Newcastle
Manchester fans now proving as embarrassing as Sir Jim Ratcliffe on Dan Ashworth situation
Many Manchester United fans have been crying on because Newcastle United aren’t going to be a soft touch where Dan Ashworth is concerned.
The NUFC Sporting Director having said he wanted to move to Old Trafford and so put on gardening leave until 2026, as per his Newcastle United contract, unless Man U pay the required compensation figure that Newcastle United are asking for in order to cut short that period of gardening leave.
Manchester United fans saying what a disgrace it is that Newcastle United are unwilling to just let Ashworth easily walk away after only 20 months in the job.
Amongst the many crying on about how unfair it is for their club, is this particular independent Manchester United website Stretty News – 29 March 2024:
‘Dan Ashworth is the man Ineos want as Manchester United football director, but obstacles are in place to delay his eagerly anticipated switch from Newcastle.
The latest on the matter is [Man] United are ‘refusing to compromise’ with the Magpies over the fee they are demanding for Ashworth’s services, according to the Daily Mail.
Newcastle want £20 million in compensation for losing their highly thought of sporting director. It is an outrageous sum of money to pay. It’s not like Ashworth will be our top goalscorer next season!
However, the report adds that Newcastle are happy for Head of Recruitment Steve Nixon to take control of transfers. At the same time, [Man] United’s new chief executive Omar Berrada will be given the same responsibilities at Old Trafford until Ashworth is let go from ‘Saudi Arabia Sportswashing FC’.
I don’t think Sir Jim Ratcliffe or [Man] United, as a whole, can be blamed for their reluctance to dance for a state-owned football club’s carrot. Ashworth may be considered one of the best sporting directors in football, but I’d argue spending £20m on compensation for any sporting director is crazy.
It says a lot about Newcastle that they want to forbid Ashworth from working for the foreseeable period. Perhaps this is a warning call to any sporting directors they want to hire in the foreseeable future.
Newcastle fan, sportingswashing aficionado and journalist Luke Edwards came across rattled in his latest Telegraph column.
In Edwards’ little world, the human rights-abusing owners at St James’ Park can do no wrong but instead, he has chosen to focus on Ashworth. The former Brighton technical director appeared popular among journalists until it was clear that a move to Old Trafford was on the cards.’
Very embarrassing for these Manchester United fans claiming how life is so unfair, where do you start with their laughable nonsense above.
Have they really got zero idea about how the law operates and what happens in large scale business, including football, when it comes to key senior personnel?
Paul Barber, the CEO of Brighton, absolutely schooled the shameless Sir Jim Ratcliffe on this very subject.
Such gardening leave clauses are the norm when it comes to business and football is no different. The ignorance / stupidity is mind boggling, especially when Newcastle United faced EXACTLY THE SAME scenario when they attracted the very same Dan Ashworth away from Brighton.
Newcastle United had to meet Brighton’s compensation demands to cut short Ashworth’s gardening leave, why on earth should Manchester United fans think their club should be any different? Next thing people will be claiming they are entitled…
It is also a case surely that you can’t have it all ways.
If Manchester United fans think Dan Ashworth is going to be such a game changer for them, why should they think Newcastle United will just step aside and let them do as they want? Surely if tax exile muti-billionaire Ratcliffe and his Glazer mates think Ashworth will be such a great asset, then what is £15m-20m in the grand scheme of things?
However, the absolutely cherry on top of this nonsense from Manchester United fans above, is this lame name calling of Newcastle United and the NUFC fanbase.
As always with any Manchester United fans going down this path…
The Saudi regime / Saudi Arabia PIF, through the state owned Saudi Telecom, have ploughed fortunes into Old Trafford since 2008 and continue to do so, millions every season. The Saudi regime are Man U’s longest standing sponsors.
Then in 2017, Man Utd agreed yet another very lucrative revenue stream from the Saudi Arabia regime, ‘the General Sports Authority of Saudi Arabia’ in partnership with Manchester United.
If indeed Newcastle United are insisting on Man U paying £20m to cut short Dan Ashworth’s gardening leave, well you are only talking about a small proportion of the fortunes the Old Trafford club have banked from the Saudi regime these past 16 years and counting.
As for all these highly principled Manchester United fans, I look forward to their mass protests against Man U taking money off the Saudi regime. Although the fact that they have been happy for their club to indulge in Sportswashing (nothing could be more obviously ‘Sportswashing’ than taking money in sponsorship for over a decade and a half, in return for allowing the Saudi regime to be branded alongside Man U) for the last 16 years without any protests, doesn’t suggest they will suddenly start doing so now.
