Manchester United’s Dan Ashworth leaves after 5 months

Manchester United sporting director Dan Ashworth has left his role after just five months.

Ashworth officially started at United on 1 July, having spent five months on gardening leave at former club Newcastle.

His Old Trafford exit was finalized in a meeting after the Red Devils’ 3-2 home defeat by Nottingham Forest on Saturday, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation.

News of the 53-year-old’s departure was first reported by the Athletic on Sunday.

A United statement said the decision was by “mutual agreement”, adding: “We would like to thank Dan for his work and support during a transitional period for the club and wish him well for the future.”

Dan Ashworth

Ashworth was seen walking through the press conference room with the club’s chief operating officer Collette Roche after the Forest match.

It is understood he was on his way to a meeting where his exit was confirmed.

United have had a disappointing season so far, sacking manager Erik ten Hag in October after just three wins from their opening nine Premier League matches.

The club later confirmed it cost £10.4m to pay off Ten Hag and his staff, while the cost of paying a release clause to bring in his replacement Ruben Amorim was £11m.

Co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has also been criticised by fans for scrapping concessions of what the club says are the 3% of tickets that remain unsold for Premier League matches and introducing a minimum price of £66.

The move triggered protests at Old Trafford before last weekend’s victory over Everton.

Ratcliffe has said that United have become “mediocre” and warned more “difficult and unpopular decisions” will be needed.

In the latest accounts, to 30 June 2024, the club announced a net loss of £113.2m.

Total losses over the past five years are more than £370m, and the club have sacked Ten Hag and hired Amorim since then.

The loss to Forest left United 13th in the Premier League, with five wins from 15 matches.

‘An embarrassment for United’ – analysis

The news is an embarrassment for United.

As recently as February, Ratcliffe expressed his frustration at being made to wait to bring Ashworth to Old Trafford as Newcastle held out for compensation.

In the end, United paid £3m for Ashworth, who ended up on gardening leave for the same amount of time he was actually in post at United.

The precise reasons for Ashworth’s exit have not been explained.

Club sources say the decision was difficult but was made collaboratively following a period of transition, with the new ownership still trying to work out the best structure for the club.

Critics of Ratcliffe will point to the cost of this decision – and the sacking of manager Ten Hag just months after he was given a contract extension, followed by the subsequent hiring of Amorim as head coach – as evidence of flawed thinking.

In total, appointing Amorim and Ashworth and sacking Ten Hag has cost the club nearly £25m.

On Saturday, Ratcliffe had to justify raising ticket prices to £66, without concessions, on the basis he needed to raise as much money as possible to spend on the first team.

Ashworth previously worked at West Bromwich Albion, the FA and Brighton before joining Newcastle in 2022.

There were extensive negotiations for him to leave Newcastle and move to Old Trafford, with Ashworth at one point set to take the Magpies to arbitration in an effort to resolve the impasse.

But talks between the clubs led to an out-of-court settlement being agreed in June, with Ashworth taking up his new role a week later.

He joined a revamped leadership group at Old Trafford, with Jason Wilcox joining as technical director from Southampton and former Manchester City senior official Omar Berrada installed as chief executive.

Ratcliffe’s part-purchase of United was announced on 24 December last year, and his team are in charge of virtually all football-related decision-making.

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