Dan Ashworth - Newcastle DoF currently tending to his garden

V.O.

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Rooney in Paris said:
Awesome, cheers mate
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It seems to just be a version of an article they ran back when Newcastle hired him updated to reflect United's interest, but it's decent for background stuff. Seems like he could strike the balance of being "boardroom" enough for the Glazers to accept, while being "football" enough to have more of a clue what he's doing than the parade of Glazer-hired yes men from the business world.

Was interesting that he's not seen as somebody too involved in identifying transfer targets etc, I'm guessing that might end up being the remit of Jason Wilcox that we're apparently after from Southampton as well.
 

Florida Man

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AltiUn said:
It's kind of crazy just how much damage Woodward did to the club unchecked, I shudder to think that if not for the Super League fiasco it's not unrealistic that he'd still be our CEO.
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Has to be the man most directly responsible for the downfall. Obviously in addition to the Glazers.
 

Giggsy13

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No Idea For Nickname said:
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I mean if there wasn’t any more reason to hate this fraud self-interested prick Murtough, well there you go. Didn’t Murtough also play a role in Nicky Butt leaving the club despite his contribution in helping rebuild the academy? Murtough is scum.
 

padzilla

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Does anyone else imagine Murtough finding some role for himself to cling on and then brief against the new regime?
 

devilish

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AltiUn said:
I think even if it works at some clubs, it was clear United needed external appointments as all of our internal ones weren't getting us to the level we needed. We pretty much had no choice but to go external. Even if it doesn't work out, I think this is the right direction.
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United is not a normal club. I know it sounds clique but its not. First of all we were among the very last to appoint a modern football system. Up till SAF retired we basically had a system that was stuck in the 80s and were the manager pretty much called all the shots. That's a problem because once SAF retired the whole system went away with it which meant that whoever came in would need to build everything from scratch. Secondly United attract a level of scrutiny that no club ever has. You only have to see how the media reacted towards Rashford vs how it reacted towards Kyle Walker. There's little room for mistakes at Manchester United.
 

devilish

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Adnan said:
I'm talking about Spurs and their recruitment under Paratici with Conte as the head coach. And for a coach like Conte who wants to build play from the back and bait the opponent's first line of the press with his wingbacks stretching the pitch horizontally and his forwards pinning the opposition CBs vertically, it potentially opened up spaces to exploit centrally in the half spaces or it opened spaces outwide. But because there was a lack of progressive players at the back for Spurs where breaking the lines was requirement for Conte's strategy, he failed and that was down to poor requirement. You can get away with that in Serie A with a Inter or Juventus, but in the EPL, the likes of Brighton and even Brentford will test your ability to play out from the back by applying a well coordinated high press. And if your GK, CBs and midfielders don't have the ability breaklines and evade the press at a good level, then you will struggle.

So signing the likes of Kulusevski wasn't the issue, but rather signing players at CB and in midfield that didn't have the progressive passing ability to play out of a press a big problem which eventually cost Conte his job.
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As said I am no Spurs expert. However I know a thing or two about Paratici and Conte. Conte in particular is very difficult to work with. He's a Mourinho's 'generation' of manager ie he's a bad loser, he's a rigid, defensive/counter attack type of manager (who are a dying breed at top level), he rarely sticks around and when things go wrong he'll blame everyone else. Paratici had struggled a bit without Marotta around. There again anyone would struggle without Marotta around including Juventus.
 

thisisnottaken1

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A great appointment for us, glad to see it having moved along so quickly. So far, INEOS care way more about the club than the Glazers.
 

macheda14

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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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VP89 said:
I didn't say 2 years at Brighton. I also didn't really weigh the West Brom stint as highly as elite level experience given the club and their development. To scale that at United is tricky, and I found Brighton and Newcastle more comparable to that task.

That said I also said he's probably a very good pick, albeit with limited experience.

But hey ho, get wound up from cherry picking a part of my post instead of reading the whole thing.
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I mean you did.
 

ShinjiNinja26

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peridigm said:
If I understand this correctly, he can leave Newcastle now and have to wait a year before starting his job. We pay nothing to Newcastle. Or, he can start right away but we have to pay off Newcastle.
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Pretty much. Although make no mistake, the whole gardening leave thing is nonsense. He’ll start work for us the day he leaves Newcastle, it just won’t be in an “official” capacity for 12 months. He’ll be doing plenty behind the scenes.
 

