It was announced recently that Daniel Ashworth, Sporting Director of Newcastle United would be placed on gardening leave after accepting an offer to become the Sporting Director of Manchester United.
Daniel Ashworth, who gained recognition for his development roles at Peterborough United, Cambridge United and West Bromwich Albion, has been valued at 20 million pounds by Manchester United.
Following his stint at West Brom, Ashworth became Director of Elite Development for the English FA, helping to construct a philosophy called England DNA. Beginning in 2012, this philosophy centred around building an identity across all of the English national teams, both within the first teams and the youth sides. It prized itself on both its on-field identity, but also its off-field work, with focus being directed towards its grass roots-level work as well as the infrastructure around the teams. This resulted in the England Men's team’s first World Cup semi-final appearance since 1990 in 2018, and a Maurice Burlaz Trophy in 2017 for the most successful youth teams in Europe.
Following this, Ashworth worked as the Technical Director for success story Brighton and Hove Albion from 2018 to 2022. In this time Ashworth became known for his adept signings and scouting network.
Ashworth has helped Newcastle to go beyond the expectations of the first two full seasons post-takeover and lay the foundations for future success.
Since 2022, Ashworth has worked as Sporting Director for Newcastle United, overseeing their qualification for the Champions League last season, and the signing of top-class players like Sven Botman and Alexander Isak. Ashworth has helped Newcastle to go beyond the expectations of the first two full seasons post-takeover and lay the foundations for future success.
Now, he is set to leave for Manchester United in the summer. This follows the acquisition of stake in the club by Sir Jim Ratcliff, owner of INEOS. Under the Glazer family, Manchester United did not have a Sporting Director until John Murtough was appointed in 2021. This meant that the day-to-day decisions were made by Ed Woodward, an accountant and Chief Executive of the club between 2013 and 2022. Murtough himself is also spoken about as being more adept in an administrative role rather than one focusing on recruitment. This lack of recruitment experience at the very top has been reflected in on-field performances.
By this token, Ashworth’s appointment makes a great deal of sense as he brings both an understanding of recruitment, as is clear from his time at Newcastle and Brighton, and of how to build an infrastructure and culture that leads to on-field success, as he did for the FA.
It is safe to say that Ashworth is one of the best in the business, and his move to Manchester will have lasting impacts on the Red Devils, as well as the Magpies in his absence.
