Dan Ashworth (now working for Manchester United)

[Mazzy]

Are there any young up and coming DoFs we can get in from South America? No doubt Chelsea or possibly Liverpool will need another one ina year or two. Quite possibly our best way to loosen the FFP belt it would seem. 

[Yorkie]

11 minutes ago, lovejoy said:

 

This, the over analysis is mental.

 

His big pal wants him at one of the biggest clubs in the world, of course he's going to fancy it.

 

He could have been unbelievably happy here and still fancied it.

 

If he was leaving for Everton for example you'd ask the question, but it's Man Utd.

 

That's all there is to it imo.

 

I've no delusions of grandeur when it comes to us and obviously know that Man Utd is a bigger club, but I fail to see why it was so irresistible. They're barely ahead of us these days and should continue to be direct rivals for league places and cups. 

[SUPERTOON]

 

[Whitley mag]

20 minutes ago, TRon said:

 

I wonder if he thinks Howe has too much input? Eddie does like a particular profile of player, and he's very hands on across a lot of roles at the club. Maybe little Dan wanted a bit more limelight?

Howe was quoted as saying that the biggest credit he would give Ashworth was that he didn’t use his power when he came in to change the transfer approach. He alluded to the fact that nothing had fundamentally changed since the first January window.

 

[SEMTEX]

58 minutes ago, Matt1892 said:

 

 

 

His brother, back in September...

 

 

[The College Dropout]

36 minutes ago, Whitley mag said:

Surely he’s the man who has been appointing all these analysts and scouts ?

 

I certainly don’t think everything is a well oiled machine at the club currently, but by his own description he’s the man that puts everything in place, would be interesting to know why he’s been unhappy with the set up currently, not that we’ll ever find out.

 

 

 

I'm thinking more PIF, Eales, Staveley and Husband, Nickson & Howe levels.

 

By the time Ashworth joined we already signed Bruno and identified Botman as a transfer target. Nickson earning his stripes.

 

I assume Eales is his boss. Eales came in after Ashworth, Eales might have different ideas about things. From the documentary, Staveley seems very involved. No idea how involved PIF are.

[Bimpy474]

48 minutes ago, Dr.Spaceman said:

Why does a lot of folk assume Ashworth is / was just a glorified scout? He puts the scouting department in place, he doesn't actually do the scouting afaik

 

Basically because no one really knows what his actually day to day detailed remit is, we have a good idea but then from poster to poster that role can be rather inflated, deflated or absolutely wrong.

 

End of the day we're mere babbling baboons spouting nonsensical stuff, it's just some of us are aware we're babbling baboons.

[Wolfcastle]

39 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

Personally think most are reading too much into it. He’s good mates with those at Ineos and he gets to join a massive club. Nothing else in it imo.

Ffp is definitely a factor. 

But for that now this would be a step down in league position and future potential

[duo]

2 hours ago, NSG said:

 

Seeya

 

I love how short the article is 

[maze]

Worrying that the top 6 can ‘cherry pick’ important straff from us like this. I might be naive, but I really believed we had more pulling power than this. 

[mush]

Am I right in thinking Ashworth's role was as kind of a facilitator or go-between linking various departments within the club, rather than being in charge of one thing in particular?

 

Seems like he's talented but I doubt it'll be a huge loss in the long term.

 

I just really want us to play hardball about the gardening leave, purely to fuck Man U as much as possible. Either insist on the full leave to hamper their revival or ask for an exorbitant fee

[astraguy]

fucking rinse them like they tried with Lingard they wanted what 10m? so that's double for dan

[duo]

55 minutes ago, SUPERTOON said:

Personally think most are reading too much into it. He’s good mates with those at Ineos and he gets to join a massive club. Nothing else in it imo.

Clearly lacks loyalty, and has no integrity to honour his contract.

[vidooq]

2 hours ago, The College Dropout said:

It will defo stop him from talking about football with rivals. 
 

If they go for multiple targets of ours we could take action. For first teamers we don’t have the same issues though.  

 

I truly hope you are right, because there simply no way to prove if in case he has brief a name or two. Take Caicedo for example, both Liverpool and Chelsea were in for him. Its open market, you can not say Dibs on a player.

 

2 hours ago, lovejoy said:

This.

 

The recriminations for Man Utd would be huge if they breached it. Transfer embargo etc.

 

Not a chance they’ll be blasé about it, nor will Ashworth. Just as we weren’t (and he wasn’t) when he was on gardening leave at Brighton.

