One fan's superb post online that puts the Dan Ashworth story into perspective

Newcastle United seem resigned to losing sporting director Dan Ashworth to Manchester United now that Sir Jim Ratcliffe's buy-in has been ratified (no pun intended).

Dan Ashworth was seen as the key to the whole project when the PIF swooped in and took him away from Brighton. He was set to build the club around one philosophy which would see every team training and playing in a similar fashion so that a player from the under 18's could step into the first team and know exactly what was expected.

Ashworth was said to have a big say in recruitment and would look to do the same for Newcastle as he did for Brighton, finding young, exceptional talent that hadn't quite broken through and turning them into superstars.

Things haven't gone according to plan for Ashworth at Newcastle

It was all very exciting for Ashworth and Newcastle fans alike but over a year in, how much of this is actually taking shape?

It has been reported that Ashworth is unhappy at the lack of control he actually has at the club, whether he was told he'd be in charge of everything or just expected to be, the fact is there are more cooks in the kitchen than he was expecting.

Losing one of the best in the business, especially to Man United, is going to sting, regardless of what you think of him, but in response to a sycophantic rant by journalist Henry Winter, one Newcastle fan who goes by @porternufc made a pretty interesting, and very true point - our best transfer window was when Ashworth was still on gardening leave from Brighton.

Henry Winter now thinks Dan Ashworth is the Messiah

"On Dan Ashworth's laptop is a detailed run-down on every player imaginable, all areas and ages. He knows their strengths and weaknesses, their stats, character and agents. He's more than a meticulous recruiter; he builds elite cultures. Huge coup if #MUFC can prise him from #NUFC"

There was praise for Ashworth when Newcastle were circling, sure, but was it ever blatantly as arse-kissy as this from Henry Winter? It's amazing how attitudes towards people change depending on which club they're linked to. Or it's amazing how quickly we forget how much the media praised people in the past when they were linked to us because being overly reactionary to a current post is more fun. It's probably the latter isn't it?

However, there's no denying that Porter has a good point. We managed well enough before Ashworth and if he does go, we'll manage well enough after him too.