 "Dan Ashworth leaves Manchester United after just five months of service. Image: Reuters")
The troubles don’t seem to get over at Manchester United. They recently sacked Erik Ten hag in October after the club was reeling at 14th place in the Premier League and the Red Devils are in 13th now after two back-to-back defeats under new manager Ruben Amorim, who joined the club with a big reputation, only in November.
To make matters worse, they have now sacked sporting director Dan Ashworth after just five months. Ashworth was the force behind giving Ten Hag a year’s contract extension, which was initially greeted positively by fans after United upset Manchester City to win the FA Cup final at the end of last season.
Man Utd admit mistake by sacking Ashworth
Ashworth also oversaw United’s major summer player signings including Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui, Manuel Ugarte, Leny Yoro, and Joshua Zirkzee.
None of them have consistently impressed, although French defender Yoro only made his debut last week following a lengthy injury.
The Premier League club said Ashworth’s contract was terminated by mutual agreement.
“We would like to thank Dan for his work and support during a transitional period for the club and wish him well in the future,” United said in a statement.
It has to be noted that the 53-year-old was recruited from Newcastle United and the Red Devils paid around 10 million pounds to secure his services, as per reports. He was described as “one of the top sporting directors in the world” by minority owner Jim Ratcliffe. However, the reports now say that it was also the INEOS boss, Ratcliffe, who engineered Ashworth’s departure.
Ashworth, who oversaw spending of close to 200 million pounds ($255 million) on new players since joining United, was sacked after a meeting with Chief Executive Omar Berrada after Saturday’s 3-2 home loss to Nottingham Forest, the Athletic reported.
In many ways an admittance of their failures, by United.
Man Utd continue to struggle on pitch
There’s no quick solution in sight as the club continues to struggle on the field as well.
United’s first loss to Forest at Old Trafford in more than 30 years on Saturday left them 13th in the table on 19 points, their lowest after 15 games since 1986.
Portuguese Amorim, recruited from Sporting Lisbon, has led United one win in his four league games in charge.
“We already knew (it would be tough),” Amorim said after the Forest defeat. “It will be a long journey but we want to win because this is a massive club.”
United travel to face Czech team Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League on Thursday and before travelling to champions Manchester City on Sunday.