 

Yeah, lets hope they stay classy.

[kingxlnc]

18 minutes ago, mush said:

Am I right in thinking Ashworth's role was as kind of a facilitator or go-between linking various departments within the club, rather than being in charge of one thing in particular?

 

Seems like he's talented but I doubt it'll be a huge loss in the long term.

 

I just really want us to play hardball about the gardening leave, purely to fuck Man U as much as possible. Either insist on the full leave to hamper their revival or ask for an exorbitant fee

Apparently he’s the centre of a wheel with the spokes being different departments. I could be wrong, not heard that analogy spoken about much 

[Andy]

Honestly if we can get £15m-£20m for him I think it would be a greater achievement than if we somehow sold Miggy for £50m. 

 

The transfer windows since he took full control have largely been underwhelming. I know that's not solely his responsibility, but it's the only tangible thing we can judge him off, other than random soundbites about how nice his laptop is. 

 

Said it before but I genuinely think he might be one of the most overhyped people in football. He's a sporting director, they're ten a penny and way down the levels of importance when it comes to actual results on the pitch imo. The media coverage has almost been Ronaldo-esque. 

[STM]

5 minutes ago, Andy said:

Honestly if we can get £15m-£20m for him I think it would be a greater achievement than if we somehow sold Miggy for £50m. 

 

The transfer windows since he took full control have largely been underwhelming. I know that's not solely his responsibility, but it's the only tangible thing we can judge him off, other than random soundbites about how nice his laptop is. 

 

Said it before but I genuinely think he might be one of the most overhyped people in football. He's a sporting director, they're ten a penny and way down the levels of importance when it comes to actual results on the pitch imo. The media coverage has almost been Ronaldo-esque. 

 

Totally agree. We might end up getting someone who isn't the centre of attention and benefit from it.

 

I'm quietly excited about this being a positive change.

[80]

9 minutes ago, Andy said:

The transfer windows since he took full control have largely been underwhelming. I know that's not solely his responsibility, but it's the only tangible thing we can judge him off, other than random soundbites about how nice his laptop is.

You say that, but...

 

Quote

He likened it to a “wheel”, or wedges of cheese in Trivial Pursuit, and an early example of his influence was when Newcastle were talked out of signing a No 10 because he had earmarked Elliot Anderson as a possible contender for that role.

Taken from Mark Douglas's article - https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/newcastle-dan-ashworth-setback-2914017

 

Er... Thanks, Dan?

[Gallowgate Toon]

7 minutes ago, Andy said:

Honestly if we can get £15m-£20m for him I think it would be a greater achievement than if we somehow sold Miggy for £50m. 

 

The transfer windows since he took full control have largely been underwhelming. I know that's not solely his responsibility, but it's the only tangible thing we can judge him off, other than random soundbites about how nice his laptop is. 

 

Said it before but I genuinely think he might be one of the most overhyped people in football. He's a sporting director, they're ten a penny and way down the levels of importance when it comes to actual results on the pitch imo. The media coverage has almost been Ronaldo-esque. 

Think I really agree with this part. Liverpool had Edwards for a very successful period but, after he left, they seemed to shift from the process model and give more power to Klopp. Maybe @rgk_lfc can give insight into what's happened.

 

Not great last season but doesn't seem to have been a problem this while Klopp's supposedly had his mate in-post for 6 months to basically handle transfer negotiations.

[Dokko]

12 minutes ago, Andy said:

Honestly if we can get £15m-£20m for him I think it would be a greater achievement than if we somehow sold Miggy for £50m. 

 

The transfer windows since he took full control have largely been underwhelming. I know that's not solely his responsibility, but it's the only tangible thing we can judge him off, other than random soundbites about how nice his laptop is. 

 

Said it before but I genuinely think he might be one of the most overhyped people in football. He's a sporting director, they're ten a penny and way down the levels of importance when it comes to actual results on the pitch imo. The media coverage has almost been Ronaldo-esque. 

 

Couldn't agree more. ?

 

We'll be absolutely fine without him. I said months ago we've got his plan, doesn't matter if he's here to implement it and the board now know what good looks like and will find someone to fill the void. 

 

Manure need him for his plan. Those thinking he'll be feeding them whilst on gardening leave are daft. He's not going to give his services for free and devalue his brand. They both need this sorted ASAP, for us, takes as long as it takes manure to pay up or 2026 hits. No fucks given this side.

