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 £200million. 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 were 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.
(Top photos: Getty Images; design: Dan Goldfarb)
