Newcastle United officially complete Manchester United swoop - spotted at Nottingham Forest

As first reported by Mail Sport last month, Luke Dickson had been placed on gardening leave by Manchester United after agreeing to join the Magpies as a Senior Analyst.

Dickson, who spent five years at Old Trafford as an academy analyst, confirmed on LinkedIn he was preparing to pursue a new opportunity.

He said: “After 5 unbelievable years at Manchester United, I have decided to leave the club to pursue a new opportunity.

“It has been an unforgettable period of time, with some of the best experiences of my life whilst getting to work with elite level practitioners on a day-to-day basis. There are too many people to mention but I cannot thank everyone enough.”

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Berwick-raised Dickson officially got to work at Newcastle this month and he was with the team for their 3-1 victory at the City Ground on Sunday afternoon.

In the dressing photo posted on the Magpies’ socials after the game, Dickson is positioned in the top right corner (see below).

Dickson will be pleased to finally get started at St James’ Park. He informed Man United earlier this year of his intention to join Newcastle but was told he must see out a contractual period of gardening leave.

And there are people inside Newcastle who believed the Red Devils were playing tit-for-tat following the Dan Ashworth saga.

Just 20 months after joining from Brighton & Hove Albion, Ashworth was placed on gardening leave in February this year following an approach from the Red Devils.

It took five months for the two clubs to agree a compensation package. During that period, Man United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe described the situation as “silly” and absurd.

Ashworth was able to oversee Man United’s summer transfer window before being involved in the decision to sack manager Erik ten Hag and replace him with Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim.