Man Utd chiefs make 'private trip' to appease Ratcliffe after Ashworth axing

Tom Weber

• Updated: 14 Dec 2024 09:57 GMT
• 3 min read

Manchester United bosses Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox made a private trip to Adidas' headquarters to study their data analytics department, according to a report.

The Red Devils have been in an almost constant state of upheaval for some time and hopes that things would finally calm down following the appointment of Ruben Amorim were quickly dashed.

Last Saturday, co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe came out with a bombshell interview prior to the clash with Nottingham Forest in which he blasted the club as mediocre and criticised the lack of modernisation.

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After the Forest match, the INEOS chief took action and effectively pushed through the sacking of sporting director Dan Ashworth just five months on from the drawn-out saga that preceded his arrival.

The separation was officially described as mutual but information that has since come out made it clear that it was likely anything but, with Ratcliffe said to have been less than impressed with Ashworth's work.

Man Utd chiefs take action

In the wake of the Ashworth debacle - which was another PR disaster in a long list of PR disasters since Ratcliffe's arrival - Man Utd's remaining directors have taken action to avoid meeting a similar fate.

According to the Manchester Evening News, CEO Omar Berrada and technical director Jason Wilcox travelled to Germany this week to take part in a 'general immersion' in Adidas' data analytics methods.

It was this field that was flagged by Ratcliffe as being defective at Man Utd and it seems that Berrada and Wilcox are scrambling to rectify the situation. "We must have the best recruitment in the world," Ratcliffe said.

"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.

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Despite the clear connection to be made here, the above-mentioned report states that a source rejected the suggestion that the trip was scheduled purely to appease Ratcliffe after his outburst.

Due to the team playing in Plzen in the Czech Republic, it was a convenient opportunity for club bosses to visit Man Utd's biggest commercial partner in Herzogenaurach in Germany to strengthen the relationship between the two parties.

Adidas are not expected to help Man Utd identify players and there was no talk about a potential 'data deal.'