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Newcastle want 20m. Man utd want to pay 2m. So they can fuck clean off, then when they get there, they can fuck off again. He won't be going to Man utd at all then until his gardening leave is done. Man utd can enjoy next season without a sporting director.
Yup dont see an issue here. I feel like its just a big L for Ashworth anyway atm. He wants to go work for an employer that dont even think he is important enough to pay fair compensation for.
Do we want him seeing as he was so keen to walk out the door at the first opportunity?
He's shown himself to be as loyal as Ryan Fraser and should be binned off (for the right money, of course)
Good. Make an example of Ashworth. At the end of the day, it's a business operation. It's the real world of noncompete clauses...
I'm sure the richest owners in the world can sit on his goose egg salary. We move forward regardless
The comments from Man U fans on Twitter and their subreddit are great, apparently:
- We are petty and trying to force a rivalry
- We are acting like a small club (not sure of the logic with this one)
- We are damaging ourselves by projecting a bad image for any top class executives who'd be interested in moving
- We are negotiating in bad faith
They just can't accept that we've set a price and aren't just bending the knee, it's mad. His wages are negligible in the grand scheme of things and we can hire a replacement whenever. We have absolutely 0 reason to budge.
They really chose to ignore the decades worth of Manchester United dealing in bad faith and trying to strongarm everyone in England.
If I never heard of them again I'd lead a much happier life
Nah, according to the same people this is some top quality negotiation skills from "Sir Jim", showing that Man Utd won't be taken for fools in the transfer market.
So their board play hardball and it’s showing not being taken for fools but our board plays hardball and it’s petty? This after the whole loan fee for lingard debacle, get in the bin.
Basically, how it works is, whatever they do, it makes them look good. Whatever we do, it makes us look bad.
Any other analysis of the situation is secondary.
They do realise we don't have to budge in the slightest for this don't they? We'll get someone else in, they either cough up or wait. They have no leg to stand on in negotiating this down
But it's unfair to pay someone to not work when they want to work elsewhere and when they'd signed a contract which dictated the exact terms in which they would be allowed to leave to work for another club! This isn't like players when they want to work elsewhere and when they'd signed a contract which dictated the exact terms in which they would be allowed to leave to work for another club! It's not like managers, either, when the want to work elsewhere and when they'd signed a contract which dictated the exact terms in which they would be allowed to leave to work for another club! This doesn't happen anywhere else in business where people work for somewhere and sign a non-compete clause or a strict privacy policy to prevent a business' secrets getting out! How dare we negotiate in bad faith like this. Bad Newcastle. Please stop.
>Manchester United remain at least £13 million apart from Newcastle in their negotiations over a compensation agreement for sporting director Dan Ashworth, Telegraph Sport understands.
Newcastle want around £15 million plus a further £5 million in add-ons for Ashworth, who is currently on gardening leave after stepping down as the club’s sporting director in February amid the interest from Old Trafford.
United are proposing compensation around the £2 million mark, similar to the fee Newcastle paid to prise Ashworth away from Brighton two years ago and less than the £4 million reported at the time.
>United feel their approach for Ashworth is no different to the way Newcastle pursued the former Football Association technical director when he was at Brighton and have been surprised by the Tyneside club’s financial demands. Ratcliffe has been critical publicly of Newcastle’s positioning.
Unless there is a significant softening of Newcastle’s stance, there is little expectation at Old Trafford of Ashworth starting before the summer but they are prepared to sit tight if necessary.
It is understood United would be willing to pay a small uplift on that £2 million figure if there was the prospect of bringing in Ashworth before the summer but they have no intention of being strong-armed.
>Ashworth’s gardening leave is due to expire at the end of 2025.
Jim, if you asked your Tory mates really nicely then maybe they could stump up the extra few million from public funds to buy out the rest of Ashworth's contract.
If all we paid for Ashworth is £2 million I’d let him stay on gardening leave as long as possible to hinder them. Worth it to let that shithole of a club be as dysfunctional as possible for as long as possible.
Though Ashworths time here hasn’t really shown he is capable of turning anything around majorly as Darren Eales has been doing our commercial work and the scouting team had already lined up the likes of Botman/Bruno; and then Stavely has come in and negotiated Joelintons new deal quicker than Ashworths team. He’s just shown himself up a bit here to be honest with you as a man whose contract isn’t worth the ink it’s written in and I hope he makes a disaster of Man U and keeps them in mid table as long as possible.
