Man Utd legend Gary Neville has called on the club to “punch” him and other fans “in the face” by revealing the reasons for Dan Ashworth’s departure.
The Red Devils released a short statement on Sunday to reveal that sporting director Ashworth had left the club after a morning of speculation.
It was shocking news for the Man Utd fanbase after the Red Devils spent months chasing the transfer king from Newcastle, who were demanding millions in compensation after putting Ashworth on gardening leave.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe saw Ashworth as a key piece to transforming the recruitment setup at Old Trafford but after just five months Man Utd have cut ties.
The statement on Sunday read: “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 support during a transitional period for the club and wish him well for the future.”
Despite the insistence from Man Utd that it was a “mutual agreement”, there have been several reports claiming that is not the case with Neville in agreement.
Speaking on NBC Sports, Neville commented on Ashworth’s departure at Man Utd, he said: “Something like that can’t be mutual.
“We all knew when INEOS came in, there would be huge changes, there has been massive redundancies in the club, a complete overhaul of the executive in the club, CEO, CFO, sporting director, technical director, manager just recently as well.
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“You would have expected large changes but not for this position. Dan Ashworth was headhunted for many, many months, he was chased for about 10 months, he was on gardening leave for four or five minutes, he was paid millions of pounds for, I worked with Dan Ashworth at the FA and he’s been successful wherever he has gone.
“I’m really shocked this morning that this has happened this morning and it’s going to need a lot of explaining. The statement that the club has put out is really poor.
“Manchester United haven’t had a voice for 10 years. They lost their authority, their boldness, I think they’ve been getting it back in the last 12 months but what is clear is that there’s a fracture here, something has happened.
“You can’t bring someone at the level of Dan Ashworth, lose him after five months and I think something hasn’t gone wrong.
“Fans are going to be asking the question of what’s gone wrong, they’ll speculate, it’ll leave huge voids and I think it’s better to punch us in the face when it is so obvious that something has gone wrong between the personalities of Dan Ashworth, Omar Berrada, Sir Dave Brailsford.”
