Dan Ashworth - Newcastle DoF currently tending to his garden

IrishRedDevil

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VP89 said:
Maybe I am being cautious, but Ashworths CV as a technical director is quite limited. Couple years at Brighton and one at Newcastle. He's brought in neat players but the list isnt extensive.

That being said, he's obviously a good pick from what we have out there.
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Big rep from his 6 years as FA Director of elite development.
 

Tiber

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VP89 said:
Maybe I am being cautious, but Ashworths CV as a technical director is quite limited. Couple years at Brighton and one at Newcastle. He's brought in neat players but the list isnt extensive.

That being said, he's obviously a good pick from what we have out there.
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Not that exciting. But the last guy got the job despite never building a team in his life by being friends with Woodward so im open to any sort of replacement
 

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andersj said:
Maybe! But look what has happened at Brighton since he arrived in 2019.
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Was that not happening before he arrived as well? When Tony Bloom took over in 2009, they were in the 3rd tier of English football. When Ashworth arrived in 2019 they were an established Premier League club.
 
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andersj

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GoonerBear said:
Was that not happening before he arrived as well? When Tony Bloom took over in 2009, they were in the 3rd tier of Wngkish football. When Ashworth arrived in 2019 they were an established Premier League club.
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They barely surived in 18/19 if I remember correctly playing rather primitive football. Since then they changed the style of football into playing a more modern, progressive and proactive brand of football. Furthermore, they have recruited and developed talents allowing them to sell for huge sums of money.

For sure, Bloom is the genious at Brighton. But there is also a reason why he hired Ashworth. And Ashworth, probably at a minimum, «spurred them on».
 

Vidooq

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This is a true show of intent, going into the two richest clubs in the Premier League, and being able to pull highly qualified people away from them. It will take time until this transpires onto field success, but I would lie if I said that there wasn't a time when I thought why the hell we did not go for some of the players Newcastle did?
 

SAFMUTD

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Who the fook is that guy?

On a serious note the fact that were taking directors from straight competitors makes me think they're top notch. I don't know anything about either but per reports neither city nor Newcastle were to happy to lose them so they must be good.
 

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Big Andy said:
In essence, if you take away the nuts and bolts of it, a Director of Footballs job is pretty simple. Commit to a way of playing, sign a manager to implement that way of playing, sign players to fit the way of playing, and if your manager leaves/is sacked, you get someone in who is able to implement your way of playing so that you don't have to rip it all up and start again every time you get a new manager and they want new players, as we've done over the last 10 years.
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I think you would have to take away a lot of the nuts and bolts of it to make that conclusion, or at least Ashworths role and how he sees it within an organisation.

A lot of videos online interviewing him at this point so I won't spam the sub with them when a Google search will suffice, nevertheless it's important to understand that he defined the roles for the FA director courses that clubs in England generally use as a template.

It's not his job to define the footballing style or to over rule at any level, its not his job to sign players that the manager doesn't want, his position is more or less a composer. He works at all levels with all departments to bring together a club vision as directed by the clubs board. The first team is important, but the manager is the manager, Head of recruitment or chief scout is what they are, and the DOF is there to make sure all of that works as intended, whilst also making clear pathways from academy into first team, making sure the women's team is pulling in the same direction, communicating with CEO to make sure that he is happy with things.

The director of Football is the glue rather than the organ grinder.
 

red_dt

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Not concerned about his potential gardening leave. He’ll still be in the loop and putting his 2 cents into everything. Just won’t be visable until the date he can officially start. Do we honestly believe he wasn’t working on stuff at Newcastle while he was on gardening leave for Brighton. He’ll have an office in the south of France with Jim and work from there.

You’re not supposed to negotiate with players either until you’ve agreed a deal with their club but we all know nobody adheres to that
 

Monks_United

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Post this we should look at getting someone from PSG so that we can complete the historic Middle East treble !
 

crackers0seven

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Wow,we are actually starting to act like a serious football club.If only the yanks had decided to replace fergie and Gill with the best in class. Thank god their daddy sorted them with money cause they seem to lack brains.
 

Berbasbullet

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red_dt said:
Not concerned about his potential gardening leave. He’ll still be in the loop and putting his 2 cents into everything. Just won’t be visable until the date he can officially start. Do we honestly believe he wasn’t working on stuff at Newcastle while he was on gardening leave for Brighton. He’ll have an office in the south of France with Jim and work from there.

You’re not supposed to negotiate with players either until you’ve agreed a deal with their club but we all know nobody adheres to that
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Anyone at that high corporate level won’t just be sat at home with no input. Same with the guy from City. He will be getting right involved even if it has to be covertly (if we take him that is).
 

The Red Thinker

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Dan Ashworth is a once in a generation talent. Man reset English football by redesigning what the future of England’s youth looked like. He made the blueprint for a newly promoted side like Brighton to be a moneyball wonder team. He’s made amazing progress in just 2 years at Newcastle too. All within budget!

Sir Dave must pull all the stops to get his friend to Old Trafford. He will supercharge our comeback. I pray to fecking God that he comes because him and Omar Berrada would be an INCREDIBLE combo
 

Adnan

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Grande said:
Without knowing the details of Ashworth’s position at Brighton or Newcastle, I would never really expect that kind of role to yield results visible on the pitch before a couple of years.

There seems to be discrepancies in people’s impression of what Ashworth actually has been involved in at those clubs. Who has the better sources here?
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The recruitment is led by the head of recruitment at most well run clubs. At Brighton it was Paul Winstanley and Kyle Macaulay who Graham Potter brought to the club. And at Newcastle the recruitment is led by Steve Nickson who has been at the club since the Ashley era. Bruno Guimaraes for example was signed before Ashworth joined the club.