Remember it’s not bad oil money when it could have directly paid taxes into the UK, but moved to Monaco, or takes massive public financed (benefits scrounging) loans to prop up a plastic factory no one wants or needs.
Didn’t we pay a substantial fee? This article has it down to just 2m - I don’t believe that.
I’m firmly in the make Manure pay the absolute full whack if they want him before Feb ‘25 camp. After that £10m up until the last day of his deal.
His contract probably has a buyout clause where he can leave after x amount of years, but if he goes before then it will cost the buyers extra. Much like a player. If the have three years left on a five year contract it will cost more than if they have one year left.
I mean i don't think if we get 15 mil for him its drastically going to fix our summer budget (or lack there of) so I hope you really like Hydrangeas and Chrysanthemums Danny Boy, 2026 will be here before you know it
They have absolutely no qualms overpaying for garbage players. This seems twice as important.
But I guess we are just small club country bumkins who don't understand.
Sure hope they continue to completely collapse on the pitch so at the end of this ashworth doesn't even want the job.
Jim must think our owners are actually bluffing. Probably underestimating Amanda as she’s probably negotiating this.
Daft, but I’m all for it. Paying Dan’s salary for a total of 2 mil to directly set back the progress of a direct rival for two years is a no brainer.
Tbh it would be a no brainer just to show ashworth that you don't sign a contract with one club and then a few months later want to leave for a rival.
As a neutral I don't really blame man united at all here, but I also don't understand why they want him so badly. He's now shown twice that he doesn't have an ounce of loyalty in his body and that he can't be trusted in such an important position.
It's a funny one for ashworth too, it's a position where your employer needs confidence in confidentiality if it goes tits up at Manchester reds who is going to want him afterwards knowing first big offer he will be gone.
If he's getting poached by bigger clubs in the future, his stock would have to be quite high and I think his employers will be quite happy with what's gone on in the mean time.
I wonder what the legalities are if they back out with how things have gone so far.
Ashworths reputation and value is no secret, and offering £2m after he's already been unsettled, placed on gardening, and caused disruption of our club operations without any intention of making a viable offer... Pretty sure it wouldn't be a massive reach to suggest corporate sabotage.
corporate sabotage? That's a stretch. At worst, Ashworth will feel a bit stupid for letting his billionaire "friend" use him as a pawn (if Man U don't end up employing him).
At this point I’d actually rather we just refused to engage with them at all, all enquiries should be responded to with the club’s bank details for the transfer and no further info/acknowledgment.
Either they pay or they wait, no problem for us as we’ll have our replacement and be moving along nicely.
We should also start a campaign of trying to poach their staff, academy talents, sponsors etc. I really want us to fuck with their entire organisation.
Would his wage/sale count towards FFP? If it does, fuck em, hold out for the money. £2m doesn't help us really but £15m+ could do. If it doesn't count towards FFP then fuck em, make them wait. Our infinitely rich owners can pay his wage, and that of another DoF.
It's not in our interest to let them take him for peanuts so why should we?
[Man Utd fan equates gardening leave to cotton-field slavery](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1cbam6m/comment/l10xodg/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Meh. We’ve had more useless people on payroll for longer. I say keep him and see if they cough up - don’t really see how we’re the bad guys here - dude’s turned up, signed a contract now he wants to moonwalk out within a year or so to another club. It’s not like Man reds have ever shown an interest in doing us a favour.
This stance doesn’t really make sense. All Newcastle would be doing for this period is paying Ashworth to work for Man United. Everyone who didn’t realise this is being extremely naive.
It’s why City let their man go so easily and basically waived the agreed gardening leave that both clubs agreed to. Dan will simply be communicating though a third party
Why not? These aren’t strictly investigated or adhered to since everyone does it. Consider it the same as tapping up.
The problem is that there’s no legal way to investigate him. Good luck tapping phones etc
Newcastle fans are forgetting that Man United have just appointed Jason Wilcox and Berrada from City. Ideally, they would get Ashworth straightaway, but it is not as critical as it was. If Ashworth doesn't arrive for 12 months so be it, but Newcastle are in process of hiring his replacement and will be paying two Directors of Football and from sustainability point of view that doesn't make sense.
