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Dan Ashworth (on gardening leave)

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The Prophet

The Prophet

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https://theathletic.com/3687809/2022/10/13/dan-ashworth-vision-newcastle-united?source=user-shared-article

 

Dan Ashworth’s reputation precedes him within football. But it is only when you are sat in an executive box at St James’ Park, listening to him outline his vision for Newcastle United, that you fully appreciate why he is held in such high regard.

 

The club’s new sporting director followed Darren Eales, the new chief executive, in finally addressing questions about what further changes fans can expect to see in the coming months and years.

 

The Athletic looks at what their key quotes mean for the club’s future…

 

Ambition

 

Ashworth was identified to shape Newcastle’s footballing revolution following an extensive search. The consortium who took the club over last October were so convinced by him that they were prepared to wait for his nine-month gardening leave to run down. They eventually relented, at head coach Eddie Howe’s urging, and paid fellow Premier League side Brighton multi-million-pound compensation.

 

“I don’t think there’s a ceiling at this club,” Ashworth says. “I’m pausing because I know how good some of the other clubs are. There’s lots of steps that have to be put in place first but the support network, size and potential is huge.

 

“The club want to be competing for trophies and at the top of the Premier League. Previously, staying in the league was good enough, but the bar has risen.”

 

Ashworth “wasn’t looking for a job” but, with Brighton established in the Premier League, his appetite for growing a club was whetted by the “skeleton” structure that needed bolstering at Newcastle.

 

“Sometimes in life, an opportunity comes along where you just go, ‘Blimey, it’s just too good to turn down’,” Ashworth says. “I want to be a sporting director competing in Europe, for trophies, at the top of the league. And I really enjoy building; that really excited me.”

 

The eternal question raging on Tyneside is: how quickly can Newcastle compete for trophies?

 

“I would like to think so,” says Ashworth, when asked if the club, whose last piece of major domestic silverware was the 1955 FA Cup, will win something within six years. “But, specifically, there isn’t a timeframe.”

 

Such lofty aims also apply to Newcastle’s women’s side, who have been brought into the club’s structure under the new ownership regime. “We will do everything we can to give them the support to get to the WSL as quickly as possible,” Ashworth says. “The women’s team is a big part of the strategy.”

 

As for Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) holding an 80 per cent majority stake in the club, did Ashworth have any reservations about joining for that reason?

 

“I have to put my faith that the authorities did their due diligence and passed the rules and requirements, which are stringent,” he says. “So consequently, no.”

 

Transfers, January plans and the academy

 

“Absolutely I do not want to sell Bruno,” Ashworth says.

 

There was a “conversation” with Real Madrid during the summer, according to Bruno Guimaraes, but the Brazilian midfielder is “a top player and a really important part of this journey”.

 

Intriguingly, however, Ashworth admits some of Newcastle’s best players may be sold in the future, which is a less-publicised part of the business model.

 

“You have to trade, given financial fair play (FFP),” Ashworth says.

 

“There’ll be times… I can’t lie to you and say we’ll never have to sell a player, that doesn’t happen anywhere. Liverpool sold Sadio Mane (this summer). You have to sometimes make a pragmatic decision to go, ‘OK, we’ll do that, because that’s a way of reinvesting’.

 

But, as a rule of thumb, I would like to think we’ll be able to hold onto our top talent to drive our ambitions.”

 

This year, Newcastle have spent around £210million ($234m) on eight senior signings. Part of that was out of necessity, particularly in January when avoiding relegation was the focus, but it was also due to the inflated market. Going forward, Ashworth insists such outlays simply cannot be repeated.

 

“This club has invested circa £200million in 2022 — that’s unsustainable,” Ashworth says. “You can’t keep doing that every year. No matter how rich your owners are, you are restrained by the fact that you have to work within FFP.”

 

Kylian Mbappe may reportedly be unsettled at Paris Saint-Germain, but Newcastle are not entertaining such marquee signings.

 

Ideally, Ashworth does not want Newcastle ever to spend £100million-plus on a single player; he wants them to be “agile enough in recruitment” to avoid paying such sums.

 

There is a desire to lure “top players”, even if Ashworth accepts the best will not join until Newcastle are a regular fixture in the European competitions. But, as a former academy manager, a “huge passion” for Ashworth is Newcastle producing players of their own to lower their transfer outlay.

 

“One of the beauties of the academy is it’s outside FFP,” Ashworth says. “I get more pleasure out of Elliot Anderson coming in and making his debut than signing a ready-made 29-year-old. There’s no better way of getting that than investing into our academy.”

 

Bringing through local talent is a priority, but Newcastle are also investing in youth recruitment. For example, Garang Kuol, the 18-year-old Australia international, will join in January.

 

“Yes, it’s the sort of thing we’re looking at because we can’t continue to spend £200million in one year,” Ashworth says. “We have to find ways of getting talent through the building and investing in potential, nor performance. That’s a key difference.”

 

There is a willingness to trade again come January, even if Newcastle spent more during this summer’s window than they intended to. There will not be a repeat of the frenzied business the new owners conducted nine months ago, however, even if Howe desires a midfielder and a winger.

 

“Summer are always the windows we target from a strategic position,” Eales says. “It’s the summer you can plan for. January tends to be complicated. But there’ll always be the potential to do things.”

