Yesterday, Dan Ashworth officially kick-started his Newcastle career as the new Sporting Director. This comes following previous jobs as technical director at Brighton & Hove Albion, director of elite development at the Football Association (FA) and sporting and technical director at West Bromwich Albion.

Ashworth is known for implementing “England’s DNA” to help create winning senior teams in men’s and women’s games.

However, the title ‘Sporting Director’ is thrown around a lot in professional football and many don’t quite understand what the main roles and responsibilities are, so, what will Dan Ashworth actually be doing as Newcastle United’s Sporting Director?

First of all, as outlined on the club’s official website, “Ashworth will be responsible for the club’s overarching sporting strategy, football development and recruitment at all age levels, and will work closely with head coach Eddie Howe, academy manager Steve Harper and head of recruitment Steve Nickson.” So, this gives us a general idea of how important Ashworth’s role will be and the types of people that he will be working around.

When asked about his role at Brighton in an interview with BT Sport two years ago, Ashworth said, “A technical director’s role is always best described as looking after the interests of the club in a medium to long-term.”

He continued, “There are six things that come into me, the men’s first team, women’s first team, player recruitment, the academy, medical and sport science and the player loan department.” It is clear that the role of a Sporting Director is one of the most vital when it comes to the progression of any professional football club from the bottom right up to the top.

“All of those [six things] are medium to long term such as medical, player loans, the academy, in order to try and make sure that the club is sustainable, we spend our money wisely, we open up pathways for young players to come through the system.”

When talking about how much impact Ashworth had on the philosophy side of things when he worked under Graham Potter at Brighton, Ashworth responded, “You hire a coach that matches the philosophy that the club thinks they want to go and the direction of travel they see the club going, my job is to stitch all of that together.” As Ashworth will be working directly with manager Eddie Howe it is almost certain that talks will currently be going on right through the summer on the vision and future of Newcastle United and how they will go about it.

“Making sure that the 23s, the 18s and the academy put the right plans around the young players, we get them out on loan at the right places to give them every chance of being able to play for Brighton and play for Graham.” Development and youth are something that looks to be a key part of Ashworth’s work and is definitely something that we will see implemented on a stronger basis at the club. Newcastle United was one of four clubs that didn’t give a single minute to a teenager in the Premier League last season, along with Burnley, Chelsea and Leicester City. I’m sure this is a statistic that Howe and Ashworth will be exploring to try and push more youth players through the system to then go on and play for the first team.

“My view is if you keep changing the head coach every 14 months or so which I think is about the average lifespan of a manager unfortunately nowadays and then you go from one philosophy to the other, you’ve got no chance of joining up your loans, your academy, your development program and your player recruitment […] so its about long-term planning in order to get the best out of our resources.” With Graham Potter still in charge at Brighton and doing a fantastic job, it looks like Eddie Howe is here to stay for the long-term and this partnership with Dan Ashworth should get all Newcastle fans very excited for the start of a new era at the club.

In a statement on the club’s official website, Dan Ashworth said, “Each time I’ve been to St. James’ Park in the past, I have been reminded of the club’s long history and the unrivalled passion of its fan base. It is a huge football club with great potential, and I am incredibly positive about what we can collectively achieve… I’m excited to start work immediately and look forward to being part of a team that is helping the club to grow and achieve long-term success.”

So, what are your thoughts on the appointment of Dan Ashworth and where can you see The Toon finishing in the Premier League next season?

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