Newcastle's smart Dan Ashworth 'leverage' after Manchester United made a 'song and dance'

Newcastle United did their job 'properly' by locking Dan Ashworth into a lengthy notice period - which was used as 'leverage' with Manchester United.

That is the view of former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan after the two clubs finally reached an agreement to release the sporting director from gardening leave. Ashworth was put on notice back in February and the 53-year-old would have remained sidelined until next year if Manchester United did not agree a settlement with Newcastle.

Newcastle were initially demanding a sum of up to £20m for Ashworth, who had a 'lot of intelligence and information', but Manchester United part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe hit out at that 'silly' figure. A visibly frustrated Sir Jim slammed Newcastle for being 'very difficult' and 'very awkward' as recently as last week, but a breakthrough has since been made to immediately release Ashworth from his contractual obligations.

READ MORE: Newcastle send message to Dan Ashworth after he is 'immediately released' to Manchester United

READ MORE: Yankuba Minteh breaks silence as he sends brilliant farewell message to Newcastle

"Manchester United wanted somebody," Jordan told talkSPORT. "They made a song and dance out of it. Newcastle did their job properly, which was to lock down a contract with somebody who was brought in to be the intellectual capital behind their development.

"They had the wherewithal and foresight to put him under a contractual obligation to them rather than just one to him. As a result of that, they have leveraged it and Man United have had to do what they should have done in the first instance, which is pay what they purport someone is worth to them.

"They are quite happy to fling money around like a drunken sailor when it comes to buying low-performing footballers but the intellectual capital behind who's going to buy these footballers, to be the leader of the cavalry that's coming over the mound to cure the future of Man United under the Ratcliffe regime and revolution, they have sort of prevaricated over and not wanted to pay.

"They have now paid it, I suspect, and probably found a middle ground between what Newcastle wanted and what Manchester United wanted, and that's how you do deals."