What experts are saying about Man Utd target Dan Ashworth – ‘He was a game-changer’

Newcastle sporting director Dan Ashworth

Dan Ashworth is regarded as one of the best directors in world football

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has already overseen huge changes at Manchester United and they look set to appoint Dan Ashworth as their new sporting director.

Ashworth has been placed on gardening leaving by Newcastle United and TEAMtalk understands that they are hoping to receive close to £20million in compensation.

The 52-year-old is regarded as one of the best directors in world football and his move to Newcastle came on the back of successful spells at Brighton & Hove Albion, England and West Bromwich Albion.

We’ve taken a look at what people in football – including managers, technical staff and pundits – have said about Ashworth.

Gary Neville

“He transformed the FA’s structure, set Brighton up for this incredible period of success and has now built a strong foundation for the new owners at Newcastle,” Neville posted on X, formerly Twitter.

“He’s competent, highly qualified and knows what he’s doing. [He] will work with his coach, recruitment team and other departments coherently and calmly.”

Tony Mowbray

– “I got on well with Dan from day one,” the former West Brom manager told The Times. “His communication skills are very good. He could put people at ease and relax them. He’s a very intelligent guy.

“He got the job at West Brom as the technical sporting director to work between me and Jeremy Peace because he could manage up very well as well. Jeremy was an out-and-out businessman. He was about getting the job done. Dan managed him really, really well because I found him difficult.

“Dan had the ability to talk to me as a football person. He was no threat. He was very reassuring and he filled the void between myself and Jeremy very well and negotiated the deals.”

– “Dan’s very good at bringing people together and getting the maximum out of everything and everyone,” Mowbray told the Athletic. “He dilutes conflict and oils the machine to make it run seamlessly.”

Eddie Howe

– “I have now got Dan’s experience, which has been invaluable, he has made a real impact in all aspects of the club in such a short space of time,” the Newcastle manager said in July 2022.

“However, he is not just looking at recruitment, he is looking at every aspect of the club from top to bottom, using his experience to try and improve what we deliver.

“I can’t speak highly enough of him, as he has been a big help on the transfer front, he has got really good contacts in the game.”

– “He’s done a really good job in helping us in loads of different ways – building departments, the training ground, he’s connected with everything that goes on in terms of the decision-making at the football club,” Howe added in 2023.

“He’s hugely important and has been a really calming influence behind the scenes, his vast experience has really helped.”

Gareth Southgate

“I told Dan [Ashworth] as we walked in that he should feel really proud,” Southgate said after attending the FIFA and UEFA technical conferences in 2018.

“The last time we came to one of these it was in St Petersburg three years ago but this time we walked in as world champions at U17 and U20 and we’ve been to a seniors’ semi-final, so we deserve our place at the table.

“That is a great credit to everyone involved, the backing the FA has given us in building St George’s Park and investing in the teams, to the work being done in youth development and to Dan in particular for putting those plans in place, which we have seen pay off for Spain, Germany and France.”

Alex Horne

“Dan often led executive-level pitches and was persuasive,” Horne, who was FA general secretary, told The Athletic.

“Trevor [Brooking] was so passionate that the Premier League found him hard to pin down, whereas when Dan arrived, he was more diplomatic. He was a game-changer for our relationship with the clubs.”

Adrian Bevington

“Dan has the full-360 skill set — which is rare,” Bevington, who is the former Club England managing director, told The Athletic.

“He’s been a coach before and so has credibility on the training ground, in the academy, but he has also developed the ability to walk into boardrooms and be taken seriously. That is why he can operate at all levels.”

Newcastle sporting director Dan Ashworth is heading to Man Utd
Newcastle sporting director Dan Ashworth is heading to Man Utd

Mike Rigg

“When Dan went in, it would not be unfair to say that the FA were not fulfilling their potential,” Rigg, who worked with Ashworth as the head of talent management at the FA, told Sky Sports in 2018.

“What has happened since has absolutely been down to the vision and strategic intelligence of what Dan Ashworth has brought to the organisation.

“Not only has he fundamentally changed the direction of the FA and put them on the path to where they are now but he has been involved in every level of coach education.

“They revamped the coaching awards. They completely reorganised the staffing structure and brought a high level of professionalism. He was also very hands-on with the national teams.”

Graham Potter

– “His role was about connecting the club,” the former Brighton manager said in March 2022. “It was about using the academy, the recruitment department, analysis… all the different spokes of the wheel, shall we say, and connecting the club in a good way.

“From a head coach’s perspective, he was there to support and, at times, challenge and to help with anything, really. He was always there for that. He was very efficient, very intelligent. Good at his job.”

– “My gratitude also to Dan Ashworth and David Weir, two first-class technical directors,” Potter said after leaving Brighton for Chelsea.

Tony Bloom

– “We are extremely disappointed that Dan will no longer be our technical director,” the Brighton chairman said in 2022. “He leaves a significant legacy in place and for that we are greatly appreciative.

“Dan’s done an outstanding job and helped build on the progress the club had already made across all of our technical areas.”

– “It was certainly disappointing that he left,” Bloom later told The Athletic. “You’re not surprised about anything in football. I’m certainly not surprised that another club wanted his services. Dan is exceptionally good at what he does.”

Kevin Thelwell

According to The Athletic, Everton’s director of football has described Ashworth to aspiring administrators as “the best director of football this country has produced.”

Barry Fry

“Even then, Dan made an impression,” Fry told The Athletic as Ashworth used to work as a coach at Peterborough United. “The lads always found his sessions stimulating, different.

“It was never, ‘Do it this way’. He’d encourage them to problem-solve. He was always a very deep thinker, looking at ways to improve the whole club.”

 

 

Jamie Carragher

“[Losing Dan Ashworth] is a big blow to them,” Carragher said on the Stick to Football show.

“Newcastle is a huge football club, but they’re never going to be Manchester United. If Man United come for one of the players, the manager or the sporting director, he’s going to go, and I think it’s a great appointment [for United].”

Rio Ferdinand

“If I was Spurs, I would have gone and got Dan Ashworth,” Ferdinand said after Tottenham hired Fabio Paratici in 2021. “Brighton fans will want to kill me.

“But that guy, meticulous, what he does with a shoestring budget at Brighton, what he has done with England and all the young players coming through. Setting the blueprint there.

“Dan Ashworth, I would put him up there. It’s fashionable to go foreign now. To go and get foreign directors of football or technical directors when we have got a good few of them sitting here. It’s crazy.”

Henry Winter

“On Dan Ashworth’s laptop is a detailed run-down on every player imaginable, all areas and ages,” the journalist posted on X.

“He knows their strengths and weaknesses, their stats, character and agents. He’s more than a meticulous recruiter; he builds elite cultures. Huge coup if United can prise him from Newcastle.”

Simon Stone

“Dan Ashworth is very good at assessing what needs to be done at football clubs to get them moving in the right direction,” the BBC journalist said on the How To Buy A Football Club podcast.

“That’s from the academy, to recruitment, to choosing which are the right players to come into the first team, and who you should be recruiting at junior level.”

READ MORE: Dan Ashworth: Ranking every permanent signing next Man Utd director made for Newcastle

Dan Ashworth

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