The sacking of Dan Ashworth has reportedly only increased the culture of fear that exists among staff members at Old Trafford.
United have already faced the media’s scrutiny for their cost-cutting operations that have seen 250 staff members laid off.
The toxicity around the club has also been formed by the controversy surrounding recent hikes in ticket prices and fan group, The 1958, launching a scathing attack on the new owners, Ineos.
The Telegraph reports that the recent dismissal of Ashworth is just the tip of the iceberg for the problems that reside in the corridors of Old Trafford.
The paper claims that the news of Ashworth’s dismissal “stopped many Manchester United staff in their tracks and deepened a culture of fear and foreboding that has spread among employees at the club in recent months.”
The axing of Ashworth after just 159 days in the role is said to have “added to a growing sense of unease and concern among stunned staff.”
The morale at the club was already said to be low due to the recent uncertainty over numerous peoples’ jobs, as Ineos looked to cut over a fifth of the workforce.
Club insiders suggest the majority of the staff feel “vulnerable and worried” after the sacking of a sporting director who the club so publicly chased and admired from afar.
‘If they’re prepared to do that to a sporting director hired at great cost after five months, what about the rest of us?’ one staff member told Telegraph Sport.
The newspaper claims to have spoken to more than a dozen employees since Ashworth’s sacking and the picture they paint is gloomy to say the least with many increasingly “looking over their shoulder.”
Many staff members have seen long-term colleagues and friends axed as of late and one member of staff asserted, “it’s not a nice place to be at the moment.”
There has already been a reduction in hiring and the penny pinching has already extended to cancelling a staff Christmas party in October.
There is a growing feeling of resentment as job cuts and cost-cutting has reportedly raised around £30-35 million but “staff have watched the club squander millions on players in the transfer market with little return and, more recently, enormous sums coughed up in compensation bills after a series of botched calls.”
The dark clouds that surrounded the Glazers for years had seemed to clear with the arrival of Ineos but the early days of rainbows and sunshine seem to have long since vanished, with many wondering if the new owners are just as bad, if not worse than those who they replaced.
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Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
