Twelve months ago, Manchester United were almost atop the summit of English women’s football. They had narrowly lost the Women’s Super League title to juggernauts Chelsea by two points and were defeated by Emma Hayes’ side in a 1-0 loss in the FA Cup final as well. Despite the disappointment, things were looking optimistic for the Red Devils heading into their fifth season in WSL as they qualified for the Champions League for the first time in their brief history.
Yet in 2024, the only direction that United are heading in is a downward spiral. On the pitch, the 2023/24 season was a mighty disappointment given the expectations that were there to step up to the next level. It started with disheartening defeat as United were dumped out of the Champions League qualifiers by Paris Saint-Germain over two legs. Despite securing the Women’s FA Cup trophy for the first time in their history, the overall success – or failure, in fact – was heavily judged on Marc Skinner’s side finishing 5th in WSL and 20 points behind champions Chelsea.
For Skinner, that failure was rewarded with a one-year extension by the club rather than the potentially anticipated P45. For some, it could be interpreted as a low risk-high reward strategy, should the team bounce back in style next season. For many, it is the interpretation of a lack of ambition growing within the women’s team, and a part of the club which has been put on the backburner for the next twelve months as the new owners get to grips with fixing the men’s team.
Key departures have cast a dark cloud over the club in recent times, but it goes far deeper than that. Take Alessia Russo for example, who left United for Arsenal on a free transfer last season. The club opted to keep the striker beyond January 2023 in the slim hopes of convincing Russo to stick around. The England international moved on, United came off worse with no financial gain and strengthened their WSL rivals Arsenal.
Twelve months later, the club found themselves in the same predicament with goalkeeper Mary Earps. Approaches by Arsenal were rejected in January in the hope of getting the two-time FIFA Women’s Best Goalkeeper award winner to sign a new deal with the club. No agreement was ultimately reached and Earps signed a two-year deal with PSG. Club captain Katie Zelem, who initially came through United’s academy, also left the club, as well as fan favourite Lucia Garcia, upon the expiry of their contracts.
The most interesting aspect to come out of the departures was in Mary Earps’ farewell message to the fans:
“After five years of service to your great club, I have decided that it’s time for a new challenge.” United left Earps’ announcement to last, giving one of the most recognised footballers in the women’s game a glorified goodbye across social media. “The club is about to undergo a period of transition,” she highlighted. “Unfortunately, I don’t feel it aligns with the timing of where I’m at in my career.”
The first interesting point was no acknowledgement or thanks given to manager Marc Skinner. That seemed to have been a common theme across the other departures, aligning with reports coming out of the club that the majority of the players were unhappy with the decision to extend Skinner’s stay at Leigh Sports Village.
The second was the mention of a ‘transition’. That is a damning assessment of the club and underlines the vast work that needs to take place to restore the club back in contention with Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City.
Admittedly, players leaving under the Bosman ruling is not as financially brutal on teams in the women’s game. For example, the highest transfer fee paid in women’s football is Racheal Kundananji for £625,000, which is the equivalent of pennies in the men’s game. Rather, it is the spine of the team that has been ripped out of the club that has left a gaping hole over the direction, and in the words of Earps, the transitional period that needs to take place this coming season.
Fortunately, United recruited well last summer in the goalkeeping department with Phallon Tullis-Joyce, who is ready-made for the No 1 shirt regardless of whether United swoop in the market for another goalkeeper. The club also confirmed the signing of VfL Wolfsburg’s Dominique Jansenn on a free transfer, with more reinforcements expected over the summer.
Much of the public scrutiny that has come under the spotlight is rooted from new co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s comments in an interview with Bloomberg last month. When asked about Man United Women’s, his response was:
“We haven’t got into that level of detail with the women’s team yet.”
“We’ve been pretty much focused on how we resolve the first-team issues in that environment and that’s been pretty full-time for the first six months.”
