The one big piece of news that has probably side tracked many Newcastle United supporters this week was Manchester United’s official approach for Dan Ashworth, their sporting director’s services, at the beginning on Monday.
After serving his notice at Brighton and Hove Albion, whereby he again built on his growing reputation in the job following successes with the England youth set up, and in many years past with West Bromwich Albion and their incredibly small budget at the time where they regularly punched above their weight, he moved to St James’ Park back in 2022 – and in fairness, that is not really long enough for him to have made a notable or telling contribution in modern football so even folks on The Punters Page would take a breath here.
United’s approach for the 52 year old saw him hand in an official request to be allowed to break his contract (2025), and presumably Newcastle felt that Ashworth’s heart was set on a switch so he was instantly place on gardening leave, and chief executive Darren Eales simply stated in return.
“We are naturally disappointed that Dan has chosen to leave. However, our exciting journey doesn’t stop and the process to recruit a new sporting director will begin immediately. We thank Dan for his efforts at Newcastle United and we wish him and his family well for the future.”
Fair, polite but many Geordies will read that as being very much to the point, as after only two years in effect, most will feel that this is a bit of a slap in the face, particularly as whilst he is highly regarded as one of the best sporting directors currently in the game – he just has not provably delivered for Newcastle just yet.
And for those fans who believe in his back catalogue of success, it would only be natural to question whether he has lost faith in the project, or maybe did not quite have the control and say he originally thought he would.
For those fans who have begun developing doubts about his reported calibre, and are bored of him being credited with successful signings that were actually made, or at the very least thoroughly scouted prior to his eventual arrival, and they will point to the £55 million signing of Italian side AC Milan’s midfielder Sandro Tonali.
Newcastle fans will know better than most that he only made 12 appearances for the side before he was banned from football activities for ten months owing to the breach of gambling regulations during his spell in the Serie A with his former club.
Many will believe that was simply a matter of due diligence not being conducted correctly, and whilst it would be spurious and unfair to blame Ashworth for that oversight directly (nobody outside of the club knows the full details of what they knew, when they knew or even how they knew – let alone if they knew such personal details), many would say it was fair to at least partially levy the blame at his feet.
Ultimately, it looks like the deal will basically come down to money. Depending on the reports you believe, Newcastle want at least in excess of £10 million to release him quickly from his contract, United will want to naturally get him for as lower fee as they can as Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his Ineos Group will have other areas of spending to contend with – but some media claims speculate the deal could take as much as £20 million to go through, or Newcastle will swallow his wage until his contract expires.
What is sort of fascinating about this whole episode it football, at any level through the English pyramid, does not usually spend so much time, potential money, and definitely press headlines on chief executive officers, sporting directors or even head’s of scouting – the game has not historically, and normally fans were more concerned with how hot their half time pie was than this sort of board room action.
But the game, with the finances available, is certainly beginning to strongly move in that direction and there will be plenty in the wider world of the game who feel that if this continues, it simply proves that this is no longer the game many of us fell in love with.
If compensation for a staff member begins out stripping player deals, what next, broadcasting rights with VAR overseeing board room meetings and staff get togethers?
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