Gary Neville believes Dan Ashworth’s departure reveals a clear rift within Manchester United’s leadership and has urged the club to clarify why he left.
Ashworth was told on Saturday that he had lost his job as sporting director, just five months after joining from Newcastle with a gilded reputation.
United released a general statement thanking Ashworth for his work and gave no indication as to why the 53-year-old had been let go.
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 dismissed the club’s ‘weak’ statement and fears the ‘void’ of information will only fuel negative speculation among fans.
‘I’m really shocked that this happened. It doesn’t look great at all and it’s something that needs to be explained. “I think the statement the club has made is very poor,” he told NBC Sports.
Dan Ashworth’s departure from Man United was not ‘mutual’ as the club claimed, says Gary Neville
Neville has criticized United for a ‘weak statement’ and pointed to a ‘rift’ at a high level at the club
‘Manchester United has been without a voice for ten years, they have lost their authority and courage. I think they’ve gotten it back a little bit in the last 12 months, but what’s really clear is that there is a rift here, that something has happened.
“You can’t bring in someone at Dan Ashworth’s level and lose him after five months and think nothing has gone wrong. The fans will now ask the question: what went wrong? They will speculate, it will leave huge gaps.
“I think it’s better to hit us in the face with the truth every now and then when it’s so obvious that something has gone wrong in recent months between the personalities of Dan Ashworth, Omar Berrada, Dave Brailsford, whoever it is . who clearly don’t get along, or it doesn’t work.
“Just tell us, because it’s obvious something happened. I think that statement is weak.
‘Something like that can’t be mutual. I think when Ineos came to Manchester United everyone knew there would be huge changes. There have been mass redundancies within the club, with the club’s board recently undergoing a complete overhaul in terms of CEO, CFO, sporting director, technical director and manager.
‘For this position you expected big changes, but no changes. Dan Ashworth was headhunted for months. He was chased for ten months and put on gardening leave for four or five months, for which he was paid millions of pounds.
“I worked with Dan Ashworth in the FA for two years and he has been very successful wherever he has been: Brighton, West Brom, the FA, most recently at Newcastle (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 after taking office.
Ashworth was sacked after five months as United’s sporting director following United’s 3-2 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
Mail Sport revealed Sir Jim Ratcliffe was ‘furious’ when Ashworth publicly distanced himself from decision to retain Erik ten Hag as manager
Ratcliffe went on to say that the call to retain Ten Hag had not been his own call of the summer
Mail Sport understands Ashworth was at the match with his family before he was called from the control box for a meeting with Berrada who broke the news.
United released 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 a transitional period for the club and wish him all the best for the future.’
Although the decision is said to be mutual, it is believed to have been made by Ratcliffe and Brailsford in consultation with co-owner Joel Glazer.
Ashworth spent about the same time in the job as he did during his gardening leave at Newcastle after United approached their Premier League rivals about bringing him to Old Trafford in February.
He started working at United on 1 July after the two clubs agreed a compensation amount of around £3 million. United will now have to give Ashworth a reward, although it is understood this amount will be lower as he has been in the role for less than six months.
United are not thought to be looking for a replacement at the moment as there are only a few weeks to go before the transfer window opens. Technical director Jason Wilcox and interim recruitment director Christopher Vivell could both take on more responsibility in the short term, and could also be contenders to take on the role of sporting director permanently.
United sources said Ashworth’s departure was ‘a very difficult decision’ for both parties, adding that the former FA director of football had conducted himself with decency and integrity during his time at the club.
Ashworth had previously impressed in roles at West Brom, Brighton, the FA and Newcastle
But they admitted that new co-owners Ineos have quickly put together a leadership team and are still learning about the process, raising suspicions that Ashworth did not fit into the new structure put in place by Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sir Dave Brailsford.
Mail Sport understands there were concerns that Ashworth, who was based at the club’s training base in Carrington, was not making enough cuts to the football department as part of a wide-ranging austerity drive by Ineos.
It is also claimed that he was not entirely supportive of the recent appointment of Ruben Amorim as the new head coach, preferring an Englishman like Gareth Southgate or Graham Potter.
Ratcliffe had previously described Ashworth as a ’10/10 sporting director, one of the best around’, but his comments on the United We Stand fanzine on Saturday are even more significant in retrospect.
“Big changes are in store to achieve elite status,” the Ineos billionaire warned. ‘If you avoid the difficult decisions, not much will change.
‘Manchester United must have the best recruitment in the world. You can’t just flip a light switch and do the recruiting. It’s all about people and we have to find the right ones.’