Crimson King

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No Idea For Nickname said:
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There was an article on the Athletic recently, I think by Laurie Whitwell, where he said that Murtough was only given his current role by Woodward because Inter Miami had offered him the same post. Woodward had come to heavily rely on him for advice, because obviously he knew feck all about football administration, and was desperate not to lose him, so offered him the gig.

They only made Fletcher 'Technical Director' alongside him to try and make it seem more appeasing to the fans, who'd been waiting 2 years while the club 'searched' for someone proper to run the footballing side of things. This is probably why no-one actually knows what Fletcher does, and why he was basically left to carve out his own role as some sort of coach/admin hybrid.

Honestly, so much of the mess since the Glazer buyout can be laid at Woodward's feet, and at the end of the day they hired him, and refused to acknowledge his failures, which is why I will always hate them, no matter what.

Edit: oh wait, that's probably the article the tweet is actually referring to haha! The source doesn't show unless you click it on here.
 

TsuWave

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ShinjiNinja26 said:
If he’s got any sense he won’t go anywhere near the absolute circus that is Todd Boehly’s Chelsea.
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Chelsea is a very good proposition. Great academy set-up, full of talented young players and an owner that’s willing to spend. Yes, they haven’t gotten it right but that could make Boehly more inclined to empower and listen to people like Jewell. Also, London.
 

AltiUn

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TsuWave said:
Chelsea is a very good proposition. Great academy set-up, full of talented young players and an owner that’s willing to spend. Yes, they haven’t gotten it right but that could make Boehly more inclined to empower and listen to people like Jewell. Also, London.
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Chelsea's academy was quality because of Abramovich, I'd be interested to see if it stays decent in the next few years.
 

Crimson King

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TsuWave said:
Chelsea is a very good proposition. Great academy set-up, full of talented young players and an owner that’s willing to spend. Yes, they haven’t gotten it right but that could make Boehly more inclined to empower and listen to people like Jewell. Also, London.
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I can't help but feel Chelsea are being ridiculous trying to replace the previous guy already. He didn't just suddenly become shit at his job, and was more experienced and successful in the role at Brighton than Jewell currently is.

Just sums them up.
 

Brophs

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VP89 said:
You're being pedantic. A couple does not always mean two in colloquial language. You can Google it.
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You could do that. Or you could ask your missus how many are in a couple.
 

Infra-red

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ShinjiNinja26 said:
Pretty much. Although make no mistake, the whole gardening leave thing is nonsense. He’ll start work for us the day he leaves Newcastle, it just won’t be in an “official” capacity for 12 months. He’ll be doing plenty behind the scenes.
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He won't leave Newcaste until his garden leave comes to an end - he will remain a Newcastle employee (and will be bound by whatever restrictions he agreed to in his employment contract) throughout the period he is on garden leave. Technically, NUFC can call him in whilst he's on leave and ask him to do various tasks, but in practice, they'd want him as far away from the club (and their sensitive information) as possible and he'd be able to start planning for his role with us (albeit remotely and in an unofficial capacity).

I'd be surprised if we decided to wait for his full 12 month notice period to be served, though - it's in both clubs' interests to come to a compensation agreement.
 

ShinjiNinja26

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Infra-red said:
He won't leave Newcaste until his garden leave comes to an end - he will remain a Newcastle employee (and will be bound by whatever restrictions he agreed to in his employment contract) throughout the period he is on garden leave. Technically, NUFC can call him in whilst he's on leave and ask him to do various tasks, but in practice, they'd want him as far away from the club (and their sensitive information) as possible and he'd be able to start planning for his role with us (albeit remotely and in an unofficial capacity).

I'd be surprised if we decided to wait for his full 12 month notice period to be served, though - it's in both clubs' interests to come to a compensation agreement.
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Interesting, in that case I hope we do just pay the compensation and get him out of there right away. It’s money well spent to get him working immediately and putting plans into place for the summer window.
 

Rnd898

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AltiUn said:
Chelsea's academy was quality because of Abramovich, I'd be interested to see if it stays decent in the next few years.
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It's not like the academy has changed. Our academy is still run by the very same people as it was under Abramovich's ownership (mainly Neil Bath) and if anything the've actually increased the budgets for the youth programs.

