The first thing to know about Dan Ashworth is that his leadership style is not one of an iron fist.
‘At none of the places I’ve been has it been “Dan Ashworth’s philosophy”,’ he told the Training Ground Guru podcast in 2020. ‘My principles are not autocratic. I don’t believe in telling people, “this is how we’re going to be doing it,” I believe in collaboration.’
It is easy to see why Manchester United are smitten on the affable former PE teacher.
Ashworth’s track record speaks for itself: helping West Brom get into the Premier League, devising the ‘England DNA’ model, before laying the foundations for Brighton and Newcastle to crack European football.
He’s got his faults like any executive – the handling of the scandal involving Mark Sampson and Eni Aluko is a mark against his name – but Ashworth would be a perfect appointment as Manchester United’s inaugural sporting director – and INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe know it.
Dan Ashworth (left) is reportedly keen to take up the role of Man United sporting director, a key piece of the puzzle for Sir Jim Ratcliffe (right) and INEOS as they control football operations
Ashworth, like many youngsters, harboured the football dream in his teenage years, doing his best to make the grade as a right back in Norwich City‘s academy.
He was released at 17 and went on to spend a season in non-league, joining Eastbourne Town back in 1989.
But Ashworth is smart enough to know when to change path and after dropping down to semi-pro football he combined work as a PE teacher at Darrick Wood School in Orpington with playing for St Leonards.
After a stint Stateside coaching at West Florida Fury he returned to a teaching gig in England while playing for Wisbech Town. It was alongside his teaching that he honed his knowledge further, going on to complete the UEFA Pro Licence.
Ashworth’s influence in football, ever since he was released by Norwich, was also sign-posted to come off the pitch in an administrative and strategic role.
It was at Peterborough United where, by 2000, he had become academy director, rising up through the ranks in Cambridgeshire having started out as education and welfare officer.
Ashworth (left) cut his teeth at West Brom where he helped steer them to the Premier League
No job was ever beneath him either. Wash the kit? No problem. Drive the minibus? Pass me the keys. It didn’t go unnoticed from the higher ups at London Road.
‘Even then, Dan made an impression,’ Barry Fry, then Peterborough’s first-team manager, said, as per the Athletic.
‘The lads always found his sessions stimulating, different. It was never, “Do it this way”. He’d encourage them to problem-solve. He was always a very deep thinker, looking at ways to improve the whole club.’
He would go on to spend three years as the centre of excellence head at Cambridge United before he got to cut his teeth in the big time – West Brom wanted him.
Initially he was in an academy post, helping old friend Aidy Boothroyd, but by 2007 he was sporting and technical director overseeing four departments.
Then manager Tony Mowbray hailed West Brom as a ‘visionary’ club for handing the role to Ashworth, who helped massively ease the load on coaching staff.
Recruitment was a much bigger focus for him then than it is nowadays and insiders speak of ‘The Shire’, his video room at West Brom which was famed in the Black Country for its forensic analysis of potential players.
Ashworth, a Lord of the Rings fan, hence the name, had cinema-style seats and a multi-screen set-up to chart players from across the world.
It was DVD recorders he was relying on then, long before being a click away from every minute detail on services like WyScout that is so popular across top teams now.
He was then head-hunted by the FA and he was instrumental in delivering the ‘England DNA’
Alongside Gareth Southgate (left), Ashworth helped lay foundations for tournament success
‘The principle for a Technical Director, in my opinion, is to look after the medium to long term interests of the football club,’ he told Training Ground Guru in 2020.
‘Another thing that’s important is the connection from the boardroom onto the pitch.
‘Every club has a CEO and chairman – and budgets, philosophies and principles – and it’s really important we get that across, whether it’s club values or maximising the budget and making sure we’re spending the money in the right way.’
And the long term goal at West Brom was to reach the Premier League and stay there; Ashworth delivered. From his time in the role between 2007 and 2012 the Baggies were promoted to the Premier League and went on to secure a top-half finish.
Perhaps what is more pertinent – and interesting – relating to Ashworth and links to Manchester United is the foundations he laid for success at England, Brighton and most recently, Newcastle.
Head-hunted by the FA to transform England’s fortunes – more widely throughout the game but with the end goal to deliver major tournament success – Ashworth oversaw the implementation of the ‘England DNA’ model.
Instrumental in its deliverance, it consisted of five key elements:
- The future England player
Take the playing style philosophy as one facet of the DNA model – it is something he would, in conjunction with Erik ten Hag, be expected to work on at United should he take on the job.
‘England teams aim to dominate possession intelligently, selecting the right moments to progress the play and penetrate the opposition,’ the DNA bible reads.
‘Out of Possession: England teams aim to regain possession intelligently and as early and as efficiently as possible. All aspects of the out of possession philosophy will take into consideration the state of the game, the environment and the pre-determined game plan.
‘Transition: England teams aim to sense changing moments in the game both in and out of possession, reacting instinctively and intelligently.
‘Formation: England teams will play with tactical flexibility, based on the profile of the players available and the requirements of the match or competition.’
It is inarguable that the manifesto, recited to more than 1,500 coaches by Ashworth and colleagues back in 2014, hasn’t positively affected the national team.
By 2018 they were in the World Cup semi-finals and at Euro 2020 they were beaten finalists at Wembley. At the Qatar World Cup in 2022, they were beaten by eventual runners-up France in the quarter-finals.
Ashworth’s finger prints had been all over it and it was no surprise to see United sniffing around him in 2018, prior to his move to Brighton. Jose Mourinho was crying out for a sporting director to help him at Old Trafford. One never arrived and Mourinho paid with his job eventually.
At Brighton, and most recently Newcastle, the job spec for Ashworth has been less about recruitment and the day-to-day and more the longer term planning to deliver the end goal: in Brighton’s case European football, something they achieved last season. At Newcastle it was to crack the top four, and they did that in his first year.
‘Complacency is a dangerous thing, isn’t it? Certainly there’s no complacency here,’ he told the Telegraph in November, then laughing off any prospect of swapping Newcastle for Manchester.
At Newcastle, Eddie Howe (right) has Ashworth helping to oversee the deliverance of a vision
United have lost their way in recent years and Ashworth would have a major job on his hands
United have already poached Omar Berrada from rivals Manchester City to be their new CEO
‘We want to keep striving and keep pushing. Whether that’s with our academy from under-nines. Whether that’s the women’s first-team. Whether that’s improving the provision and psychology and player care around the team.
‘Whether that’s making improvements to the training ground, we’ve got to keep pushing. If you start to stand still in professional sport, you’re stuffed. It’s about keep pushing, keep pushing, keep driving in all areas of the football club.’
Manchester United need a visionary, a person INEOS can trust implicitly to work alongside incoming CEO Omar Berrada, first team boss Erik ten Hag, as well as key figures like Academy Director Nick Cox.
A close friend of Sir Dave Brailsford, Ratcliffe’s right-hand man, there would be a familiarity to any switch to Old Trafford. The pair are so close that Brailsford actually delivered a speech to Newcastle United’s players early on in the Ashworth tenure.
Now it looks like Brailsford will be calling in a favour of his own at United: come and turn them back into Premier League champions.
It’s a tough pitch for Ashworth to turn down.
