just my opinion but the gardening leave of 18 months could be deemed too long in relation to his employment and as such abusive contract term
Dan Ashworth - Newcastle DoF currently tending to his garden
- Thread starter Pogue Mahone
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This saga is more interesting than what we see on the pitch and I'm all here for it.
Redcaf ITK, Twitter Journalist Exclusives both Tier 1 and Troll, reddit fanbases getting themselves in a twist
Redcaf ITK, Twitter Journalist Exclusives both Tier 1 and Troll, reddit fanbases getting themselves in a twist
whatever comes out of this, I love that the club is digging its heels in. Newcastle's asking price is insane, but I guess that's what a hurt ego will do to a neo-rich oil club.
I love how furious Newcastle fans are by this 
Just had a quick scan and it's largely "he's signed a contract so we'll get what we want", "can't wait to see the back of him" and "hope he fails".
This one stuck out
Bold strategy to refer to the owner's political ideals, I must say.
The best one I keep seeing is “this is what they get for the way they dealt with us over Lingard” they still seem incredibly bitter about that. Conveniently forgetting they quoted us £50m for Sean fecking Longstaff a few seasons prior.
It's doubly bizarre given how massively shit Lingard is. If anything, we did them a favour.The best one I keep seeing is “this is what they get for the way they dealt with us over Lingard” they still seem incredibly bitter about that. Conveniently forgetting they quoted us £50m for Sean fecking Longstaff a few seasons prior.
Also, it was fecking daft anyway asking to loan a player in the last 6 months of his contract. Either buy him or wait.
Noncompete clauses got banned in the states on Tuesday, so I expect a lot of the same arguments will be used at Ashworth's arbitration.
The length of non compete clauses got reduced last year I believe. Apart from saying that the fee to release him from his Newcastle contract will be much less than 20m, no one can predict anything without seeing the terms and conditions of his employment contract.
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An arbitration generally isn’t legally binding unless both parties agree that it is? So does this mean the right to seek arbitration to resolve an issue is Ashworth’s contract? Otherwise the geordies could just refuse and drag it through the courts?
So if Ashworth can't join till at least August, Berrada late July and if we sack Ten Hag, given we've already got rid of Murtough and Arnold, who is going to identify and negotiate transfers for the summer window?
If it goes to arbitration then it is legally binding. Most likely Newcastle will do a deal before that.
I had only seen a tweet from that Nixon about the guy at Ipswich but nothing from anyone else. Nice to see the Head of Recruitment position being referenced again though.
Asking for 20 million when you paid 2 million is absolutely ridiculous. And this isn't even for a player, its for an exec. This is arguably the most small time thing I've ever seen in football. It looks even more ridiculous for Newcastle because they're paying him and he's not even doing the job for them.
We surely aren’t pretending that Ashworth is actually doing his garden are we?
At that level, the consequences would be very severe if breach of trust can be proven - both for Ashworth as well as United. He could hint at some targets via a secure communication app routed via tor but I doubt he'd involve himself beyond that. Remember, he is still legally employed by Newcastle.We surely aren’t pretending that Ashworth is actually doing his garden are we?
it’s not forbidden that he meets someone close to United as a personal friend. He could talk about whatever they want and nobody could proof his engagement in a deal to
Breach of trust couldn’t be proven. He’ll certainly already have given a list of targets to United and been in regular contact with the club. It’s not like they just offered him the job via a letter and then have just left him to it
A list of targets based on the type of football which Newcastle wanted to play, their ability to attract players and based on their budget. Doesn't mean much for us tbh.Breach of trust couldn’t be proven. He’ll certainly already have given a list of targets to United and been in regular contact with the club. It’s not like they just offered him the job via a letter and then have just left him to it
Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought he didn't really have much say in transfers? He definitely wouldn't be the one picking which targets we go for.
I read that he essentially operates as a connector between all the depts, has some say & sign off over the style/type of target we go for but doesn't go any further than that.
I read that he essentially operates as a connector between all the depts, has some say & sign off over the style/type of target we go for but doesn't go any further than that.
