One key silver lining to Dan Ashworth sudden exit at Manchester United, it’s one that matters most to Sir Jim Ratcliffe

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Manchester United fans are digesting Dan Ashworth’s surprise from the club after just five months.

With Manchester United ranking a dismal 13th in the Premier League table, Ineos are presiding over a team that is somehow in worse place than the one they inherited.

The one consolation had seemed to be that behind the scenes, United had put in place the backbone of a leadership team who could provide some positive direction.

Even that is now under question after Manchester United’s first ever sporting director Dan Ashworth left his role.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
12	NewcastleNewcastle	15	5	5	5	19	21	-2	20
13	Man UtdManchester United	15	5	4	6	19	18	1	19
14	West HamWest Ham	14	4	3	7	18	27	-9	15

How much United paid for Dan Ashworth

There is one major relief attached to Manchester United ending Dan Ashworth’s tenure after just five months.

This is the small fee the Red Devils paid for Ashworth’s services in comparison to the huge demands issued by Newcastle.

Back in February, The Guardian reported Newcastle were seeking £20 million in compensation for Ashworth’s services.

According to the The Athletic’s podcast, Manchester United paid just around £2.5 million. Laurie Whitwell said: “United always felt Newcastle would lower their demands. I’m told the compensation is what Newcastle paid for him originally, which is £2-2.5 million.”

And this small amount of expenditure is the one consolation for Manchester United from Ashworth’s now ill-fated and short tenure.

If Manchester United had bent and ended up paying £20 million for Ashworth, Ratcliffe might have been more inclined to stick with a situation that was not working.

Instead, having paid so little, he was content to pull the plug on the situation early.

Cost matters to Sir Jim Ratcliffe

Sir Jim Ratcliffe is being forced into making some tough and unpopular decisions at Manchester United, from redundancies to ticket price hikes.

Speaking to United We Stand ahead of the weekend game, Ratcliffe insisted his priority was to make United into a profitable business.

He explained: “I know we get criticism in the press, but we do need to challenge the cost of running this club because what I want to be free for us to do is buy really good footballers, not spend so much of the money on infrastructure.”

Ratcliffe’s words would be a lot less palatable had he caved into Newcastle’s demands on Ratcliffe earlier this year.

The £2.5 million spent on compensation for Ashworth was still an expensive mis-step – but a lot less costly than it might have been.