REVEALED: Why Dan Ashworth was sacked by Manchester United

Robin Bairner

• 9 Dec 2024 06:40 GMT
• 4 min read

Manchester United hit the headlines over the weekend as Dan Ashworth was sacked by the Old Trafford club mere weeks after arriving.

Ashworth was seen as a saviour to the Red Devils’ transfer policy after working wonders at Brighton and Newcastle.

The Ineos group, led by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, had previously hard to fight hard to lure him away from Premier League rivals Newcastle United, with the early months of 2024 dogged by negotiations for the man who was to become their sporting director.

Even if Man Utd have made a slow start to the season, it came as a huge surprise when Ashworth’s departure was announced on Sunday.

The Athletic has reported the one of the major reasons why Ashworth has gone is because of the way Erik ten Hag’s departure was handled, with the director seemingly unable to offer up any imaginative options to replace the Dutchman.

It is claimed that he backed the likes of Newcastle’s Eddie Howe, Fulham’s Marco Silva, Brentford’s Thomas Frank and the unemployed Graham Potter for the job.

The Athletic says: “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.”

“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.”

Man Utd ultimately ignored Ashworth’s suggestions and went with Ruben Amorim, who had been at Sporting CP. He has made a sluggish start at Old Trafford, though given the changes he is trying to implement, this is understandable.

Ratcliffe blasts ‘mediocre’ Man Utd

Ratcliffe, meanwhile, is still seeking a long-term revolution with the Red Devils, recently claiming that they are now “mediocre”.

Speaking to the United We Stand fanzine, he said: “The club has drifted for a long period of time, a decade or so. Manchester United has become mediocre.

“It's not elite and it is supposed to be one of the best football clubs in the world. That's what it used to be under Alex [Ferguson].

“There is major change to come to achieve elite status. But already there has been huge change at this club. Until were are as good as anyone in the world, then it's not good enough for Manchester United. We must have the best recruitment in the world.

“Data analysis comes alongside recruitment. It doesn't really exist here. We’re still in the last century on data analysis here. There’s an immense amount of useful data that we can get from data analysis and we're in the 'very poor' bracket with data analysis here.

“These things don't happen overnight. You can't just flick a light switch and sort out recruitment. It's all about people and we need to find the right people.”

With Ashworth, Ratcliffe clearly felt the fit was not right, with Man Utd’s now set to turn in a different direction in the transfer market.