Gary Neville says Manchester United have been naive for not having a Sporting Director in the last decade – Man United News And Transfer News

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Manchester United’s performance on and off the field has left a lot to be desired over the last decade.

A lack of direction from senior figures have led to poor recruitment and poor results which have left United languishing behind the leading lights in the game, both at home and abroad.

Having failed to win a Premier League title in the last ten years, United have chewed through five permanent managers and are only now getting up to speed behind the scenes.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s INEOS group have recently gained control of the sporting structure at Old Trafford and major changes are afoot.

United continued to operate without a Sporting Director after Sir Alex Ferguson left back in 2013, a move former captain Gary Neville has described as naive.

Speaking on his ‘Stick to Football’ podcast, Neville criticized United’s way of working over the last period with the lack of direction affecting their performance in the transfer market in particular.

“Manchester United haven’t had a sporting director for the last 10 years, so they’ve been so naïve at that level. I imagine when they’ve been dealing with agents, if United called you, you knew you were going to get another £20-30million because they were naïve and didn’t have a relationship with agents,” he said.

The Peoples Person relayed that United are close to appointing the well-respected Dan Ashworth in a key role of the new regime and Neville feels getting him out of Newcastle would represent a coup for the club after working with him in the England set-up.

“Dan Ashworth did a good job at West Brom, but I was there with England when he was appointed, and it was a big change when he came in. It was quite a jolt at the time for Roy Hodgson to have a technical director like Dan Ashworth.

I remember Dan having a conversation with Roy, but they were building all these foundations, where he started with the U21s, the U18s and with the women’s team. You think of the success of all those teams in recent years, but that has been in the making for eight years, and it all started when Dan came in,” said Neville.

The former defender praised Ashworth’s level of detail he brought to the role and is sure his influence was a key part in England’s fortunes changing over recent years, both on and off the pitch.

“This was then they started talking about different types of coaches (e.g. attacking and defending coaches), and they were talking about attacking set piece coaches, breaking the game down to intimate detail.

“I’m not saying he’s responsible for what happened, but he had a big influence with the FA. They were a terrible organisation from a professionalism point of view, and I felt what he did, he put processes in place where they’re now structured and organised,” he added.

United will be desperate for a similar upturn in performance having struggled to replicate anything like the period of success they enjoyed in the Ferguson era.

Erik ten Hag’s side travel to Luton Town on Sunday, hoping to continue their good run of form since the turn of the calendar year.