'There must be something very wrong' - Dan Ashworth savaged for 'sitting with a pen and paper' & 'wanting to just go British' at Man Utd as Arsenal legend admits he admires Sir Jim Ratcliffe for brutally axing sporting director

Ashworth lasted just five months in his role as sporting director at Old Trafford, his exit finalised in a meeting following the club's defeat to Nottingham Forest last weekend. It continues a turbulent season for the Red Devils, who sacked former head coach Erik ten Hag in October following a dismal run of form.

Ratcliffe reportedly sought more decisiveness from his sporting director during United's hunt for a new manager. Ashworth is said to have not looked past candidates he had previously worked with, such as Eddie Howe, Graham Potter and Gareth Southgate, and Keown has referred to the 53-year-old's apparent desire to "just go British" in a pretty scathing assessment of the former Brighton and Newcastle director.

"It would be nice to hear from Dan Ashworth, wouldn't it? Because it doesn't seem that we ever quite hear from him. I was troubled with the fact that he wanted to leave Newcastle so quickly," Arsenal legend Keown said on David Seaman's Seaman Says podcast. "Suddenly something's glistening in the distance, shiny in the shape of Manchester United and he wants to jump from Newcastle. Okay, what sort of personality are we talking about? The sporting directors, they're role models within the building. They're having a say with all the young players, their behaviour, contracts and the rest of it, and then suddenly someone just leaves. Just click of a finger, he's gone. He turns up at Manchester United and it feels embarrassing now, it's a power struggle, you know, they've got so many different cooks, haven't they? [Omar] Berrada is the man who's come from Man City, who's across the analysis. There's talk that they maybe weren't getting that from Dan Ashworth. It's all speculation right now."

Keown admitted his admiration for Ratcliffe's decision to dismiss Ashworth as soon as it became clear things weren’t working.

"It seems as if you didn't want him here," the ex-England defender said. "Maybe you wanted Gareth Southgate, an English manager. So you're going to have to go if you're not going to support what we're doing. We're leading you to the back door and off you go. That landscape gardening company that he's got, it’s going to earn a lot of money. I'm not sure how you can keep going from one club to another like this. It's a power struggle and Jim Ratcliffe has just said, you know what? It’s not working, off you go. You're out, and I admire that.

"Maybe it's his football vocabulary that they’re seeing. He seems to want to just go British. He wants English players. He's championing that. Maybe he doesn't have the pool of knowledge. Maybe the data and analysis isn't there. He's sitting with a pen and paper. Well, we want top computers. It's not the man we thought it was going to be. There must be something very wrong to suddenly get rid of him completely, I don't quite understand it."

Keown is eager to hear Ashworth's side of the story, adding: "You leave Newcastle and all the riches and the wealth and all the freshness of that, and you go to Manchester United and you've gone within five months. He's been on gardening leave longer than he's actually been in the job. I don't think it does his reputation in the world of good. I think he should be given a chance to speak. Maybe the contract doesn't allow him to do so. I do feel he'll turn up somewhere soon and where that's going to be we're all interested to see. Like I say, I'd love to hear from him sometime soon because it would be really interesting to get the insight from Dan Ashworth as to why this guy who's come, I mean, Jim Ratcliffe said he's the best-in-class, as to why within a few months, he's out the door."

The Red Devils aren't expected to have a big budget in the upcoming January transfer window, with INEOS carrying out a strict cost-cutting regime that could include the sales of forwards Marcus Rashford and Antony.