Newcastle staff are furious with Man United, what they have now done to Dan Ashworth in response

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Newcastle United officials are believed to have been left furious when they learned of Man United’s approach for Dan Ashworth.

Ashworth was hired under the assumption that with the role he was given as Sporting Director he’d be at the club for the next five to 10 years to oversee this long-term project at Newcastle.

A new report from The Times has now claimed that after they learned of the approach for Ashworth, Newcastle blocked him from accessing their computer and scouting system.

Newcastle furious with Man United approach for Ashworth

When Ashworth joined from Brighton two years ago there was a sense that he was there for the long haul having already done some great work with West Brom and England.

Man United first registered their interest in the 52-year-old a couple of months ago which did seem to rock the boat, but the feeling then was that there was no approach and Ashworth was happy at Newcastle.

That has now quickly changed, however, as the director has already made it clear that he will be leaving to join Man United regardless of if it is this year or in 20 months time when his gardening period would end.

The one positive Newcastle can take from the situation is the potential to get £20m from one of their Premier League rivals, but Man United are very unwilling to pay the full fee.

Newcastle had to be ruthless after Man United approach

There was little other option but to completely block Ashworth from anything to do with the club as soon as he made it known that he would not be staying at the club amid the interest elsewhere.

Newcastle can’t afford to have someone so knowledgeable on their scouting system and everything going on at the club to share that information with one of their main rivals this season.

Both Man United and Newcastle look to be battling it out for a place in Europe at the moment and will no doubt have more to say to each other as the season goes on.

Ashworth isn’t the first and certainly won’t be the last key figure to leave Newcastle but it’s about how they respond and improve from it that matters most.