It has been made clear why Manchester United fired Sporting Director Dan Ashworth after only five months of his employment. During the club’s most recent financial quarter results on Wednesday, it was revealed that a total of £14.5 million was spent on staff compensation. This included the firing of Erik ten Hag and Ashworth, who only joined in July and cost United £4.1 million.
Ashworth was viewed as an essential member of the Old Trafford football operations team after the Red Devils had to enter into drawn-out talks to acquire him from Newcastle. Thus, the announcement of his abrupt departure in December came as a shock. However, the precise cause of the expensive error has now been made public.
Manchester United clarify Erik ten Hag and his staff left for £10.4m, and Dan Ashworth's departure cost £4.1m. £14.5m in total compensation for football staff departures.💷 pic.twitter.com/eopTJlCvzH
— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) February 19, 2025
Too ‘UK Focused’ on Ashworth Report claims that United did not conduct adequate due diligence on the Englishman.
According to the Daily Mail, Ashworth was initially invited to the club because he was regarded as one of the world’s top sporting directors, and INEOS chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe was eager to add people with British expertise. While the 53-year-old definitely suited the bill, considering his time with the FA and his experience at Brighton and Newcastle, his approach was deemed too UK-focused.
According to a club insider, Ashworth’s lack of professional knowledge outside of the British Isles was a disappointment and did not meet his employers’ expectations. It was also stated that Ashworth’s list of potential replacements for Erik ten Hag was too conservative and did not reflect the club’s future ambition. It was speculated at the time that one of these candidates was former England manager Gareth Southgate.
Dan Ashworth oversees all Manchester United transfer business.
Player
Transfer
Cost
Joshua Zirkzee
Bologna to Manchester United.
£36.5m
Leny Yoro
LOSC Lille to Manchester United.
£52.2m
Matthijs De Ligt
Bayern Munich to Manchester United.
£38.6m
Noussair Mazraoui
Bayern Munich to Manchester United.
£12.8m
Manuel Ugarte
PSG to Manchester United.
£42.5m
Antonio Martial
Manchester United to AEK Athens.
Free
Brandon Williams
Manchester United to TBC.
Free
Scott McTominay
Manchester United to Napoli
£25.4m
Hannibal Mejbri
Manchester United to Burnley
£5.4m
Mason Greenwood
Manchester United to Marseille
£26m
Willy Kambwala
Manchester United to Villarreal
£9.7m
Facundo Pellistri
Manchester United to Panathinaikos
£5.1m
Aaron Wan-Bissaka
Manchester United to West Ham
£15m
Donny Van de Beek
Manchester United to Girona
£500k
Raphael Varane
Manchester United to Como.
Free
Omar Forson
Manchester United to Monza.
Free
It was also implied that the former Newcastle manager was short on solutions and heavy on negatives during a’state of the club’ presentation he gave to staff, which disappointed some.
