Ineos continue to make changes at Manchester United but are still waiting for arguably the biggest arrival yet – Newcastle United’s Dan Ashworth.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe and co were expected to lead a revolution at Old Trafford after seizing control of football operations at United.
That is certainly what has happened so far as a new CEO and new technical director have been secured in Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox.
More changes were announced on Tuesday night as the exits interim chief executive Patrick Stewart and chief financial officer Cliff Baty were confirmed.
Jean-Claude Blanc is stepping up as interim CEO until Berrada arrives and we would anticipate more changes to come.
Much of the conversation will surround boss Erik ten Hag but Ineos do still have one deal in the pipeline.
United want Newcastle United’s Dan Ashworth to become the club’s new sporting director and he has been placed on gardening leave ahead of a possible move.
The Magpies continue to demand hefty compensation though and reports indicate that Ineos feel that money would be better spent elsewhere right now.
Gary Neville on Dan Ashworth
The hope is that Ashworth will be on board soon and that would represent a huge move.
Ashworth is known as one of the best operators in the game and Gary Neville has been a big fan of Ashworth for a while.
Neville has previously suggested that Ashworth would be the perfect man for United and Ineos seemingly agree.
Neville knows Ashworth from the England setup and has now opened up on a conversation the pair had back in the 2015-16 season.
Speaking on Stick To Football, Neville admitted that Ashworth called him upon taking the Valencia job.
Neville is often mocked for that spell in charge of Valencia but he had already been part of the England coaching setup under Roy Hodgson.
Neville now claims that Ashworth had seemingly earmarked him to become the next England boss after Hodgson and saw the Valencia job as the perfect step.
That move to Valencia didn’t work out but Ashworth seemingly had genuine belief in Neville advancing his coaching career and becoming England boss.
“I’ve never said this publicly, but I remember getting the job in Valencia in the December, and Dan Ashworth rang me and said ‘this is the perfect move for you to be on that next step for when Roy decides that he doesn’t want to be here’, to take over,” said Neville. “I’ve never said that. Obviously, he could never say that three months in or four months in, because it went so badly. But he said ‘this is exactly what we want, we want you to get a number one job’, I always remember him making that call to me saying ‘this is the perfect thing for you’,” he added.
Neville’s record at Valencia
Neville took charge of Valencia in December 2015, taking over as something of a favour to owner Peter Lim.
A 7-0 defeat to Barcelona is always brought up but Neville’s record wasn’t quite as disastrous as many made out.
From 28 games, Neville won 10 times and drew seven, losing the other 11 games.
Valencia has been a tough job for many managers over the years, most of whom have more experience than Neville had at the time.
Neville hasn’t returned to coaching since and has instead built on his media and business career.
Having seemingly decided that coaching isn’t for him, Neville has gone in a completely different direction with that Valencia spell still regularly brought up now.
Ashworth may have been a fan of Neville, but don’t expect to see him managing United any time soon!