 

 

Edited February 19 by Dokko

[SAK]

12 minutes ago, Andy said:

Honestly if we can get £15m-£20m for him I think it would be a greater achievement than if we somehow sold Miggy for £50m. 

 

The transfer windows since he took full control have largely been underwhelming. I know that's not solely his responsibility, but it's the only tangible thing we can judge him off, other than random soundbites about how nice his laptop is. 

 

Said it before but I genuinely think he might be one of the most overhyped people in football. He's a sporting director, they're ten a penny and way down the levels of importance when it comes to actual results on the pitch imo. The media coverage has almost been Ronaldo-esque. 

Transfers are done by committee, but as you say wasn’t his main role.

 

Think his remit was to align all the departments to pull in the same direction to a shared vision. Including planning pathways for youth players to the first team, improve medical facilities, improve our data department, scouting, and women’s teams etc. An administrator, which should be replaceable but is an important role as fractional improvements across departments can eek out improvements on the pitch.

 

 

[duo]

 

Talking about Ashworth - just worth it for Roys comment on 39.41 secs - well said Roy 

[Andy]

6 minutes ago, SAK said:

Transfers are done by committee, but as you say wasn’t his main role.

 

Think his remit was to align all the departments to pull in the same direction to a shared vision. Including planning pathways for youth players to the first team, improve medical facilities, improve our data department, scouting, and women’s teams etc. An administrator, which should be replaceable but is an important role as fractional improvements across departments can eek out improvements on the pitch.

 

 

 

An important role perhaps, but to justify this furore? I'm not so sure.

 

I remember seeing him interviewed on TV on the pitch either before or after one of our matches and just thinking it was odd for the role he's in, I can't remember seeing other sporting directors putting themselves in that kind of scenario very often. 

 

Just finding it hard to feel anything other than bewildered by the whole thing tbh. 

[Ghandis Flip-Flop]

7 hours ago, brummie said:

 

'68 here and I definitely hate Liverpool more. 

 

Worth remembering, anyone our sort of age, Man U didn't win the league in the first 24 years of our lives and also managed to get relegated. That lent them a certain shitness that softened things, but Liverpool hoovered up silverware and their fucking fans, and the media, were unbearable.

 

I don't give a fuck about Arsenal, but I remember sitting in our student house in Gateshead watching that Michael Thomas championship decider in 1989 and every single one of the dozen or so of us watching really, really wanted Liverpool to fuck it. It remains one of the best football events I've ever seen in terms of schadenfreude.

Takes me back, I was about 8 or 9 on my first holiday abroad in Blanes (Costa Bravo), watching it in a bar ran by localish Barca fans

[Lush Vlad]

25 minutes ago, Andy said:

Honestly if we can get £15m-£20m for him I think it would be a greater achievement than if we somehow sold Miggy for £50m. 

 

The transfer windows since he took full control have largely been underwhelming. I know that's not solely his responsibility, but it's the only tangible thing we can judge him off, other than random soundbites about how nice his laptop is. 

 

Said it before but I genuinely think he might be one of the most overhyped people in football. He's a sporting director, they're ten a penny and way down the levels of importance when it comes to actual results on the pitch imo. The media coverage has almost been Ronaldo-esque. 

I can’t say I’m arsed about him leaving. But really don’t agree with that middle paragraph. 
 

His first summer was gold. Pope, Botman and Isak. Targett made permanent was a no brainer (at the time). Been plagued by injuries/Howe wanting Burn for his system, since. 
 

Gordon in the January. Which took a while to come good. But fuck me, he’s been our best player by miles this season. 
 

Last summer was three great buys, IMO. Tino, Tonali and Barnes were all players we needed. With perhaps the former maybe being a ‘too good to turn down’ kind of deal. But either way, he has looked very impressive when given a chance and has age on his side. Hall is the only real head scratcher, IMO.
 

You can use hindsight to say the windows have been disappointing because players have been unavailable and perhaps we did neglect certain areas. But it wasn’t like we were gambling (Tonali, cough) massively on players with patchy fitness records with those that we got in. Just genuine hard luck or something within the club that has been set up incorrectly (Ashworth and Howe to take some blame here, if so). 
 

But then we have also seen that FFP is a genuine issue, by all accounts and not just for ourselves. So we must have been hamstrung by that and you’re never going to please everyone or get as many in as you’d have liked. 
 

I guess you could argue about how much input he has actually had with those signings. But then that works both ways. Whether you think they’re good or bad buys.