The new Manchester United are starting to take shape off the pitch under the guidance of Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos. An obvious strategy has been lacking in recent years and implementing one will be key to success on the pitch. Omar Berrada will arrive as chief executive in the summer and talks are ongoing to add Dan Ashworth as sporting director and Jason Wilcox as technical director.
Ratcliffe was clear about what he wanted from a chief executive and made Berrada the top target. The Frenchman’s credentials are impeccable: 12 years working across town at City Football Group (CFG) after time at Barcelona. For years Berrada has been earmarked by professional sports organisations as a potential company leader. NFL franchises were among those interested.
There is also devilment from Ratcliffe and Sir Dave Brailsford, because acquiring an influential figure from their arch rivals is a coup with added spice. Berrada is a rarity in football in being well-respected and liked in equal measure by those who have worked with the man integral to City’s recent transfer negotiations.
Berrada set out his United plans early, desperate to create a tight management team that can forge a new path. Ashworth and Wilcox – another with lengthy experience at CFG – have held discussions with him. It is understood Berrada is eager to appoint a deputy chief executive and has spoken to at least one senior person in football finance about the role.
Newcastle are demanding a minimum of £10m in compensation for Ashworth and, given that the former PE teacher’s contract is understood to contain a “gardening leave” clause that prevents him from starting at a new club for a calendar year, that sum will almost certainly rise.
If Manchester United want Ashworth this spring or, more realistically, summer, they will have to pay. His arrival would almost certainly herald the departure of the football director, John Murtough, and bring further appointments in the recruitment department.
Qualifying for the Champions League would help the summer transfer plans in terms of financial muscle and the club’s appeal. Ashworth has a track record of looking to sign players under the age of 25 with the potential to improve. There is a core of young quality at Old Trafford which he would be keen to strengthen.
Ashworth’s fans would say he is worth £10m-plus but, perhaps significantly, Newcastle’s manager, Eddie Howe, has never been among his principal cheerleaders. Although there is no real friction, and mutual respect, Ashworth has never been admitted to Howe’s inner circle. The former Norwich apprentice has not established the closeness with Howe he experienced with, among others, Gareth Southgate at the FA, West Brom’s Tony Mowbray and Brighton’s Graham Potter.
Although Ashworth has enjoyed good relations with Newcastle’s Saudi Arabian majority owners he is understood to have become slightly frustrated by the manner in which every decision has to be approved, sometimes slowly, in Riyadh.
A key to Ashworth’s rise to the game’s highest echelons is his seamless ability to segue between boardroom and training ground. “I’m comfortable in both a suit and a tracksuit,” says the Uefa Pro Licence holder, who landed his first break as the education and welfare officer at Peterborough. After rising to academy director, Ashworth moved to a similar position at Cambridge before his West Brom move.
By the time he left the FA for Brighton he had begun describing his role as “the hub of the wheel”, serving as a vital conduit between departments. It is a misnomer to regard him primarily as some sort of super talent-identifier. Certainly at Newcastle, Howe, whose nephew Andy Howe is head of technical scouting, has the last word on transfers and Ashworth’s role has been to handle the latter stages of negotiations and ensure deals are completed.
On Tyneside he played a key role in the integration and professionalisation of the women’s team, a review of the academy, was involved in the multimillion-pound refurbishment of Newcastle’s run-down training ground and appointed a head of psychology.
Crucially, Ashworth – whose family home is in Staffordshire, appreciably closer to Manchester than Newcastle – knows better than to run when he would be better off walking and is adept at using stellar communication skills to build trust. Howe certainly appreciates his approach. “When you’re in a position of power like Dan is the natural temptation is to change everything, to come in with a big ego and say: ‘This is what we’re going to do,’” he said on Friday. “The biggest compliment I can pay Dan is that he didn’t – and that’s difficult. He let the structures that were in place exist and survive and we’re still working the same way.”
The sole blemish on Ashworth’s Newcastle tenure has been Sandro Tonali’s 10-month suspension for breaches of Italian betting regulations. Ashworth’s key role in completing the Italy midfielder’s £55m transfer from Milan was the subject of a forensic internal review which is believed to have concluded that, without resorting to illegal surveillance, it would have been impossible to have known about Tonali’s gambling addiction.
Wilcox would work under Ashworth, being in charge of coaching methodology and player development pathways while the sporting director controls football operations and leads recruitment. Wilcox was Manchester City’s Under-18s coach before being the academy director, giving him an understanding of both sides of the coin when it comes to development.
The former Blackburn winger wanted to try his hand in a senior role overlooking a first team, leaving in January 2023 for Southampton, where he assisted the rebuild undertaken by Russell Martin since relegation from the Premier League that is starting to bear fruit. Wilcox is from the north-west and spent the majority of his playing career in the region, so the chance to be back in Manchester would be a bonus.
The individuals targeted by United have the expertise and experience required. It will be a huge assignment to turn the ship around at Old Trafford but the planning has been clinical. Ratcliffe et al have to hope the execution matches.