This followed news that the women’s team will use portable cabins for the 2024-25 season as Carrington gets a revamp, to accommodate the men’s team whenever the schedule between both clashes. Not only because of the public criticism, but it should become incumbent on the men’s team to speak out against this decision. It is yet to surface whether that has happened.
It has felt like every time the INEOS owner has sat in front of a camera as a co-owner of United, some controversy has spilled from his mouth. In one of his earliest interviews, he voiced his enthusiasm on public funding being used to regenerate the area around Old Trafford. It did not go down too well given Ratcliffe changed his tax residence from Hampshire to Monaco in 2020. The comments on the women’s team were followed by his suggestion that ‘top 6’ clubs should hold a bigger say in key decisions around the league.
Rather than Ratcliffe, Snapdragon’s Chief Marketing Officer Don McGuire has had more promising aspirations than the United co-owner so far (at least in public view) – as reported by The Athletic in their report on the Old Trafford club’s new shirt sponsorship deal. McGuire wishes to host United’s women’s team on a tour of the USA against NWSL side San Diego Wave, who play their games at the Snapdragon Stadium.
McGuire said:
“We would love to have the Manchester United women’s team play San Diego Wave in Snapdragon Stadium. That would be phenomenal. We’ve actually talked about that. So we’d love to make that happen.”
Addressing the issues
Before the cracks start to sink the ship, the United hierarchy must immediately fix the problems in sight. If this article was a manifesto, this is how it would go:
- Sort the contracts out.
This is an area where those in charge of the decisions can learn from the recent lessons in history of chaos at the club. Both Paul Pogba and Ander Herrera left Old Trafford because the club left it too late to renegotiate their contracts. Whether it was the right decision for them to leave is irrelevant, but psychologically a player can sense devaluation if contract talks are left to the last minute. It shows a lack of care to players and indecisiveness within management. The lack of clarity meant that the likes of Zelem and Earps were not given a proper farewell in the FA Cup final.
The contract issues have surfaced for a second consecutive year and cannot happen again next summer. Some of the players whose contracts expire in the summer of 2025 are Millie Turner, Maya Le Tissier and Jayde Riviere. The club must act early to secure these contracts down.
Dan Ashworth has joined as a sporting director from Newcastle United, and part of his role will be overseeing football operations across Manchester United’s women’s team.
It could be good news for the women. When appointed as part of Eddie Howe’s setup in 2022, Ashworth made strides to mention what the first steps in a sporting director role looked like for him:
“Within time, it’s about understanding the medical department, the academy, loans, the women’s team and other things across the remit of the sporting director.”
“It’s to try and make sure there is a cohesive way of working and have one plan to try and support the needs of the football club going forward. The women’s team as well, that was something I took on at the FA and Brighton.”
- Prioritising the team.
With a wealth of experience on his resume, Ashworth comes to the club at a crucial point of that transition.
Whilst the team was only formed in 2018, it had made great progress in moving from the second division into a top WSL contender. However, many players have seen the club as a stepping stone, rather than a home and the trend continues. Part of that sporting director role will be to recognise this and establish a home for players to settle at Leigh Sports Village over the next few years. Much like Old Trafford, the club needs to become the final destination rather than a stop-gap to Chelsea, Arsenal or PSG.
In the past six years, United have done seriously well to establish a name for the likes of Lauren James, Alessia Russo, Ella Toone and Millie Turner – most of whom have gone on to become European champion Lionesses. The team tasted their first sip of success with the FA Cup trophy even in a disastrous season.
Manchester United need to be serious about treating their women’s team in its own right – as part of the ‘first team’ conversations and not as an after-thought. The creation of the women’s team was well overdue for a club of United’s magnitude, but it needs to carry on creating a legacy for the women that isn’t built on virtue signalling or tokenism. Many girls grow up dreaming to play for Manchester United and now they have a destination for that dream. For that to be felt globally, it needs to start with the owner(s) respecting the women’s game with an injection of money and faith, an established hierarchy, positive working environment, and platform for success.
Long may it continue, but with respect to the name and the game.
Photo – @connieleaphotos
