Ashworth's forte is looking at club from 'top to bottom'

Manchester United fan Jamie Blood has been discussing Dan Ashworth's arrival as the club's new sporting director on The Devils' Advocate podcast: "Day one is him ripping the club apart by coming in with a new set of eyes.

"He has obviously been successful at Brighton, been successful at Newcastle and his forte is having a look at the business from the top to the bottom. Similar to what Jim Ratcliffe has done, then Dan Ashworth is basically overseeing everyone underneath if you like.

"He has been brought in to look at long-term planning, structure in terms of scouting, how to implement new players and [then] not getting our pants pulled down like we have done in the past.

"If you think about the bad things that have been said about the club in the past, [for example] Ronaldo saying the club is stuck from what it was 10 years ago, [and that] the training ground is the same, the people are the same [and] the sport science the same, Ashworth actually has the knowledge to come in and rip that apart.

"So what I think we will see is the training facilities and the sport science improving. I don't think we will see as many injuries as we have this year because he will be coming in with a bit of a point to prove.

"He has done it at a certain level at mid-table and then taken clubs into the top six. Now he is coming into one of the top clubs in the world to bring everyone all together and create this structure that is forward-thinking and can get us back to where we should be."

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds