Premier League club should tell Manchester United to “do one” over ridiculous spat, says pundit

Newcastle United have been advised to stand their ground regarding a ridiculous spat between them and Manchester United surrounding Dan Ashworth.

INEOS are not only looking to make several changes to Erik ten Hag‘s squad but also above the manager, too.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has already hired Jason Wilcox as Manchester United‘s new technical director, and Omar Berrada will start as CEO next month—but Newcastle United are creating a big problem.

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Dan Ashworth will eventually become the club’s new director of football, leaving his role with Newcastle, but the Premier League club are demanding as much as £20 million in compensation.

United, and much of the footballing world, see this as a ridiculous demand, with other clubs such as Southampton and Manchester City being much more reasonable for Wilcox and Berrada, respectively.

However, former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan has told Newcastle to stand their ground.

“I think Newcastle should absolutely double down and tell him and whoever they liaison with at Man United to do one and pay the price,” Jordan explained on talkSPORT.

“Or get on with the consequences of not paying it.”

On the issue, Ratcliffe said recently: “One of the biggest issues in football, which I have to say I wasn’t fully prepared for, was the gardening leave issue, which is not something that I bump into in my business world.

“I see absolutely no point in the gardening leave thing that they have in football. It just makes it difficult to change things with pace because Omar [Berrada] is on six months, Dan Ashworth is on one-and-a-half years.

“We had a very sensible conversation with Southampton about Jason Wilcox. We managed to find a solution to that. Newcastle are just being very difficult and very awkward about Dan. Until you get the people in, it’s quite difficult to drive the change, and it’s just frustrating.”

Jordan did, however, have some sympathy for Ratcliffe, explaining that it will impact Ten Hag and his club in a negative fashion.

“(Ratcliffe) is right to some extent when he talks about the coaching framework,” Jordan added. “If you don’t give a coach a really significant environment to work in, it is more difficult for them.”

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