Marc Skinner’s Manchester United exit shows Jim Ratcliffe’s priorities are elsewhere – unless he thinks he’s smarter than every WSL owner.
That is the verdict of talkSPORT’s Women’s football correspondent Angelina Kelly, who believes there’s little to prove that INEOS really care about the women’s team at Old Trafford.
The Red Devils lost their manager just a month before the new season due to a lack of resources and investment from the hierarchy.
It is the second successive women’s head coach who has had issues with recruitment, with his predecessor, former England defender Casey Stoney, quitting in similar fashion in 2021.
How big of a shock was Skinner’s departure?
Kelly told talkSPORT’s Darragh MacAnthony and Alex Crook: “It was 50-50 because I think when you look at Marc Skinner’s time at Manchester United, it has been quite turbulent.
“On one hand, you look at it and think he has actually overachieved because the amount of money that he has to play with versus Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester City is significantly less.
“He got Manchester United Women their first piece of silverware ever in the FA Cup, got fourth, third, fifth, second, fourth, got them into the Champions League for the first time in their history.
“So on one side, you have to say he did overachieve. However, on the other side of the coin, people were frustrated.
“The fans weren’t his biggest fan. People were quite critical of the choices that he was making.
“They got to four domestic cup finals in total, won one of them. The other three they lost on aggregate to Chelsea 6-0. So it’s not great in that sense.
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“His departure is kind of similar to the Eddie Howe situation,” Kelly continued. “I think that you’re looking at a manager who, within his world, is very well respected; ex-professional footballers that I speak to speak very highly of Marc Skinner.
“Whenever I’ve spoken to him, he’s always been very polite, very respectful, etc. And I think he’s looked at this and thought, this club are not willing to invest in this women’s team.
“And going into a new season – The issues last season were lack of squad depth and wanting big stars that can show up on the big stage. He hasn’t got that. A lot of players have been sold. The squad depth is less.
“He’s looking at it and thinking, I’m not going to be able to do anything with this team. And I think for his own reputation part, partly he’s thought, I need to walk away from this.
“In a sense, it is kind of similar to the Eddie Howe situation. The powers that be aren’t backing you.
“I think the key difference is that Newcastle perhaps couldn’t spend money. Manchester United Women won’t spend money.”
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On Jim Ratcliffe’s comments
Man United Women appeared to be investing more in their squad the summer before Ratcliffe’s arrival in 2023.
Alessia Russo and Ona Batlle both departed on free transfers, but Brazilian forward Geyse was signed for a then club-record fee, in addition to Melvine Malard, Hinata Miyazawa and Irene Guerrero.
However, Ratcliffe faced backlash for his comments on the women’s team a year later, while he was also left red-faced when he asked then-captain Katie Zelem what her role was at the club during a visit to the training ground.
Peterborough United chairman MacAnthony told talkSPORT: “Nobody wants to disrespect the female team in any football club.
“But at the end of the day, the team that’s bringing in the mass amount of revenue into Manchester United worldwide, and I don’t want to be unpopular saying this, is the men’s team.”
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Kelly replied: “Definitely. I just think it doesn’t help matters when you don’t even know who your women’s team captain is. You don’t even know her name. It’s going to come across as a bit disrespectful.
“And I do take your point in that sense. But when you look at the other big teams, you look at Arsenal, you look at Chelsea, you look at Brighton, you look at a lot of different teams that have men’s and women’s sides. They are pumping money into the women’s side. And they’re not turning a profit on that.
“Manchester United just about turned a profit last season. More or less, it was closer to breaking even, to be completely honest.
“But other clubs, they aren’t making money on this. However, they are continuously pumping money into the women’s side because they see this as an investment.
“I would ask you guys, Tony Bloom, a good owner, a smart businessman? Tony Bloom is pumping money into Brighton women.
“He is building a stadium in Brighton just for the women, not just an extra stadium, but specifically designed for women.”
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Sustainability with homegrown players
Man United Women have fallen behind their rivals in the market this summer, with Lyon defender Alice Sombath joining Tottenham.
Meanwhile, London City Lionesses, who finished sixth last season, signed two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas.
United, however, have sold Malard to Chelsea for £850,000, and their new strategy is to build a squad around home-grown youth players.
Kelly added: “I think the issue is that sources are claiming that the club feel that spending is not sustainable in the women’s academy.
“So the focus is on sustainability with homegrown players, which is understood to fit the identity of developing youth, etc. And they want to go down this route.”
When pressed on whether homegrown players are just code for doing it on the cheap, she continued: “And this is my opinion in that if you want to bring in young homegrown talent, you need to have something to show.
“At the moment, they have absolutely nothing going into this new season.
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“They have a fantastic goalkeeper. They have a captain who is a wonderful centre back in Maya Le Tissier. They have Ella Toone, who is the biggest star at Manchester United. And they have Jess Park, who has been wonderful, who came over from Manchester City.
“Minus that, they have that one spine of decent players. There is nothing else to show that they really care about this club and that they are building around those players to actually achieve something, because the way things are, London City Lionesses are spending a lot of money bringing in a two-time Ballon d’Or winner.
“So the thing is either Sir Jim Ratcliffe is going down this sustainable route as far as we understand, and he believes he is smarter than the Arsenal owners, than Tony Bloom, then Michelle Kang, etc, etc.
“He genuinely believes he’s onto something, or perhaps this is a situation where they realise that they don’t want to put the money into it.
“It’s not viable in Jim Ratcliffe’s mind at the moment, and he just wants to cast it to the side.
“The senior women’s side has only been established since 2018. A lot of young female players were at Manchester United, but then they got to the end of the road, and it was see you later.
‘Struggle to understand what the plan is’
“Even someone like Ella Toone, she had to play football when she was younger at Blackburn and Manchester City because it [the pathway at Old Trafford] wasn’t there.
“So I just struggle to understand what the plan is at Manchester United.
“I would love to know to make sure that this youth system is going to be so seamless that it can compete with Arsenal, with Chelsea, with these other big clubs.
“I’m just not too sure how they’re going to do that, and when you think about it, what Manchester United Women would need – About 10 million, which is what? Less than Mason Mount earns a year?
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“And I understand you can’t just get rid of Mason Mount and take that money. But what they’re asking for isn’t hundreds and hundreds of millions. It’s nothing on the men’s side.
“That would make such a massive difference to make Manchester United Women be able to compete so that they are competing with Arsenal, with Chelsea.
“So you’re bringing those fans in because young fans now, it’s not always the club sometimes – It’s the players.
“There will be people that supported Man United Women when Alessia Russo was there. Now she’s at Arsenal. People switch gears.
“And I just think that in order to carry on pushing this, you still need to be bringing in big players.
“You still need to be putting on a little bit of a show, and the way that things are going…To have a couple of decent players, and that’s about it; I don’t know how they’re going to even hold on to the fan base that they’ve got.”
