New Delhi: Newcastle United Sporting Director Dan Ashworth finally gets the green light to join Manchester United after four months of negotiations between the two clubs. The 53-year-old is expected to begin his duties with immediate effect after being put on gardening leave by Newcastle back in February, when the Englishman first expressed his desire to join the Red Devils.
Ever since he gained control over the sporting operations in February 2024, Sir Jim Ratcliffe has seen an overhaul of Manchester United’s hierarchy with many new faces coming in. Ashworth is the third incoming in United’s hierarchy and joins Omar Berrada, who is United’s new chief executive joining them from arch-rivals Manchester City, and Jason Wilcox, joining from Southampton as the new academy director.
Apart from making changes in the hierarchy, Ratcliffe is also set to re-jig Erik Ten Hag’s backroom staff, bringing in his compatriots Ruud van Nistelrooy and Rene Hake, helping the manager implement his ideas better. With the club making a host of changes in their structure and backroom staff, this certainly feels like a step in the positive direction by Jim Ratcliffe. The appointment of Dan Ashworth could be the final piece of this carefully built jigsaw puzzle.
What is the role of a Sporting Director?
Monchi worked wonders at Sevilla as the sporting director (Photo By Joaquin Corchero/Europa Press via Getty Images)
The sporting director position is a relatively new one in the world of football as owners now tend to keep the managers separate from the burden of scouting for new players and being involved in transfer activities. The sporting director acts as a mediator between the owner and the manager and is involved closely with the manager, helping him out in the operations of the team.
The sporting director also has huge financial responsibilities on him as well as they are responsible for figuring out the disciplinary fines that are to be imposed, the bonuses that are to be given out and of course the finances regarding the transfers. Fabio Paratici at Juventus and Monchi at Sevilla are two examples of sporting directors who transformed their clubs and were responsible for unearthing gems while at the club.
Who is Dan Ashworth, the new Red Devils Sporting Director?
Dan Ashworth was most recently the Sporting Director at Newcastle United (Photo by Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images)
Dan Ashworth is a former Norwich City youth academy product who spent most of his days as a footballer playing non-league football for the likes of Eastbourne Town and St Leonards. While his days as a player don’t have much to shout about, it’s his post-playing career that has made him into a household name.
He spent six years with the English FA as the FA director of elite development and was one of the creators of the England DNA, a special plan for developing elite players to create winning senior teams for both the men’s and the women’s game. His tenure with the FA was followed up by a stint at Brighton and Hove Albion as the technical director for about three years.
His most recent stint was his two years with Newcastle United where he served as the sporting director of the club between February 2022 and 2024. He did a tremendous job while at Tyneside, bringing in notable players like Alexander Isak, Sandro Tonali, and Sven Botman.
Why is he the chosen one at Old Trafford?
Anthony Gordon was one of the key signings Ashworth made at Newcastle (Photo by Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images)
After months of speculation over Ashworth’s future, the deadlock was finally resolved after Manchester United agreed to pay a compensation of £3 million to Newcastle to get the Englishman over to Manchester. Sir Jim Ratcliffe had been adamant about getting him to the club for this role and had earmarked the Newcastle man for the job.
Speaking earlier this year, Ratcliffe said about the former Newcastle sporting director, “I think Dan Ashworth is clearly one of the top sporting directors in the world. I’ve no doubt he’s a very, very capable person.” Ratcliffe was impressed by Ashworth’s earlier stints at Newcastle and Brighton.
Dan Ashworth is said to be the best person for such a role in England given his pedigree in the country. His work at West Brom helped the club through to two promotions and a top-half finish in the Premier League, which led him to the English FA. There, his work with the England DNA helped streamline English football at the youth level, and that progress was visible in England’s performance at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
It’s his work at fellow Premier League sides Brighton and Newcastle that brought him to prominence as his work at Amex showed his shrewdness when it came to signings for the club as he brought good players like Marc Cucurella, Moises Caicedo, Alexis Mac Allister, and Leandro Trossard on very cheap deals, all of whom brought in significant profit for the club when they were sold.
While he showed his shrewdness at Brighton, he was given a large sum of money to play with at Newcastle under their new mega-rich owners. At Newcastle, he showcased his prowess in spending huge money on brilliant players like Anthony Gordon, Tino Livramento, Harvey Barnes, in addition to the previously mentioned Botman, Tonali, and Isak.
The Englishman has proved his pedigree at multiple clubs but now walks into arguably the biggest club in English football and it remains to be seen whether he’ll sink or swim. While it remains to be seen how his tenure at Old Trafford will turn out to be, he looks to be the missing piece of the puzzle at Manchester United.
Four months after being put on gardening leave by Newcastle United, Dan Ashworth finally joins Manchester United after being courted by the Manchester-based side for months as they reach an agreement with the Toons. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
