Gary Neville has criticized Manchester United’s vague statement regarding Dan Ashworth’s departure and said sometimes it’s better to “slap us in the face with the truth”.
Ashworth left Old Trafford by mutual consent yesterday just five months after taking up the role of sporting director as part of an off-field rebuild under Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos side.
The statement accompanying his departure made no mention of the reasons why, although reports suggest Ratcliffe was angry that Ashworth had publicly distanced himself from the decision to hand former boss Erik ten Haag a contract extension.
Neville sees little value in not revealing the truth to fans and believes United should come clean.
Dan Ashworth is to step down as Manchester United’s sporting director by mutual consent.#MUFC
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) December 8, 2024
Neville was shocked
Speaking to NBC Sports, the former United and England full-back said: “I’m really shocked that this has happened. It’s not a nice look at all, and it’s something that will need some explaining. I think the statement that the club has made is very bad.
“Manchester United have not had a voice for 10 years – they have lost their authority, their boldness. I think they’ve taken it back a little bit in the last 12 months, but what’s really clear is that there’s a fracture here, something’s happened.
“You can’t bring someone up to Dan Ashworth’s level and then lose him after five months and think something didn’t go wrong. Fans will now be asking the question: what went wrong? They will speculate, leave huge gaps.
“I think it’s better to slap us in the face with the truth sometimes when it’s so obvious that something has gone wrong between the personalities of Dan Ashworth, Omar Berrada, Dave Brailsford, whoever it is in the last few months. which apparently they have not arranged with each other or it does not work.
“Just tell us because it’s obvious something has happened. I think that statement is weak.”
Ruben shares his assessment of a disappointing night at Old Trafford 💬#MUFC || #MUNNFO
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) December 7, 2024
Ashworth was headhunted for the United role
United had to wait for Ashworth to take the role initially after months of haggling with former club Newcastle over compensation, which makes the situation even more difficult to understand, according to Neville.
“You would expect big changes but no changes for this position,” he added. “Dan Ashworth was hunted for many, many months. He was hunted for 10 months, on gardening leave for four or five months, paid for millions of pounds.
“I worked with Dan Ashworth at the FA for two years and he was very successful wherever he was – Brighton, West Brom, FA, Newcastle most recently.”
Ashworth was reportedly informed of the decision in a meeting shortly after United’s 3-2 defeat at home to Nottingham Forest on Saturday night, new manager Ruben Amorim’s first failure in charge.
United are not expected to sign an immediate replacement, at least in the short term, despite the January transfer window opening in three weeks. It is believed that technical director Jason Wilcox and interim director of recruitment Christopher Vivell will take on additional responsibility in the interim period.
