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<p style="display: none;">Article continues below</p><p style="display: none;">Article continues below</p><p style="display: none;">Article continues below</p><script type="application/json" data-placement="fcplayer-semantic">{"type":"fcplayer-semantic","data":{"embedCode":"//cdn.fcp.codes/embed-code-template/embed-code-template.js#SEMANTIC_5704afb8-c10b-4ba5-9cb4-d7fb6098ef90"}}</script><ul><li>Ashworth left Man Utd after matter of months</li><li>Ratcliffe says there was a lack of "chemistry"</li><li>Admits to mistakes on Ashworth and Ten Hag</li></ul><table><tbody><tr><td><a href="https://www.whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va2ivxLJJhzdzbJdwo0n"><strong>Follow GOAL on WhatsApp!</strong></a> 🟢📱</td></tr></tbody></table>

'They were just mistakes' - Sir Jim Ratcliffe lifts lid on Dan Ashworth's Man Utd exit and admits Erik ten Hag contract extension was wrong decision

Premier League

Newcastle

Manchester United

<p><a href="https://www.goal.com/en-gb/lists/dan-ashworth-leaves-man-utd-after-only-five-months-as-sporting-director-in-shock-blow-to-ineos-rebuild/blt28ec9db3deac5d41#csa8e17498011e4b9c" target="_blank">Ashworth left Old Trafford</a> last December after just five months in his sporting director role. Now, United minority owner Ratcliffe has lifted the lid on his departure and that he made a "mistake" <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-gb/lists/erik-ten-hag-renews-man-utd-contract-until-2026/bltf932834fb2cab480" target="_blank">extending former manager Erik ten Hag's contract</a> last summer.</p>

WHAT HAPPENED?

<p>He told <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2025/03/10/sir-jim-ratcliffe-interview-manchester-united-gone-bust/" target="_blank">The Telegraph</a>: “They were just mistakes. The Erik thing is slightly mitigating. There was quite a lot of debate about that time. He had just won a Cup final. The fans were clearly of the view that we’d like to stick with him and all that sort of stuff. They were both mistakes. I don’t think we can say much more than that. It’s a journey and there’s a lot of decisions that we have to make over the course of the journey and we’re not going to get them all right. I don’t think in the future we’ll get them all right either because we’re not perfect.”</p><p>On Ashworth, he added: “We’re talking about our old industry [with Ineos]. I think we just have to say, ‘chemistry’. Really, I don’t want to go down that [road]. It is what it is, and it was our fault.”</p>

WHAT SIR JIM RATCLIFFE SAID

<p>United are in a state of turmoil at present, with the club sitting 14th in the Premier League, <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-gb/lists/this-cannot-continue-man-utd-confirm-up-to-200-job-losses-ceo-omar-berrada-warns-of-need-to-stop-continuously-losing-money/bltb88318c699ee2bdb" target="_blank">widespread redundancies have occurred</a> and fans are <a href="https://www.goal.com/en-gb/lists/glazers-man-utd-faithful-tear-into-sir-jim-ratcliffe-ineos-mass-protest-thousands-fans-wear-black/bltabbfee5d0254333a" target="_blank">stepping up protests </a>against the Red Devils' ownership. The fact that United chased Ashworth from Newcastle United for months, only to get rid of him soon and at great expense after is not a good look.</p>

THE BIGGER PICTURE

<p>Ruben Amorim's United will hope for some good news when they host Real Sociedad in the last-16 of the Europa League on Thursday. The tie is level at 1-1 after the first leg in Spain.</p>

WHAT NEXT?

'They were just mistakes' - Sir Jim Ratcliffe lifts lid on Dan Ashworth's Man Utd exit and admits Erik ten Hag contract extension was wrong decision | Goal.com

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has revealed why Dan Ashworth last just five months at Manchester United and admitted a new deal for Erik ten Hag was a mistake.

&apos;They were just mistakes&apos; - Sir Jim Ratcliffe lifts lid on Dan Ashworth&apos;s Man Utd exit and admits Erik ten Hag contract extension was wrong decision

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