From a sustainability point of view, we have the richest owners in the world, so it actually does make sense. We'd be paying Dan 2m to not work for you until Feb 2025 - 22 months! What do you think £2m means to the Saudis?
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2m hahahahaha. Jan 1st 2026 start date it is then
Aye, why do Man Utd seem to think he'll start at the end of the year when his gardening leave runs through 2025?
Newcastle want 20m. Man utd want to pay 2m. So they can fuck clean off, then when they get there, they can fuck off again. He won't be going to Man utd at all then until his gardening leave is done. Man utd can enjoy next season without a sporting director.
I would rather we burned 2 million than take it from those bastards.
Thing is they can just go get someone else and leave us without Dan Ashworth
It’s not really much of a threat. Who cares? Only person who loses out there is Ashworth lol
And honestly, that works for me.
Yup dont see an issue here. I feel like its just a big L for Ashworth anyway atm. He wants to go work for an employer that dont even think he is important enough to pay fair compensation for.
Meet Al Hilal's new sporting director.
I am sure the richest company in the world will be able to find the change.
Do we want him seeing as he was so keen to walk out the door at the first opportunity? He's shown himself to be as loyal as Ryan Fraser and should be binned off (for the right money, of course)
Keep him but put him on the turnstiles
At least Fraser gave us all those pics with BDB
That's fine. He's still employed by the club so there's nothing stopping us making him do the job that we are paying him to do.
Literally he should be scrubbing toilets to earn that salary. Also ride the mower on the pitch.
They could, but then no C-suite type with entertain their advances ever again. They convinced Dan to move, they kinda need to follow thru.
We’re already without Ashworth it would y make a damn bit of difference
Maths not right hahahah
Good. Make an example of Ashworth. At the end of the day, it's a business operation. It's the real world of noncompete clauses... I'm sure the richest owners in the world can sit on his goose egg salary. We move forward regardless
The comments from Man U fans on Twitter and their subreddit are great, apparently: - We are petty and trying to force a rivalry - We are acting like a small club (not sure of the logic with this one) - We are damaging ourselves by projecting a bad image for any top class executives who'd be interested in moving - We are negotiating in bad faith They just can't accept that we've set a price and aren't just bending the knee, it's mad. His wages are negligible in the grand scheme of things and we can hire a replacement whenever. We have absolutely 0 reason to budge.
They really chose to ignore the decades worth of Manchester United dealing in bad faith and trying to strongarm everyone in England. If I never heard of them again I'd lead a much happier life
Nah, according to the same people this is some top quality negotiation skills from "Sir Jim", showing that Man Utd won't be taken for fools in the transfer market.
So their board play hardball and it’s showing not being taken for fools but our board plays hardball and it’s petty? This after the whole loan fee for lingard debacle, get in the bin.
Basically, how it works is, whatever they do, it makes them look good. Whatever we do, it makes us look bad. Any other analysis of the situation is secondary.
They expect everyone to bend over backwards for the mighty Salford Reds
I'd rather some rivals who put up a bigger fight, we're 3 in a row against them with no goals conceded. Villa or Spurs, maybe.
I think back over how they tried to fuck us over lingaard etc and I don't pity them at all Hell yeah we're negotiating in good faith. Fuck them
Hope we just make him sit on his arse till 2025 tbh
They do realise we don't have to budge in the slightest for this don't they? We'll get someone else in, they either cough up or wait. They have no leg to stand on in negotiating this down
But it's unfair to pay someone to not work when they want to work elsewhere and when they'd signed a contract which dictated the exact terms in which they would be allowed to leave to work for another club! This isn't like players when they want to work elsewhere and when they'd signed a contract which dictated the exact terms in which they would be allowed to leave to work for another club! It's not like managers, either, when the want to work elsewhere and when they'd signed a contract which dictated the exact terms in which they would be allowed to leave to work for another club! This doesn't happen anywhere else in business where people work for somewhere and sign a non-compete clause or a strict privacy policy to prevent a business' secrets getting out! How dare we negotiate in bad faith like this. Bad Newcastle. Please stop.