 

“I’m not saying we can’t do anything in January,” Ashworth says. “But what we have done in 2022 is unsustainable moving forwards.”

 

Training ground and stadium

 

The outdated nature of Newcastle’s infrastructure encapsulated the stagnation of the Mike Ashley years.

 

A multi-million-pound upgrade of their Benton training base is underway, at Howe’s request, but The Athletic revealed that four potential sites have been identified for a new, state-of-the-art facility that will also house the academy and the women’s side. It is essential — and “in an ideal world” it would include a “mini St James’ Park” for the development and women’s teams to play their games in.

 

“There’s not a great deal more we can do with the training ground we’ve got,” Ashworth says. “The longer-term aspiration will be to try and get a purpose-built training ground to incorporate all of our teams and have a bigger, better provision.”

 

When it comes to the stadium, “this is the place we want to be”, Eales says. But the club are looking at whether they can expand St James’ Park’s 52,000 capacity, which is far from straightforward, a “conundrum” Eales refers to as a “champagne problem”.

 

The CEO’s primary remit is to rapidly increase revenue streams — and he admits PIF “can open doors” in that area.

 

A global search for a front-of-shirt sponsor to succeed Fun88 next summer is underway and Eales does not believe the Premier League’s bolstering of “fair-market value” rules will negatively affect this.

As reported by The Athletic, Eales confirmed Newcastle are considering selling naming rights to the stadium — it would not be renamed, but could be “St James’ Park, powered by” a brand.

 

Such a decision would only be made after first consulting supporters.

 

Howe and the first team

 

In his time at the Football Association, Ashworth was influential in developing the so-called “DNA” that has become the England team’s identity. And he wants a similar unified approach to style of play at Newcastle.

 

“It isn’t Dan Ashworth’s DNA and it won’t be at Newcastle,” he says. “All I’m trying to do is to work with people inside the organisation to say, ‘What do we need to have a winning team?’.

 

“Yeah, I have views on being a more risk-taking, high-pressing, expansive team — technically able, physically able teams that win the ball back at every opportunity and try to control the game with the ball. And you’ve seen under Eddie that transition, so we’re aligned as to how we see the game.

 

“Newcastle have been famous for an attacking brand of football. Part of our remit is to try and deliver that, to get supporters inspired and excited.”

 

When Ashworth was at the FA, then-Bournemouth boss Howe was among those identified as potential future England managers. Ashworth was influential in tying Howe down to a “long-term” contract extension in August and insists he wants the head coach to stay at Newcastle for years, though admits results will ultimately determine his fate.

 

“He’s fundamentally a really good person and a really good coach,” Ashworth says. “It’s always difficult with managers, because if he wins too many games he becomes attractive to, I don’t know… Real Madrid or Manchester City. If he loses too many games, then he’s not so attractive to the club.

 

“Being a manager is such a tough role. But I sincerely hope that he and I work together for a long period and take the club to where we want to get to.”

 

 

Edited by The Prophet

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LFEE

LFEE

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, GeordieDazzler said:

I see Simon Bird has taken those last two paragraphs and ran a ‘NEWCASTLE FEAR THEY COULD LOSE HOWE TO REAL MADRID OR MAN CITY’ article.

 

Maybe Kinnear wasn’t far wrong about him.

 

 

 

Was thinking the same 🙂

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The Prophet

The Prophet

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3 hours ago, GeordieDazzler said:

I see Simon Bird has taken those last two paragraphs and ran a ‘NEWCASTLE FEAR THEY COULD LOSE HOWE TO REAL MADRID OR MAN CITY’ article.

 

Maybe Kinnear wasn’t far wrong about him.

 

 

 

 

The Indi have also ran with we're open to selling our best players.

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prefabtoon

prefabtoon

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Klopp Gets Newcastle Completely Wrong In Latest Rant 

Klopp Quotes  (sporting director Dan Ashworth) said ‘there is no ceiling for this club’. Yes! He is right. He is absolutely right. There is no ceiling for Newcastle. Congratulations, some other clubs have ceilings.” He Seems to have totally lost the plot ;D

 

https://www.nufcblog.com/2022/10/15/klopp-gets-newcastle-completely-wrong-in-latest-rant/

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Newcastle Fan

Newcastle Fan

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So does he get any blame for taking us through an extremely important transfer window and coming out with a couple of youngsters and only one starter? it feels like he allowed Eddie to do what he did at Bournmouthwhen he went spending their money on the likes of Jordan Ibe.

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SteV

SteV

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5 minutes ago, Newcastle Fan said:

So does he get any blame for taking us through an extremely important transfer window and coming out with a couple of youngsters and only one starter? it feels like he allowed Eddie to do what he did at Bournmouthwhen he went spending their money on the likes of Jordan Ibe.

Log off before you have another pint mate. You’ll feel better in the morning 

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relámpago blanco

relámpago blanco

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Posted
10 minutes ago, Newcastle Fan said:

So does he get any blame for taking us through an extremely important transfer window and coming out with a couple of youngsters and only one starter? it feels like he allowed Eddie to do what he did at Bournmouthwhen he went spending their money on the likes of Jordan Ibe.

Today was Eddies fault tbh.  Joelinton hasnt trained all week. Brighton are a tough side to play and we needed to change things up.  He should have started at least one of Livramento or Hall at the back so we aren't so slow and the front 3 needed a change.

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