Gary Neville believes Dan Ashworth’s departure reveals a clear “fracture” within Manchester United’s leadership and has urged the club to clarify why he left.
Ashworth was told he had lost his sporting director job on Saturday, just five months after arriving from Newcastle with a golden reputation.
United issued a generic statement thanking Ashworth for his work and gave no indication as to why the 53-year-old had been sacked.
However, Mail Sport has since revealed that both parties agreed he was not a good fit and that Sir Jim Ratcliffe was left “furious” in September when Ashworth publicly distanced himself from the decision to keep Erik ten Hag.
Now Neville has criticized the club’s “weak” statement and fears that the “vacuum” of information will only fuel negative speculation among fans.
‘I’m really surprised this happened. It’s not a great look at all and something that will have to be explained. “I think the statement the club has made is really poor,” he told NBC Sports.
Dan Ashworth’s departure from Man United was not “mutual” as the club claimed, says Gary Neville
Neville criticizes United for ‘weak statement’ and points to high-level ‘fracture’ at club
“Manchester United have not had a voice for 10 years, they have lost their authority, their audacity. I think they have been recovering a little in the last 12 months but what is really clear is that there is a fracture here, something has happened.
“You can’t hire someone of Dan Ashworth’s level and then lose him after five months and think that something hasn’t gone wrong. Fans are now going to wonder: what went wrong? They’re going to speculate, it’s going to leave huge gaps.
“I think it’s better that you hit us in the face with the truth sometimes when it’s so obvious that something went wrong between the personalities of Dan Ashworth, Omar Berrada, Dave Brailsford, whoever it is in the last few months. carried out well or have not worked.
‘Just tell us because it’s obvious something has happened. I think that statement is weak.
‘Something like that can’t be mutual. I think that when Ineos arrived at Manchester United, everyone knew that there were going to be big changes. There have been mass redundancies at the club with a complete overhaul of the club executive in terms of CEO, CFO, sporting director, technical director and obviously also recently.
‘I would have expected big changes, but no changes for this position. Dan Ashworth was pursued for many, many months. They chased him for 10 months, he was on gardening leave for four or five months and they paid him millions of pounds.
“I worked with Dan Ashworth at the FA for two years and he has been very successful wherever he has been – Brighton, West Brom, the FA, at Newcastle most recently (before United).”
Ashworth was informed of the club’s decision by chief executive Omar Berrada following Saturday’s 3-2 defeat to Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford, just 159 days into the job.
Ashworth was sacked as United’s sporting director five months after United’s 3-2 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
Mail Sport revealed that Sir Jim Ratcliffe was furious when Ashworth publicly distanced himself from the decision to keep Erik ten Hag as manager.
Ratcliffe went on to say that the decision to retain Ten Hag had not been his own decision over the summer.
Mail Sport understands Ashworth was at the game with his family before being summoned from the directors’ box for a meeting with Berrada, who broke the news to him.
United issued a statement on Sunday saying: “Dan Ashworth will leave his role as sporting director of Manchester United by mutual agreement.
“We would like to thank Dan for his work and support during the club’s transition period and wish him the best for the future.”
Although the decision was said to be mutual, it is understood that Ratcliffe and Brailsford made it in consultation with co-owner Joel Glazer.
Ashworth spent around the same time at work as he did on gardening leave at Newcastle after United approached their Premier League rivals about bringing him to Old Trafford in February.
He began working at United on 1 July after the two clubs agreed a compensation figure of around £3m. United will now have to give Ashworth compensation, although it is understood the figure will be lower because he has been in the job for less than six months.
United are not believed to be looking for a replacement just weeks before the transfer window opens. Head coach Jason Wilcox and interim recruiting director Christopher Vivell could take on more responsibilities in the near term and would also be candidates to take on the athletic director role permanently.
United sources said Ashworth’s departure was “a very difficult decision” for both parties, adding that the former FA director of football had behaved with decency and integrity during his time at the club.
Ashworth had previously impressed in roles with West Brom, Brighton, the FA and Newcastle.
But they admitted that Ineos’ new co-owners have been building a leadership team at a good pace and are still learning the process, fueling suspicions that Ashworth did not fit into the new structure created by Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sir Dave Brailsford.
Mail Sport understands there were concerns that Ashworth, who worked at the club’s Carrington training base, was not making enough cuts to the football department as part of a wide-ranging financial campaign by Ineos.
There are also rumors that he did not fully support the recent appointment of Ruben Amorim as the new head coach, preferring an Englishman such as Gareth Southgate or Graham Potter.
Ratcliffe had previously described Ashworth as a “10/10 sporting director, one of the best”, but his comments to the United We Stand fanzine on Saturday are even more significant in retrospect.
“Major changes are coming to achieve elite status,” warned the Ineos billionaire. ‘If you avoid making difficult decisions, then nothing much is going to change.
‘Manchester United must have the best recruitment in the world. You can’t just flip a light switch and order recruitment. “It’s about people and we need to find the right ones.”