It’s likely more about his relationship with Brailsford surely?

Ashworth’s career has been built on identifying players with a high sell on value.

Giving players the opportunity to build on their potential in an environment that nurtures their abilities and lets them thrive without pressure, then moving them on for big money and repeat the cycle.

His expertise is surely wasted at Man Utd where they are not interested in nurturing that talent and readying them for a bigger club, they want players to step straight in to the squad and compete immediately for trophies at the highest level.

We’re not there yet, unearthing those gems for Newcastle where they have the time to grow into their potential is definitely what we need.

And that sell on model to build a club is exactly why we are hearing about our top talent being primed to leave.

Is it a bad thing for Ashworth to go at this moment in time?

Will his expertise will be wasted at Man Utd?

Will we get a DoF in who thinks holding on to Bruno, Jo, Isak etc is better than selling on and reinvesting? If Ashworth stays, we’re losing one or more as that’s his modus operandi.

For me, if Ashworth goes, our commercial director has to be the the guy to focus on building our revenue streams, so we can invest in the team rather than selling to build!