost our goal tally significantly.
The snippet which says agents don't know who to talk to about transfers is worrying. Shows that the structure is not working as intended, likely a reason why SJR decided to make the change.
I don’t know… I’m not going to pretend like I know anything about what his role entailed, nor buy in any of the articles and rumours without having first hand information.
But I have to say I was a bit bemused at the hire.. this Newcastle side that he helped build is absolutely shite. I don’t see anything special with his track record tbh. The whole thing from wanting him, to paying to have his leave cut short was all bad decision making. Cutting him loose so quickly is just another bad decision in a series of them.
Club needs to smarten up.
But I have to say I was a bit bemused at the hire.. this Newcastle side that he helped build is absolutely shite. I don’t see anything special with his track record tbh. The whole thing from wanting him, to paying to have his leave cut short was all bad decision making. Cutting him loose so quickly is just another bad decision in a series of them.
Club needs to smarten up.
'You are not a serious person'
I just think it's very difficult for a director of football to run an effective transfer window when starting on the 1st July and where there isn't a clearly defined system or style of play
I'm pretty convinced that it's a combo of 1 & 2. The timing of this, immediately after the forest game, 8pm on Saturday night with him having day in the directors box alongside others.
There's obviously been a few issues over the last number of months, but something has happened/been said during the game - I'm guessing it's something directly to Berrada about axeing ETH to replace him with Amorim (and still losing at home to Forest)
I'm kind of siding with Jim on the replacement manager issue. You bring in this main guy to plan, and he says let's ask other people
From the Athletic article, it sounds like Ratcliffe very much wants to be involved, which must be difficult for the people who work for him. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they don’t hire a replacement and Wilcox takes that job on - I’m not sure who that job would appeal to from the outside now given the insight into Ratcliffes culture
And all his suggestions were managers he knew and he didn't really put forward any decent arguments for them. It's no surprise he left Ratcliffe and co underwhelmed.
I think the Athletic article did a really good job at laying out the reasons why he wasn't a good fit for us. Ratcliffe comes across as a cnut but he's holding the people he's put in charge to high standards and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Looks like Berrada has earned his trust.
What the feck...
This doesn't fill me with any confidence in SJR going forward.
I haven't skimmed through the thread yet, so I don't know if I missed any important details.
This doesn't fill me with any confidence in SJR going forward.
I haven't skimmed through the thread yet, so I don't know if I missed any important details.
Looks like Rattcliffe is getting far too involved in the football side, in which he has no real knowledge. And that will always be a problem.
His Nice CV is nothing to brag about either, currently 6th, 5th last year, 9th the year before, with a record of sacking managers in the French league.
His Nice CV is nothing to brag about either, currently 6th, 5th last year, 9th the year before, with a record of sacking managers in the French league.
None of this reflects well on Ratcliffe.
His impatience could be an issue.
Best in class. The only problem was we picked from the bottom set.
It doesn't matter if Ashworth is a part of United moving forward. United as a club is so messed up like seems there is no way back except spending other 500 million pounds in the next 3 years hoping there is no more screw up. In all seriousness, Ineos mismanaged United from the get go. Why would you extend ETH? What is your plan B if it does work? If Amorim is the plan B then why we don't buy players who can play in Amorim's system? Despite spending 200 million, we didn't address goal scoring. Why? I believe Ratcliffe fire him because he expected a clear road map from Ashworth but didn't see one. Hack, I could create a nice ppt with the help of ChatGPT to create beautiful roadmap to the next year.
To me it sounds like after working with him Ashworth was being considered as something of a lightweight and not close to gripping the role as was needed
Ratcliffe comes across as a real dinosaur in all of this.
INEOS have not covered themselves in glory thus far.
INEOS have not covered themselves in glory thus far.
We seem in such a mess. I’m genuinely worried for the future of our club.
Reading posts above, why do we have a COO in Collete Roach when Omar Berrada is the CEX?
What do you mean? It's completely normal for businesses to have a CEO and a COO. They're completely different roles.
Possibly - that’s definitely the view Ineos are putting out, but part of me is thinking that Ashworth has been well regarded in a number of different jobs throughout football, and Ineos have done nothing of note in football - so does Ratcliffe & Brailsford know enough to make an informed decision on whether a sporting director is doing the job well or not.
Ah maybe it’s a private sector thing. In the public sector like local authorities we normally have one or the other
Got it. Normally in large companies, the CEO is the link between the board and the business, and sets the long-term strategic vision for the company. The COO usually reports to the CEO and is tasked with turning that vision into action (that is, running the day-to-day operations of the company). Not saying that's necessarily the case at United, but that's how it typically works.
We are a massive club and I’ve said this previously. You can’t come in and expect to run this club under the same model as Brighton etc (Just an example).
Patrick Evra once said he couldn’t become DoF at Manchester United as it would require his life. Until the guys in charge and the players understand this we will never be elite.
Missing important meetings, going to watch basketball games dressed like Denis Rodman we you can’t perform like him… all sounds minute and knit picking when justified.. but you can’t build an empire cutting corners or allowing standards to slip. Or in our case not exist.
Let’s hope some of these players get this ruthless treatment next.
Patrick Evra once said he couldn’t become DoF at Manchester United as it would require his life. Until the guys in charge and the players understand this we will never be elite.
Missing important meetings, going to watch basketball games dressed like Denis Rodman we you can’t perform like him… all sounds minute and knit picking when justified.. but you can’t build an empire cutting corners or allowing standards to slip. Or in our case not exist.
Let’s hope some of these players get this ruthless treatment next.
This from the Guardian might have something to do with his departure:
"Ashworth had reservations about switching to Amorim’s 3-4-3 formation as he wanted a consistent style, regardless of who was in the dugout, to aid with long-term recruitment strategy, which was a source of tension."
Are his reservations well founded?
"Ashworth had reservations about switching to Amorim’s 3-4-3 formation as he wanted a consistent style, regardless of who was in the dugout, to aid with long-term recruitment strategy, which was a source of tension."
Are his reservations well founded?
Last edited:
It's simply too early to say. Around this time next year we might have an answer. Because even our dumbdumbs should be able to learn the new system for that amount of time, and hopefully we'll get some smarter players who can play it aswell.