Like I said earlier in the thread I reckon it'll get chopped down to 6 months. I really do like this guy's threads on matters to be fair!
It is and only a club backed by an Oil State could afford to indulge in such pettiness.
Do you think Newcastle have all his communications tapped?
Nope that's not necessary. Google/Microsoft/Apple/Meta or any of the top tech companies and mobile operators will gladly hand over data/metadata to the police when requested.
I'm quite sure the role varies from club to club but player recruitment to match team's strategy is supposed to be one of the key areas for a DoF. He would very much have a major say.
https://universidadeuropea.com/en/blog/director-of-football/
I would say a key element here is also that the owner is an authoritarian State that is used to not negotiating, basically, and is having a very typical authoritarian response to it. I won't hold up in a court or in arbitration, but it's an interesting development for anyone forgetting exactly who owns Newcastle - which is what the media would love with their whole fairytale bullshit narrative.
Interesting the narrative around Ashworth in the media, which is wholly supportive of Newcastle from what I have seen. Compare it to the Real-Ronaldo-Slavery nonsense, that was lapped up by the media at the time. This is far more egregious. You could argue one summer transfer window is all a non-compete should reasonably cover, that gives Newcastle the chance to act on the work he has done on their behalf. Any more time than that and you could argue the game has moved on and they are preventing a reasonable request to move on with his career.
Wonder if these type of shenanigans could eventually lead to rules similar to the NFL, which don't permit blocking certain types of staff move.
Wonder if these type of shenanigans could eventually lead to rules similar to the NFL, which don't permit blocking certain types of staff move.
An arbitration process has to be in his contract otherwise, I see no reason why Newcastle would go along with this.
You'd think Ashworth has thought of that before you actually taking it to arbitration.
And why would the Police request it? Newcastle would need to have reasonable suspicions to ask for that.
Plus he could just use a burner phone or meet someone in person. I don't think he will do any of that of course, but this idea that Newcastle will be monitoring him is a bit ridiculous.
The result of the arbitration will be confidential so we’ll never know what we pay to buy out his contract. Maybe it will be possible to figure it out from our annual accounts but unlikely. Either way this is good for us as it means we will not have to pay the rediculous figure of 20m.
It's not ideal by any means...which is one of the reason I wouldn't be against EtH completing the last year of his contract.
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It’s within their best interests to get a payout and end the drama so they can move on.
Not just transfers. Who would be leading the identifying and recruitment process to replace Ten Hag?
For a long time I was Ten Hag in - I felt he deserved a chance to show what he could do within a coherent structure. I don't feel that anymore - he has shown favouritism to players who consistently let him down and it will rightly end up costing him his job. His in game decision making is also appalling.
The problem is - our next appointment cannot be another failure. Ineos need a successful appointment to hit the ground running and if it means grin and bearing Ten Hag for another few months, so the new team can get their feet under the table and carry out a proper review and identifying process then so be it. The short term pain will be worth it in the long run.
I think this is probably what it will come down to. The intention of the noncompete is to stop him bringing director intel from Newcastle. I'm guessing Ashworth will either be allowed to start in September or January - I say January as a possibility because when Ashworth left Brighton, his gardening leave was 9 months, meaning he was only able to start his duties up north just before the summer transfer window.
As for the compensation, what we've offered is the value of his contract over the period of his GL. This is what we did with Wilcox and it was only a little more that was needed to get it over the line, and with an immediate start, no less. Supposedly the full value of Ashworth's remaining contract is around £3m, so I doubt it'll end up being too much more.
I don't really know what Newcastle think they were doing with the whole £20m stuff. By all accounts, he was brought in to do a job that they haven't really let him do, since Eddie Howe and his brother had already established a lot of control at the club while Ashworth was trimming hedges on the south coast. I genuinely think they saw that idiot Martin Samuel's article, where he plucked a big number out of thin air and thought "hey, that's a good idea!"
Wilcox by the looks of it
WhatsApp is encrypted. Apple have refused to hand over peoples information before as well. They have declared that they will pull out of the UK before allowing the government access to their encryption so, no they wont all hand over personal data when asked.