We have had a busy weekend, and a busy Monday over on Tyneside with lots of breaking news coming our way over the last 72 hours. Today we will be covering some incomings and outgoings as there has been a fair bit of movement recently at the club.
Ashworth Finally Out
Manchester United have finally appointed Dan Ashworth as their new sporting director after reaching a compensation agreement with Newcastle United. This one had been dragging on for some time as we all know especially with Manchester United offering a far below-par compensation package after initially throwing a spanner in the works on Tyneside by poaching our sporting director in the first place. The latest betting software technology had Ashworth at 6/2 to join on Friday but now he has finally left the club.
Ashworth, who has been on gardening leave for the past four months, was set to take The Toon to arbitration after they rejected Manchester United’s initial offer of £2 million and the club quite rightly demanded £20 million instead. That amount was probably never going to be accepted by The Red Devils though and was most likely a shot across the bow to warn Manchester United that The Magpies aren’t playing around.
Now that both clubs reached a compromise over the weekend it seems this was the case, and now Manchester United have officially appointed the 53-year-old, who will begin his role immediately. Good riddance I say. Anyone who wants to take the club to court was never that serious about being at St James’ Park in the first place.
In a joint statement, the clubs announced: “Newcastle United and Manchester United have reached an agreement for the immediate release of Dan Ashworth from his contractual obligations at Newcastle United. The terms of this agreement remain confidential between the clubs. Newcastle United thanks Dan for his services and wishes him well for the future.”
The timing of the deal has come at an ideal time for The Toon especially when it comes to the club’s financial planning, as it allowed the undisclosed compensation sum to be included on their balance sheet before the Sunday night deadline which means we should make the deadline easily now and not face any punishments from the Premier League.
John Ruddy and Lewis Hall Join The Toon
Two players have now penned permanent deals for the Toon with the first being The 37-year-old John Ruddy. Ruddy has signed a one-year contract with The Magpies and is the second goalkeeper the club has signed in the past 24 hours.
Ruddy brings extensive experience to the club’s goalkeeping squad, having made 551 appearances across 13 clubs, including stints in the Premier League with Everton, Norwich City, and Wolverhampton Wanderers. You imagine he would slot in as 3rd choice, especially after signing Greek international Odysseas Vlachodimos.
Lewis Hall also committed himself to The Toon recently with the 19-year-old full-back signing a long-term contract at St. James’ Park after making a strong impression with his 22 appearances for the Magpies during the 2023-24 campaign, in which he scored twice. This is a great deal for The Toon and it probably would not have been possible if Chelsea weren’t facing such tight financial restrictions, but you have to make the most out of a bad situation and this is a deal that’s great for both clubs.
