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Dan Ashworth Leaves Manchester United After Just Five Months As Sporting Director

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Manchester United’s sporting director Dan Ashworth has parted ways with the Red Devils, leaving by mutual agreement after just five months at the club.  

Dan Ashworth Leaves Manchester United

Dan Ashworth didn’t last long in Manchester, with United’s 3-2 loss to Nottingham Forest on Saturday night the final nail in the coffin for Ashworth, who lasted just five months at the club.

In an official club statement, Manchester United said: “Dan Ashworth will be leaving his role as Sporting Director of Manchester United by mutual agreement.

“We would like to thank Dan for his work and during a transitional period for the club and wish him well for the future.”

The sporting director ed United from Newcastle after being placed on gardening leave in July and he was expected to play a big role in the club’s future after a difficult 2023/24 season.

United are yet to give any other reasoning as to why their sporting director was let go on Saturday night, but it is believed that owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe was ‘unhappy with the summer strategy’.

Ratcliffe received criticism this week from United fans after he raised ticket prices to a minimum price of £66 despite 3% of all matchday tickets remaining unsold.

Ashworth led the way to another high spending transfer window in the summer, with the 53-year-old overseeing a busy period for United that included five new big gs.

Manchester United gs Under Dan Ashworth

  • Leny Yoro – £52m
  • Manuel Ugarte – £51m
  • Joshua Zirkzee – £36m
  • Noussair Mazraoui – £15m
  • Matthijis De Ligt – £45m

Ashworth of course also played a big role in the managerial change for United at the start of this season, as the club sacked Ruben Amorim.

According to the latest s report from June 2024, United is operating with a net loss of £113.2million.

Hiring Ashworth from Newcastle in the summer was an expensive operation and the g of their sporting director as well as the managerial change to begin this season reportedly cost the club around £30m.

With United currently sitting 13th in the Premier League table as the new year approaches, the club will have a difficult task replacing its sporting director before what is sure to be a busy January transfer window.

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Oliver Taliku
Sports Editor

Olly Taliku has worked with highly respected sports and gambling websites where he has produced hundreds of articles, as well as being published with Burton Albion and Chesterfield FC. At Burton Olly worked closely alongside the women's team, producing mainly matchday content including reports and interviews, while at Chesterfield he worked in a similar role but with the academy side, as well as some first team content. He also has experience as an accredited Premier League and EFL writer for Prost International where he worked during the 2021/22 season to produce matchday content as an on location reporter. Olly specialises in football as well as long form SEO content plus news, tips and betting but also produces content on basketball, baseball and American football.

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Author photo
Oliver Taliku Sports Editor

Olly Taliku has worked with highly respected sports and gambling websites where he has produced hundreds of articles, as well as being published with Burton Albion and Chesterfield FC. At Burton Olly worked closely alongside the women's team, producing mainly matchday content including reports and interviews, while at Chesterfield he worked in a similar role but with the academy side, as well as some first team content. He also has experience as an accredited Premier League and EFL writer for Prost International where he worked during the 2021/22 season to produce matchday content as an on location reporter. Olly specialises in football as well as long form SEO content plus news, tips and betting but also produces content on basketball, baseball and American football.

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