Dan Ashworth was placed on gardening leave by Newcastle United back in February, but Sir Jim Ratcliffe, a part-owner of Manchester United, has refused to pay to end the sporting director’s lengthy notice period.
In the midst of Manchester United’s prolonged standoff with Newcastle United over Dan Ashworth, Sir Jim Ratcliffe has conceded that he is being forced to do “some things that are unpopular.”
The ‘high degree of untidiness’ at Manchester United’s training field, particularly the ‘disgraceful’ IT department, has been brought to light by Sir Jim, who has terminated his job from home in an attempt to disrupt the club. Sir Jim said staff members they would have to bear their own expenses while inviting non-football personnel to take redundancy if they did not want to work in the office.
After years of extravagant spending at the club, corporate restructuring company Interpath Advisory was also brought in a few months ago to manage a significant cost-cutting push. Given that Newcastle placed Ashworth on gardening leave in February, it may not come as a major surprise that Manchester United has been hesitant to pay Ashworth’s higher valuation; nonetheless, the Magpies will not give up.
Sir Jim, aware of the compensation Newcastle paid to Brighton to land Ashworth, previously branded the black-and-whites’ initial demands of up to £20m as ‘silly’. The Manchester United part-owner said it was ‘absurd’ that Ashworth could be left sidelined until next year if the Red Devils did not cough up.
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