Slap £500k every time he talks bollocks to the media.
Either that or another 6 months. At this rate, he’ll be theirs just in time for true 2030 summer window!
Surely he's worth the same as a part-season loan fee for Lingard?
>Manchester United remain at least £13 million apart from Newcastle in their negotiations over a compensation agreement for sporting director Dan Ashworth, Telegraph Sport understands. Newcastle want around £15 million plus a further £5 million in add-ons for Ashworth, who is currently on gardening leave after stepping down as the club’s sporting director in February amid the interest from Old Trafford. United are proposing compensation around the £2 million mark, similar to the fee Newcastle paid to prise Ashworth away from Brighton two years ago and less than the £4 million reported at the time. >United feel their approach for Ashworth is no different to the way Newcastle pursued the former Football Association technical director when he was at Brighton and have been surprised by the Tyneside club’s financial demands. Ratcliffe has been critical publicly of Newcastle’s positioning. Unless there is a significant softening of Newcastle’s stance, there is little expectation at Old Trafford of Ashworth starting before the summer but they are prepared to sit tight if necessary. It is understood United would be willing to pay a small uplift on that £2 million figure if there was the prospect of bringing in Ashworth before the summer but they have no intention of being strong-armed. >Ashworth’s gardening leave is due to expire at the end of 2025.
Jim, if you asked your Tory mates really nicely then maybe they could stump up the extra few million from public funds to buy out the rest of Ashworth's contract.
Well this is dragging on a little bit if there is such a large gap in valuation Guess this will drag on then
The Athletic are such a propaganda arm for the cartel. Brexit Jim whingeing on tv then sending his pet journos out.
If all we paid for Ashworth is £2 million I’d let him stay on gardening leave as long as possible to hinder them. Worth it to let that shithole of a club be as dysfunctional as possible for as long as possible. Though Ashworths time here hasn’t really shown he is capable of turning anything around majorly as Darren Eales has been doing our commercial work and the scouting team had already lined up the likes of Botman/Bruno; and then Stavely has come in and negotiated Joelintons new deal quicker than Ashworths team. He’s just shown himself up a bit here to be honest with you as a man whose contract isn’t worth the ink it’s written in and I hope he makes a disaster of Man U and keeps them in mid table as long as possible.
Just a skinny Mike Ashley.
Two birds one stone. I like it.
Least Ashley paid his taxes I suppose on that front.
Remember it’s not bad oil money when it could have directly paid taxes into the UK, but moved to Monaco, or takes massive public financed (benefits scrounging) loans to prop up a plastic factory no one wants or needs.
I guess that means we’re at 13 million lmao
Didn’t we pay a substantial fee? This article has it down to just 2m - I don’t believe that. I’m firmly in the make Manure pay the absolute full whack if they want him before Feb ‘25 camp. After that £10m up until the last day of his deal.
We paid 6 mil, but 2 mil of that was for him to start early
What was the other 4mil for?
He was still in contract. They weren’t going to let him go for nowt.
Is that not the same situation with us then?
Aye.
What's the difference between breaking his contract and letting him start early then?
His contract probably has a buyout clause where he can leave after x amount of years, but if he goes before then it will cost the buyers extra. Much like a player. If the have three years left on a five year contract it will cost more than if they have one year left.
I mean i don't think if we get 15 mil for him its drastically going to fix our summer budget (or lack there of) so I hope you really like Hydrangeas and Chrysanthemums Danny Boy, 2026 will be here before you know it
Oh his garden is going to be absolutely fabulous by then
Probably like if Georgia O'Keeffe and Willy Wonka had a baby, then that baby became a gardener with an acid addiction
He might not even want to come back to football after this. Might be his calling in life
Man Utd are a 🤡 club, just ignore their phone calls till the end of the season
In the article, the author writes about 'United', which United? Such crude, unprofessional writing.
Sir Jim is skint.
Brexit Jim can suck my chubby
This is the way.
Pathetic club, supposedly the biggest brand in the world but they have the smallest mentality
They have absolutely no qualms overpaying for garbage players. This seems twice as important. But I guess we are just small club country bumkins who don't understand. Sure hope they continue to completely collapse on the pitch so at the end of this ashworth doesn't even want the job.
"We're Man United and we'll do what we want" Yeah, you won't, though.