Whether we'll get a similar crop of youngsters coming through the academy as we had in circa 2018-2021 is another question entirely though. I've found success at youth level is very cyclical, not just at Chelsea but elsewhere as well, and even though we had a really good generation coming through the ranks in the last years (Mount, James, Abraham, Tomori, Guehi, Colwill, Gallagher, RLC, Livramento etc.) who'd all been at the club since their age was still in the single digits, I don't think the current crop has anywhere near the same amount of quality in them and that's got feck all to do with the people who've owned the club for the last year and a half.

So yeah, even if we don't get a similar rate of PL level players through the academy over the next few years it doesn't mean the academy is run any worse than it was before. Just the nature of youth football, I guess.
 

Infra-red

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ShinjiNinja26 said:
Interesting, in that case I hope we do just pay the compensation and get him out of there right away. It’s money well spent to get him working immediately and putting plans into place for the summer window.
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Agreed. Pretty sure MUFC will feel the same and will pay to get him out early (ie by the summer). From Newcastle's perspective, they won't want him joining us immediately and will want to be seen to put up a bit of a fight, but ultimately it's not really in their interests to have a well-paid senior member of staff sat at home for a year (Newcastle will have to continue paying him his salary throughout his garden leave). There will be a compromise and some compensation for NUFC.
 

Infestissumam

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having both Berrada and Ashworth in place for the summer is absolutely vital. Yeah, it'll cost them to get it done, but it'll be worth it ... I just can't wait for this club to finally have competent people in key positions. You'd think this isn't rocket science, especially at such a big club, but given the buffoons that were constantly put in charge by the Glazers it'll feel like a completely new club.
 

FootballHQ

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Can see Eddie Howe being Man. United manager at some point in next five years. Ashworth will obviously come with the day to day experience of working alongside him on transfers and everything and he probably fits the profile in what IEONS want as a head coach.

Don't see it directly Newcastle-Man. United but more after he has a few years managing England.
 

golden_blunder

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Crimson King said:
There was an article on the Athletic recently, I think by Laurie Whitwell, where he said that Murtough was only given his current role by Woodward because Inter Miami had offered him the same post. Woodward had come to heavily rely on him for advice, because obviously he knew feck all about football administration, and was desperate not to lose him, so offered him the gig.

They only made Fletcher 'Technical Director' alongside him to try and make it seem more appeasing to the fans, who'd been waiting 2 years while the club 'searched' for someone proper to run the footballing side of things. This is probably why no-one actually knows what Fletcher does, and why he was basically left to carve out his own role as some sort of coach/admin hybrid.

Honestly, so much of the mess since the Glazer buyout can be laid at Woodward's feet, and at the end of the day they hired him, and refused to acknowledge his failures, which is why I will always hate them, no matter what.

Edit: oh wait, that's probably the article the tweet is actually referring to haha! The source doesn't show unless you click it on here.
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Except we all know what Fletchers job is because it’s well documented and been discussed lots.
 

BarstoolProphet

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FootballHQ said:
Can see Eddie Howe being Man. United manager at some point in next five years. Ashworth will obviously come with the day to day experience of working alongside him on transfers and everything and he probably fits the profile in what IEONS want as a head coach.

Don't see it directly Newcastle-Man. United but more after he has a few years managing England.
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It's being reported that Ashworth is outside of Howe's inner circle and that is one of the main reasons for him wanting to move elsewhere. If it's true, then I don't see Howe and his brother being a viable option for us.
 

Fox outside the box

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Giggsy13 said:
I mean if there wasn’t any more reason to hate this fraud self-interested prick Murtough, well there you go. Didn’t Murtough also play a role in Nicky Butt leaving the club despite his contribution in helping rebuild the academy? Murtough is scum.
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Think you need to calm down and realise that reading a few tweets from a nonsense account maybe isn't the best foundation to have a bizarre, intense personal hatred of someone you've never met, seen, spoken to or have any actual idea what they're like or what they do.

Just an idea
 

Jeppers7

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FootballHQ said:
Can see Eddie Howe being Man. United manager at some point in next five years. Ashworth will obviously come with the day to day experience of working alongside him on transfers and everything and he probably fits the profile in what IEONS want as a head coach.

Don't see it directly Newcastle-Man. United but more after he has a few years managing England.
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:lol:
 

Licha-Vidic

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FootballHQ said:
Can see Eddie Howe being Man. United manager at some point in next five years. Ashworth will obviously come with the day to day experience of working alongside him on transfers and everything and he probably fits the profile in what IEONS want as a head coach.

Don't see it directly Newcastle-Man. United but more after he has a few years managing England.
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:D
Take some chill bro
 
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