Following the news that Dan Ashworth is leaving his role as Manchester United’s sporting director with immediate effect, a new report has revealed that Ruben Amorim’s appointment was the tipping point behind his decision, just five months into the role. The INEOS-led hierarchy reportedly felt that the transition since Amorim’s arrival had not gone as smoothly as anticipated.
However, the latest updates contradict the initial understanding that the parting of ways was a mutual and amicable process. Within hours of The Athletic’s report suggesting there were no hard feelings, the published article has been amended to report that multiple anonymous sources have claimed that United initiated the separation.
Since INEOS took over at Old Trafford in February, things have been far from straightforward. In their first 10 months of attempting to correct the issues left by the Glazers’ regime, Man United have spent millions extending Erik ten Hag’s contract only to sack him three months into the season. They’ve done the same with Dan Ashworth, raised ticket prices to the dismay of supporters, overseen widespread redundancies, parted ways with club legend Sir Alex Ferguson, and yet have nothing to show for it in terms of on-field success.
Dan Ashworth Felt Sidelined From Key Decisions
He advocated for the appointment of a British manager instead of Ruben Amorim
According to TalkSPORT’s Alex Crook, Ashworth felt sidelined from major decisions almost from day one — the determining factor in his discontent was the appointment of Amorim when he instead favoured a British coach. It appears that the sporting director was adamant on bringing departed England boss Gareth Southgate to the club.
It was revealed back in March that Ashworth had named the former Crystal Palace defender as his top priority ahead of Euro 2024, and the decision to keep Erik ten Hag at the club was yet another fracture in the relationship between himself and the rest of the United hierarchy as Ratcliffe has blamed his sporting director for the summer’s fuss.
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The Red Devils battled to prise Ashworth away from Newcastle this past summer and paid a compensation fee of around £3million to release him from his Magpies contract. But with it now becoming apparent that Ashworth took a backseat in much of United’s restructuring, it looks to have been another few million pounds wasted. Omara Berrada was reportedly the driving force behind Amorim’s appointment.
Controversy never feels too far away at United for the time being. But following a home defeat to Forest – their first since 1994 – the last thing Amorim will have wanted this week was for off-field tempests to make an unkind return. This holds especially true as the next Premier League fixture comes in the form of his first-ever Manchester derby next weekend when they make the short commute to Manchester City.
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