Dan Ashworth exit at Man Utd blamed on ‘power struggle’ as Ratcliffe’s ‘lack of clarity’ is slammed

Dan Ashworth has been shown sympathy over his departure from Manchester United with one of the club’s former assistant managers blaming a “lack of clarity” from minority shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe for his demise, which is now suggested to have come as the result of a “power struggle” at Old Trafford.

INEOS chief Ratcliffe made the appointment of Ashworth one of his primary objectives upon taking a £1.3bn stake in Manchester United in February of this year, though they did have to wait a good few months to confirm his appointment after the club who he departed, Newcastle, placed him on gardening leave. Ultimately, though, a compensation package – set in the region of £3m – was agreed and Ashworth assumed his new role with the Red Devils in July.

However, just over five months after his appointment, United announced the surprise news on Sunday that Ashworth had left the club, with a short, 41-word statement confirming his departure.

Theories and counter-claims have been doing the rounds since his exit was announced, though Rio Ferdinand perhaps offered the best explanation with this seemingly nailed-on theory.

Now, Sir Alex Ferguson’s former No.2 Rene Meulensteen has shared his thoughts on the 53-year-old’s exit, suggesting he was the victim of a power struggle and having also hit out at Ashworth for his running of the club.

“The Dan Ashworth news was a big surprise for me,” Meulensteen, who worked with United from 2007-2013, said. “It just doesn’t make any sense.

“My instinct with Ashworth leaving is that there was a bit of a power struggle. It shows that there are a lot of unclear things going on behind the scenes. You don’t bend over backwards to get someone in from Newcastle and pay a big fee to secure his services and then say ‘see you later’ after five months. It doesn’t make any sense to me. The communication with all of these decisions has been poor in my opinion.”

Meulensteen also went on to criticise Ratcliffe for his confused running of the club and poor communication coming out of Old Trafford.

“INEOS really haven’t covered themselves in glory since the start of the summer when they were talking to other managers while still employing Erik ten Hag. You can’t say, ‘Ten Hag’s our man’ and then four months later say the opposite. It shows a lack of clarity and a lack of direction and, most importantly, a lack of communication. Over the past 12 months, they’ve done nothing else than just upset a lot of people.”

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Why Man Utd decided to get rid of Dan Ashworth

Meulensteen went on to criticise Ratcliffe for his running of the club so far and claims some of the decisions do not reflect well on the British billionaire.

“You look at Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s tenure at the club so far – obviously he started with all those mass redundancies and everything, which is fine if you get your communication about your vision for the club spot on so people can understand these decisions.

“It’s like when they got rid of Sir Alex Ferguson as an ambassador – there may have been absolutely nothing in that, but because the communication is so poor, people start to guess about things going on behind the scenes.”

Per our understanding, Ashworth was removed from his post after feeling his voice at the club was not being heard and a disagreement over the appointment of Ruben Amorim as Erik ten Hag’s successor.

To that end, we strongly reported how Ashworth was pushing for United to appoint a British coach in succession to the Dutchman, with Gareth Southgate, Eddie Howe and Graham Potter all on his radar.

However, they ultimately decided to go with Amorim – who was chief executive Omar Berrada’s choice – and with Ashworth feeling like his voice was not being heard over the decisions at the very top.

Who might Man Utd bring in to replace Ashworth?

His departure does leave United with a potential position to fill and the club have since been linked with several potential replacements.

To that end, Rudy Galetti has told TEAMtalk that both Newcastle’s replacement for Ashworth, Paul Mitchell and Atletico Madrid chief Andrea Berta are two men under consideration by the Red Devils.

However, we understand the club are in no rush to fill the vacancy and will instead ask three of their current top dogs to share the responsibilities between them.

Meanwhile, Ashworth may not find himself out of work for long having already been linked with a move to Arsenal. The Gunners recently lost their own sporting director, Edu, who left for an as yet unspecified role under Greek football magnate Evangelos Marinakis.

How the Gunners might lure Ashworth south has also come to light.

IN-FOCUS: Ashworth’s five signings as Man Utd sporting director