The grass is not always greener on the other side - Dan Ashworth leaves Man United five months after being released by NUFC

This is just absolutely beautiful if you're a Newcastle United fan. Dan Ashworth, after the backstabbing and wriggling and all of the not-so-subtle digs by Sir Jim Ratcliffe has left his post at Manchester United already.

Dan Ashworth was brought in as sporting director in the early days of post-takeover Newcastle United after the club paid Brighton a record fee to release him from his contract.

After building a culture within the England setup that would see those in the u15s upwards treated and trained in a similar fashion to those in the senior side so that progression would never result in a shock, England started to look decent again, like a team.

That work cemented Dan Ashworth's reputation as one of the best in the game. Then his work at Brighton only served to strengthen that reputation.

Dan Ashworth ditched Newcastle at the first whiff of a new job

Ashworth was hired by Newcastle to completely change the culture at the club as well as to oversee recruitment. We'll never know for sure how good or bad he was at this as just 18 months into the role, Manchester United allowed Sir Jim Ratcliffe to buy into the club and takeover the football side of things, and his first piece of business was to take Dan Ashworth from Newcastle.

Naturally unhappy with this, Newcastle placed Ashworth on gardening leave for months until relenting in the summer and allowing the move to happen.

During all of this time it had been made public that Ashworth had been emailing Ratcliffe for a while before there was any movement - as Ashworth copied the incriminating emails to his NUFC account. There were suggestions that Ashworth had been working for Man United during his gardening leave too.

Dan Ashworth has seemingly been blamed for all of Man United's woes

Ratcliffe eventually got his man and now, just five months later, they have agreed to part ways, according to The Athletic. Things haven't gone according to plan it seems and after a £200 million spending spree in the summer, approved by Ashworth, Man United have had to change manager mid-season and still seem way off what fans expect from the Red Devils.

All the blame for that has fallen on Dan Ashworth and he was informed on Saturday night that the club will be parting ways. Let's be honest though, Sir Jim Ratcliffe is the real architect of that club's demise since he came in. Mike Ashley 2.0!

Schadenfreude is not exactly a classy thing, but honestly, we can't help but chuckle. At least it's nearly Christmas and Ashworth can head back to the North Pole to work for Santa over the holidays.... because he's small, you see?