Former Manchester United sporting director Dan Ashworth is set to join the Football Association following his departure from Old Trafford in December.
The 54-year-old, who worked at Newcastle when he was hired by the Ineos group, is reportedly set to oversee the technical operations of the men’s and women’s teams as well as redelveloping the national team’s training centre.
United paid £4.1 million for the pleasure of hiring Ashworth and then sacked him five months later as he clashed with Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Omar Berrada.
Three months later, Ashworth is on the verge of a return to football with the BBC reporting he is set to join the FA, where he previously worked from 2012 to 2018.
Part of Ashworth’s reported remit is to oversee technical operations of the football teams as well as assist the redevelopment of St George’s Park. Ashworth will also look to oversee the development of homegrown coaches after Eddie Howe became the first Englishman in 17 years to win a major trophy.
Howe is also just one of two Englishmen currently managing in the Premier League alongside Graham Potter.
Ashworth’s first post-playing role came at Peterborough United, where he was appointed academy director in 2000. A year later, he moved to Cambridge and then on to West Bromwich Albion in 2004.
He stayed at the Hawthorns until September 2012, when he was appointed the FA’s director of elite development.
Ashworth resigned in September 2018 to take up the technical director role at Brighton before moving to St James’ Park in February 2022.
Manchester United paid a substantial compensation package to prise Ashworth away from Newcastle, but Ratcliffe later admitted it was “an error on our part”.
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Whilst Ashworth was at the FA, England experienced the lows of a group-stage World Cup exit as well as a round of 16 defeat to Iceland in the Euros. But also reached the semi-final of the World Cup in 2018 under Gareth Southgate.
The women’s side reached the semi-final of the 2015 World Cup but lost to Japan in the third-place play-off.
Ashworth’s potential return coincides with Thomas Tuchel’s first games as England boss, having defeated Albania and Latvia in the World Cup qualifiers.
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