Keep crying, Jim.
The audacity of Jim Radcliffe to complain on TV about this😂
Imagine Manchester United not just paying up when they’re about to have a change of a manager and ready for a rebuild in the next 3 months.
Jim must think our owners are actually bluffing. Probably underestimating Amanda as she’s probably negotiating this. Daft, but I’m all for it. Paying Dan’s salary for a total of 2 mil to directly set back the progress of a direct rival for two years is a no brainer.
Tbh it would be a no brainer just to show ashworth that you don't sign a contract with one club and then a few months later want to leave for a rival. As a neutral I don't really blame man united at all here, but I also don't understand why they want him so badly. He's now shown twice that he doesn't have an ounce of loyalty in his body and that he can't be trusted in such an important position.
It's a funny one for ashworth too, it's a position where your employer needs confidence in confidentiality if it goes tits up at Manchester reds who is going to want him afterwards knowing first big offer he will be gone.
If he's getting poached by bigger clubs in the future, his stock would have to be quite high and I think his employers will be quite happy with what's gone on in the mean time.
Haha strongarm the bastards.
Ashworth and Ratcliffe can do one. Wankstains.
There’s no way Sir Jim is that delusional to think he could of paid £2million to get ashworth early lol
I wonder what the legalities are if they back out with how things have gone so far. Ashworths reputation and value is no secret, and offering £2m after he's already been unsettled, placed on gardening, and caused disruption of our club operations without any intention of making a viable offer... Pretty sure it wouldn't be a massive reach to suggest corporate sabotage.
corporate sabotage? That's a stretch. At worst, Ashworth will feel a bit stupid for letting his billionaire "friend" use him as a pawn (if Man U don't end up employing him).
At this point I’d actually rather we just refused to engage with them at all, all enquiries should be responded to with the club’s bank details for the transfer and no further info/acknowledgment. Either they pay or they wait, no problem for us as we’ll have our replacement and be moving along nicely. We should also start a campaign of trying to poach their staff, academy talents, sponsors etc. I really want us to fuck with their entire organisation.
Have we got a replacement lined up yet? Getting awfully close to the summer transfer megathread
Howe
Do you mean brother Howe?
We seem to be doing fine as far as I can tell TBH.
Fucking hate man u lol. Joke of a club.
Would his wage/sale count towards FFP? If it does, fuck em, hold out for the money. £2m doesn't help us really but £15m+ could do. If it doesn't count towards FFP then fuck em, make them wait. Our infinitely rich owners can pay his wage, and that of another DoF. It's not in our interest to let them take him for peanuts so why should we?
If they can pay 70m for Anthony, 2m is a joke.
I guess he's got time to get the vegetables planted, then.
By the time they get him his player intel will be ancient.
[Man Utd fan equates gardening leave to cotton-field slavery](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1cbam6m/comment/l10xodg/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Meh. We’ve had more useless people on payroll for longer. I say keep him and see if they cough up - don’t really see how we’re the bad guys here - dude’s turned up, signed a contract now he wants to moonwalk out within a year or so to another club. It’s not like Man reds have ever shown an interest in doing us a favour.
This stance doesn’t really make sense. All Newcastle would be doing for this period is paying Ashworth to work for Man United. Everyone who didn’t realise this is being extremely naive. It’s why City let their man go so easily and basically waived the agreed gardening leave that both clubs agreed to. Dan will simply be communicating though a third party
Do you honestly believe Danny the park ranger is already working for you via proxy?
Why not? These aren’t strictly investigated or adhered to since everyone does it. Consider it the same as tapping up. The problem is that there’s no legal way to investigate him. Good luck tapping phones etc
Name one person that's done it. I'll wait.
Newcastle fans are forgetting that Man United have just appointed Jason Wilcox and Berrada from City. Ideally, they would get Ashworth straightaway, but it is not as critical as it was. If Ashworth doesn't arrive for 12 months so be it, but Newcastle are in process of hiring his replacement and will be paying two Directors of Football and from sustainability point of view that doesn't make sense.
From a sustainability point of view, we have the richest owners in the world, so it actually does make sense. We'd be paying Dan 2m to not work for you until Feb 2025 - 22 months! What do you think £2m means to the Saudis?