Manchester United will be covering Dan Ashworth’s legal costs if he takes Newcastle United to arbitration.
Ashworth was placed on gardening leave by Newcastle in February after informing the north-east club he wished to explore the opportunity, with The Athletic revealing that the 53-year-old would take his current club to arbitration last week.
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He was then placed on gardening leave as the two clubs negotiated a compensation package, with Newcastle seeking as much as £20million.
Manchester United were unwilling to meet that figure and the matter is set to be handled by a third party in a case anticipated to start in May, with Ashworth’s would-be employers covering his legal costs.
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Although it is standard industry practice for Ashworth’s expenses to be covered by Manchester United, it comes at a time when INEOS is cutting back on staff costs.
The consultancy firm Interpath was enlisted to review costs across the club and company credit cards have been taken away from staffers.
Last week, employees found out they would have to pay £20 if they wished to travel on a club-provided coach to the FA Cup final against Manchester City at Wembley on May 25.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Manchester United’s new co-owner, is overhauling football operations at Old Trafford and has already made several key appointments.
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Manchester City’s Omar Berrada is taking over as chief executive this summer and Jason Wilcox recently arrived from Southampton as technical director.
The working assumption from Old Trafford is that Ashworth is unlikely to arrive before the end of the summer transfer window.
“I think Dan Ashworth is clearly one of the top sporting directors in the world, I’ve no doubt,” Ratcliffe said in February.
“He’s a very capable person. He’s interested in the Manchester United job because it’s probably the biggest sporting director job in the world just now, with the biggest challenge.
“We’ve obviously had words with Newcastle. They would clearly be disappointed to lose Dan. But what I do think is completely absurd is suggesting a man who is really good at his job sits in his garden for one and a half years. That’s completely stupid.”
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On Tuesday, United announced more changes behind the scenes with the impending departures of interim chief executive Patrick Stewart and Cliff Baty, the club’s chief financial officer (CFO).
Stewart has been replaced by Jean-Claude Blanc, INEOS’ CEO of sport, until Berrada joins on July 13, while Roger Bell, INEOS Sport’s former CFO, is taking over from Baty.
Manchester United declined to comment.
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(Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images)
