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Over the last few days it’s come to light that prior to Dan Ashworth’s deal to join Manchester United, he’d held secret conversations with Omar Berrada, the incoming chief executive of United, expressing interest in the Red Devils’ sporting director role.
Reported by Daily Mail Sport, Ashworth had tried to cover his tracks after realising his mistake having accidentally blind copied his Newcastle email address. At this point, Ashworth had not made Newcastle aware of his conversations with Manchester United, nor had the Red Devils approached Newcastle about Ashworth’s availability.
On 18th February 2024, Ashworth made Newcastle aware of his desire to join Manchester United with Newcastle putting him on gardening leave, which is expected by Sir Jim Ratcliffe to expire at the end of 202, unless they can strike a deal with Newcastle to have him released early.
The report continued to express Ashworth’s feelings that he believes that he was unfairly put on gardening leave as ‘he was not asked to formally write down his resignation by chief Darren Eales and should not have been placed on gardening leave until he did so. He will therefore argue he was removed from his position rather than asking to step down’.
SamC on X has reported that one of the reasons Newcastle are struggling to find a replacement for Ashworth is because of their treatment of him and his dismissal, being a key reason Dougie Freedman has rejected their offer in place of staying at Crystal Palace.
It’s claimed that Ashworth is going to take Newcastle to arbitration to try and force the move, which is supposed to be a confidential process, however no comment has been made by Newcastle or Manchester United.
