Man Utd’s problems came from when the board stopped listening and sacked Dan Ashworth

Paul Scholes believes the problems we are seeing with Ineos at Manchester United stem from the time they stopped listening to and sacked Dan Ashworth.

It has been well-documented that Manchester United have a long list of problems contributing to poor results on the pitch. Michael Carrick was on the brink after the 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth on Sunday, but Ineos have decided that they will give the head coach more time to turn results around.

The board at United will feel the pressure from the fans. They sang chants about Jim Ratcliffe, the Glazers and Jason Wilcox at the weekend. On top of that, they aimed their frustration at the players following the full-time whistle.

More questions are going to be asked of the decision-makers at United over the coming months, as well as continued pressure on the Glazers to sell up after inflicting so much damage on the club for over two decades.

Paul Scholes reflects on Man Utd’s decision to part ways with Dan Ashworth

Dan Ashworth left his role at United after just five months.

After spending months on gardening leave at former club Newcastle, Ashworth arrived at Old Trafford, but his stint was short-lived. It is understood that Ashworth wasn’t in favour of replacing Erik ten Hag with Ruben Amorim.

This led to Ten Hag eventually getting the sack and being replaced by Amorim. Ashworth left United by mutual consent and Wilcox became director of football.

Sharing his verdict on the United board, former midfielder Paul Scholes stated that the problems for Ineos started when they stopped listening to Ashworth. Amorim was a failure, and Carrick hasn’t gone as planned since giving him the permanent deal.

“Look Man United have got so much more so many more problems than just the playing staff and manager and staff around that,” Scholes said on the latest episode of The Good, The Bad & The Football.

“The ownership is it’s got to be brought into question massively. You think when the Glazers took over, now they just took money out of the club; that’s all they’ve done. Then INEOS coming in, you think, right, bang, here we go. New owners, fresh ideas. They’re going to spend a few quid, hopefully, in the transfer market. It hasn’t really happened.

“And you think from the very first day they started, I think they appointed Dan Ashworth and Jason Wilcox. Jason Wilcox was obviously under Dan Ashworth, who got the great experience of being at clubs like Newcastle, England with the FA, done brilliant jobs. Now, I said it on here last week. He had the audacity to maybe have a different opinion than what Jim Ratcliffe wanted. And what did they do? They sacked him. Now Jason Wilcox then comes into the director of football role, which he hasn’t done. That’s not why he was brought to the club, but he’s like a technical director who would work under someone like Dan Ashworth. He’s been at Man City. He hadn’t done that job at Man City. I think he’d done it with the kids. Academy manager, which brings in young talent. Yeah, he’s gone to Southampton. I think he’s probably director of football at Southampton. And look, I think Southampton did all right, but you know, they’re in the Championship now. So maybe he’s not as good as you think.

“So then to make that mistake of putting him as a lead director of football communication, probably, and then they’re messing about with Ten Hag at the start of it. So it was clear they were going to sack Ten Hag. They wanted to sack him in the summer. They went round to three, four, five people and offered jobs, and they all said no. Okay, we’ll stick with Ten Hag. So what did they do? They gave him £200 million to build a team for his formation, the way he plays. I don’t know how long it was later, but very early into the season, they sacked him. And then what they decided to do, which I think is where the Dan Ashworth problem was, Dan Ashworth didn’t want Ruben Amorim in because he realised the way they play will not suit the players that Ten Hag has just bought. So again, you’ve got to change the squad massively.”

Like many fans, Scholes is pinning the blame on the ownership and the board. Everyone can see that Carrick isn’t the root of United’s problems.