'Someone with real substance' - Newcastle make 'statement of intent' that Eddie Howe will love

Dan Ashworth never thought he would be a technical director. In fact, it is not an exaggeration to say that Ashworth did not even know what the role was when West Brom chairman Jeremy Peace summoned the club's academy manager to offer him the job in 2007.

It was a very different era - there were only a handful of sporting directors working in the Premier League at the time - and Ashworth never imagined that he would go on to become one of the most-respected figures in his field in the country.

Indeed, Ashworth was so unsure about position, initially, that he only agreed to do the job at West Brom until the end of the season before getting it in writing that he could return to his old post if it did not work out. Ashworth need not have worried.

That conversation with Peace ended up changing the course of Ashworth's career and, following spells with the Baggies, the FA and Brighton, the 50-year-old will help shape this new era at Newcastle United.

Although Ashworth was happy at Brighton, the technical director felt this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to help rebuild Newcastle, a club he has long admired, after he was headhunted once again by recruitment firm Nolan Partners.

It is a move that has gone down well in football circles in this country as Mike Rigg, who worked alongside Ashworth as head of talent management at the FA, explained.

"It's a real statement of intent here," the former Man City technical director told ChronicleLive.

"Newcastle have not just gone for some glitzy, glamorous name from abroad that looks good; they've gone for someone with real substance. Dan will come in and go, 'We want real top standards here'.

"I haven't met anyone who doesn't get on with Dan. I don't know anyone that's got a bad