Dan Ashworth decision shows Manchester United still throw 'dumb money' after bad under Ineos

Dan Ashworth is the latest in a long line of Manchester United employees to depart the club within 12 months of Ineos being delegated responsibility for managing football operations.

Football director John Murtough, whom Ashworth effectively replaced after United paid Newcastle United around a £3million compensation fee, stepped down in April after over a decade at the club. Then, this summer, the club spent £8.6million to make around 250 staff redundant.

Around the same time, Benni McCarthy, Mitchell van der Gaag and Steve McClaren left, with Rene Hake—for whom United had to compensate Go Ahead Eagles—and Ruud van Nistelrooy coming in. The latter two are also now gone, alongside Erik ten Hag, Jelle ten Rouwelaar and Pieter Morel, costing the club £10.4million.

Recruiting their replacements from Sporting - Ruben Amorim, Paulo Barreira, Adelio Candido, Carlos Fernandes, Emanuel Ferro, Eduardo Rosalino and Jorge Vital - meant United paid the Portuguese club a compensation fee of £11million. Those combined sums total £33million, and if you include the £5.53million payoff former chief executive Richard Arnold received while Ineos were finalising their minority takeover, that rises to over £38million.

Five years ago, Sir Jim Ratcliffe told The Times that United "have been the dumb money," using Fred, who the club had paid £52million to sign from Shakhtar Donetsk some 18 months earlier, as an example. "Ineos never wants to be the dumb money in town, never, never," he said.

However, Ratcliffe has only continued the club's penchant for writing huge cheques when hiring and firing non-playing staff. Over the last decade, football finance expert Kieran Maguire calculates the club had spent around £59.1million on such expenses