So without going into too much detail, most clubs have dedicated football departments with people designated to lead those departments on the football side of the club. United have Gary O'Driscoll in charge of the medical department, Nick Cox in charge of the academy and Jose Mayorga and Simon Wells in charge of recruitment at first team level since replacing the outgoing Marcel Bout and Jim Lawlor. So a DoFs role is very simple, and that is to support the people leading the aforementioned football departments.

So a DoF's role is to support the recruitment team's decisions when identifying players to buy. At Liverpool the recruitment was/is led by Barry Hunter and Dave Fallows, and at City it's led by Gary Worthington who is their head of recruitment. Unfortunately the media conflate the roles of the DoF with the role of the heads of recruitment and hence people have got the impression that a DoF is a glorified super scout.
 

Buckie

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He would be a great hire.

What is going on at Newcastle? They are the richest club in the world and there is this news plus other players leaving or rumoured to be leaving.

I realize leaving to rebuild United is a prestige thing and would enhance his reputation - and he might even be a United supporter. I'm just surprised that Newcastle don't tell him here is 100 million under the table to stay and we'll hire your brother as a club ambassador for a huge salary as well.
 

UDontMessWith24

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Buckie said:
He would be a great hire.

What is going on at Newcastle? They are the richest club in the world and there is this news plus other players leaving or rumoured to be leaving.

I realize leaving to rebuild United is a prestige thing and would enhance his reputation - and he might even be a United supporter. I'm just surprised that Newcastle don't tell him here is 100 million under the table to stay and we'll hire your brother as a club ambassador for a huge salary as well.
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IIRC Ashworth has some kind of connection to someone in the INEOS camp that he wants to work with but I could be wrong
 

Wednesday at Stoke

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Buckie said:
He would be a great hire.

What is going on at Newcastle? They are the richest club in the world and there is this news plus other players leaving or rumoured to be leaving.

I realize leaving to rebuild United is a prestige thing and would enhance his reputation - and he might even be a United supporter. I'm just surprised that Newcastle don't tell him here is 100 million under the table to stay and we'll hire your brother as a club ambassador for a huge salary as well.
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I think they’re very close to their FFP limits and need to sell just to comply.
 

Blood Mage

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Sometimes I forget how big we are. Swooping in and stealing two important figures from the two richest clubs in the league just like that, with zero fuss. It also highlights just how badly the Glazers were running the club.
 

Buckie

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Wednesday at Stoke said:
I think they’re very close to their FFP limits and need to sell just to comply.
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Yeah, I had read about that. I'm just wondering if that is generally indicative that the EPL is being serious and is stamping down on them now before they become the next City. Given the relations between the UK and Saudi, I had just assumed Newcastle would follow the City model and get whatever they want without repercussions. Maybe a slip on the wrist accompanied by a wink and that would be all.
 

Wednesday at Stoke

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Buckie said:
Yeah, I had read about that. I'm just wondering if that is generally indicative that the EPL is being serious and is stamping down on them now before they become the next City. Given the relations between the UK and Saudi, I had just assumed Newcastle would follow the City model and get whatever they want without repercussions. Maybe a slip on the wrist accompanied by a wink and that would be all.
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if the premier league doesn’t buck up, they’re looking at independent regulators sitting in their necks for eternity. This is why they’re going around punching all the big bullies.
 

acolyte

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GoonerBear said:
When Tony Bloom took over in 2009, they were in the 3rd tier of Wngkish football.
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Ah yes, the W*nkish football league. I believe that's the same league that Arsenal have won a record 19 times in a row?
 

Teja

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Buckie said:
Yeah, I had read about that. I'm just wondering if that is generally indicative that the EPL is being serious and is stamping down on them now before they become the next City. Given the relations between the UK and Saudi, I had just assumed Newcastle would follow the City model and get whatever they want without repercussions. Maybe a slip on the wrist accompanied by a wink and that would be all.
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I don't think it's oil club specific - multiple clubs complaining about the PL FFP requirements so I think there's something changing about the enforcement.
 

andersj

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Adnan said:
So a DoF's role is to support the recruitment team's decisions when identifying players to buy.
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At Brighton they say his biggest influence on the club was how he created a good pathways «from the academy and loan development for young players». I think that is good because it is something one can clearly see that Brighton have done better than most.

I also think it is where Man Utd have (mostly) failed. The talents that are not ready for Man Utd at 19 too often appear to stagnate.
 

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Teja said:
I don't think it's oil club specific - multiple clubs complaining about the PL FFP requirements so I think there's something changing about the enforcement.
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Football executives always believe that the next bet they make is going to be a jackpot and complain about anything that limits their ability to do so. This is exactly the reason why FFP was created in the first place.
 

Telsim

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I will believe it when I see it. There was a lot of talk about that french guy being CEO, but it turned out to be someone else entirely.

But getting both Omar Berrada and Dan Ashworth from the likes City and Newcastle respectively would be a massive coup and a statement of intent. I also hope this is the end of John Murtough's presence in any position with executive power, but I doubt he will leave the club entirely.
 

kafta

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This would be a major step in the right direction. Jimmy aint messing about. Looks like we're finally heading towards an actual football structure that can help us be successful.
 

TsuWave

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Buckie said:
He would be a great hire.

What is going on at Newcastle? They are the richest club in the world and there is this news plus other players leaving or rumoured to be leaving.

I realize leaving to rebuild United is a prestige thing and would enhance his reputation - and he might even be a United supporter. I'm just surprised that Newcastle don't tell him here is 100 million under the table to stay and we'll hire your brother as a club ambassador for a huge salary as well.
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We are Manchester United. Big dog, big nuts.
 
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