Dan Ashworth: Did Man Utd sporting director pay price for club's ...

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester United announced Dan Ashworth's departure by "mutual agreement" just five months after he started work at Old Trafford

Chief football news reporter

In trying to deal with the widespread surprise at Dan Ashworth's sudden exit as sporting director in as little detail as possible, Manchester United officials let it be known it had been a "difficult decision".

And yet in reality, it may have been relatively easy.

After all, BBC Sport has been told Ashworth had effectively been frozen out of the decision-making picture at Old Trafford, just five months after his arrival as sporting director.

His arrival came after the 53-year-old spent five months on gardening leave as United negotiated his exit from Newcastle, which eventually cost them between £2-3m.

In February, co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe told BBC Sport he believed Ashworth would be "very good for Manchester United" and was a "10 out of 10 sporting director", bemoaning Newcastle's negotiating tactic in keeping him to his contract.

Six months later, Ashworth privately spoke about his enthusiasm at taking on his new challenge.

So, why has it unravelled so quickly since then?

Ashworth was known to be a close ally of former British Cycling supremo Sir Dave Brailsford, Ratcliffe's highly influential and trusted director of Ineos' sports division and a powerful United board member.

Should that not have afforded Ashworth protection?

Speaking on condition of anonymity, one senior figure told BBC Sport that Ashworth had been "totally professional in everything, but ultimately the fit hasn't worked. Rather than muddle along, we are taking the difficult decision on both sides and acting quickly".

Another well-connected source told BBC Sport they believed Ashworth had been blamed for the decision to keep former manager Erik ten Hag in the summer.

The Dutchman's position was under review and United spoke to potential replacements before he was given a one-year extension.

Having retained Ten Hag, £200m was then spent on new players, none of which can yet be regarded as a success, with Ashworth's recruitment department heavily involved in the signings.

The huge outlay - combined with Profit and Sustainability (PSR) regulations that limit clubs' losses, and which United have only narrowly avoided having posted a loss of £370m over the Past five years - has also meant that the club cannot simply buy its way out of trouble.

In recent weeks there had been signs of a potential problem. In early November reports emerged that Ratcliffe was unimpressed with his sporting director., external

Publicly, United are not giving the precise reasons for how they have ended up in this embarrassing mess. But they do not really need to.

Multiple sources have told BBC Sport that Ratcliffe's view in the summer was that Ten Hag should go, with a replacement brought in that could work with an evolving squad during the summer.

Man Utd co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe asked by BBC's Dan Roan about Erik ten Hag's future

Sacking him when they did - and replacing him with Ruben Amorim - cost United in excess of £21m in compensation payments to the Dutchman and his staff and Portuguese side Sporting. These figures came to light on the same day United confirmed ticket prices had been raised to £66, with no concessions. The increase, it was argued, was to help fund the first team.

Ratcliffe went over this controversial move in an interview with the popular United We Stand fanzine, which went on sale on Saturday.

When he arrived for the interview, UWS editor Andy Mitten recalled Ratcliffe was talking to Brailsford and chief executive Omar Berrada.

In the chat, Ratcliffe said United now had a "fantastic coach" in Amorim and a "great chief executive" in Berrada.

He made no mention of Ashworth. He was already being blamed for what is now viewed as the wrong call on Ten Hag.

When Ashworth walked through the Old Trafford press conference room after Saturday's 3-2 defeat by Nottingham Forest, accompanied by United's chief operating officer Collette Roche, it was felt he was merely leaving the stadium via a different exit than usual.

In actuality, the seal was being put on his exit.

Some figures at Old Trafford are speculating that this may be an assertion of authority by Berrada, who did not appoint Ashworth, and will be more familiar with his former Manchester City colleague Jason Wilcox, now United's technical director. Others are wondering what it may mean for Brailsford, who has just lost a key ally.

Ashworth, should he choose, will not be out of work for long. Arsenal and Everton have already been linked with the man credited with revolutionising England's age group teams and that wonderful summer in 2017 when they won the Under-17 and Under-20 World Cups.

He was also part of a transformation at Brighton - although owner Tony Bloom and chief executive Paul Barber deserve most of the credit for that.

He wasn't at Newcastle long enough for any honest assessment but no-one involved has stepped up to accept responsibility for the £55m signing of Sandro Tonali from AC Milan, given he was banned for 10 months for betting breaches just three months after joining.

However, the speed of his exit will raise huge question marks over how United is being run.

One source responded to the news of Ashworth's exit by saying it was "humiliating" for the Ineos hierarchy. Another simply stated: "Too many cooks."

Image source, Getty Images

From left, Ineos head of sport Sir Dave Brailsford, Manchester United CEO Omar Berrada, former sporting director Dan Ashworth and technical director Jason Wilcox

It is true that with Wilcox and director of recruitment Christopher Vivell, who held the same post at Chelsea, United had a lot of influential voices around the recruitment table. Ashworth was felt to be more of an overall strategy man, but said in September he had been working almost exclusively on the recruitment side up to that point.

But above that, there is Berrada, Jean-Claude Blanc - a former chief executive at Juventus who held the interim role at United following the exit of Patrick Stewart at the end of last season - and Brailsford, who led the wide-scale review into the club following the Ineos takeover earlier and is now on the company board.

And above it all sits Ratcliffe, who is never frightened to offer what Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou described as "direct feedback".

"Mediocre" was how Ratcliffe described United in his UWS interview. United were "in the last century" when it came to data analysis, he said, adding: "It's not rocket science, we need to get recruitment sorted."

The problem for Ratcliffe is that nothing that has happened since his arrival suggests United are now on the right path when it comes to recruitment.

They have ended up bringing in a new manager, who uses a completely different tactical system to Ten Hag and who was brought in at a time when there is virtually no opportunity to work on it. It leaves Amorim relying on actual matches and walkthroughs to get his message across.

United are still mediocre - and Ashworth has paid the price.

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