Manchester United manager search is being impacted by someone not employed by the club

Dan Ashworth can't legally work for Manchester United while he's on gardening leave.

Newcastle placed Ashworth on gardening leaving on February 19 and have been in negotiations to release the sporting director, so he can officially start work at Old Trafford.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has gone on record to say it's 'absurd' for Ashworth to serve such a lengthy period of gardening leave, but Newcastle were always expected to hang tough.

Newcastle didn't want to lose Ashworth and have made unrealistic demands to release him. That is their prerogative but it is believed to have affected their hunt for his replacement.

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The episode seems to be slowly becoming bitter and Ashworth is set to take Newcastle to arbitration in an effort to resolve the impasse over his intended move to United.

However, the North East press have reported Ashworth sent an email to a Newcastle address that inadvertently revealed he was being tapped up for the sporting director role at Old Trafford by Omar Berrada, who is joining United from Manchester City this summer to become CEO.

It's also claimed that Ashworth disclosed details to Berrada of the agreement between Newcastle and Brighton that took him to St. James' Park in 2022 after a period of gardening leave, which would be a breach of confidentiality between those two Premier League clubs.

There have been other claims about the episode and, in short, it has become a mess. United figures were initially baffled when Newcastle said it would take £20million to release Ashworth and it always seemed a 1,000/1 chance he would move in time for this summer transfer window.

There's been a suggestion Ashworth's period of gardening leave will be at least 12 months and in the absence of compensation being paid, he could stay at Newcastle until 2026.

A one-year period of gardening leave seems more realistic and if that was the case, Ashworth would miss the January 2025 window after being absent this summer.

In an ideal world, Ashworth would have been released relatively swiftly and a compensation package would have been agreed. That would have allowed him to oversee recruitment this summer and to lead the way in deciding the manager's future and a potential replacement.

He's spending time in his garden instead - gardening leave is a euphemism for suspended - but United must still make decisions with Ashworth in mind. The 53-year-old is their incoming sporting director and will work with Erik ten Hag's replacement, should he be sacked.

There have been 17 days since the FA Cup final and there's still no communication on Ten Hag's future. INEOS' end-of-season review continues to rumble on and it has become a farce, with managers like Kieran McKenna and Thomas Tuchel having been contacted over the last month.

Ashworth cannot legally be involved with the process because it would be a breach of his gardening leave but any successor chosen for Ten Hag must be compatible with him.

That's perhaps why Tuchel's name has been withdrawn from the list of candidates. Although the new structure at United will take into consideration which signings the coach wants, Ashworth is expected to dictate the transfer policy and players will be signed for the club.

Tuchel enjoyed working under Chelsea's structure before Todd Boehly's takeover, but there was friction when the American regime arrived and dictated the entire transfer policy. Tuchel is no mug and understands there must be a compromise, but £280million was spent on signings that wouldn't have necessarily been his picks. Boehly said: "We weren't sure that Thomas saw it the same way we saw it."

The German most recently managed Bayern Munich and signed Eric Dier, who was clearly a Tuchel signing, to join Harry Kane, so he needs an element of control when managing.

United are expected to change the manager's title to 'coach' under the new football structure. They will work closely with Ashworth and it seems he's impacting the search and decision process, even without being directly involved while serving his period of gardening leave.

Ashworth must be considered because he will be at the heart of everything going forward. However, when he arrives and officially starts work is the sticking point.