Manchester United Women disbanded in 2005 and were re-formed in 2018 but in the two seasons since the team was created, they have established themselves as potential Barclays FA Women’s Super League title contenders in the not-so-distant future.
Players such as Lauren James and Katie Zelem have led them to recent glory; winning the FA Women’s Championship in their first season as a newly re-formed club. In the 2019/2020 Barclays FA Women’s Super League season they were to finish fourth, a result which has impressed onlookers. The 13-year gap without a women’s team caused people to question the reason that such a large football club did not have a women’s team and the what kind of message that sent out to people. Yet, since 2018 the team have rapidly risen to become one of the best clubs in England.
I have seen recent articles about the success of Manchester United Women from the re-creation of the team to challenging for the top four in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League and I asked myself, is that really a surprise? Yes, to do it in two years is incredible but for me the success of Manchester United Women was expected.
For starters, the team come under the club brand of Manchester United which is one of the largest clubs in the world. This resulted in lots of the men’s teams’ fans going to watch the women’s side play. In the Manchester derby, there were 31,000 fans at The Etihad Stadium to watch their game. These spectator amounts are rarely heard of in the women’s game, but in recent years the pull of derbies and the movement into bigger stadiums have led to an increase. Even though many attending that game will have been dressed in the sky blue of City, a fair share will have also been intrigued by the project at Manchester United and were keen to witness history being made. Men’s club legends such as Sir Alex Ferguson, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney have given the Manchester United brand a recognisable international appeal which has increased the opportunities for the women’s side to thrive; both in terms of fans and also funding. As well as this, the size of Manchester United allowed for greater financial powers than many of the other teams in the top two tiers of the women’s game which is why they have ghosted past others.
Secondly managed by Casey Stoney, a legend of the game, the team was destined for success. While this was her first coaching role, she had experience as assistant coach of the Lionesses under Phil Neville and also was player-manager briefly at Chelsea Women. I think the reign that she was given, and her tactical expertise has impressed a lot of people. Creating a team set up from scratch in just a few weeks is an incredibly hard task but Stoney has thrived in her role. Her success at Manchester United is the main reason why she has been heavily rumoured to take over the Lionesses role from Neville. Stoney has been an amazing asset to the club.
Thirdly, the players that Manchester United were able to attract have led them to having big name players on their books from the beginning. Stoney mentioned in the early days that this was a ‘selling point in terms of recruitment’. Players were willing to join the new club because of Manchester United name and the assumption that the team would be propelled to winning titles. Mary Earps for example, left domestic double-winning team VfL Wolfsburg to sign for Manchester United in 2019 and this demonstrates the pull that the club have over more established clubs because of their name. New signing Lucy Staniforth puts out a statement to other clubs that Manchester United are here for the long run and this time, they are aiming to win titles.
When the new Barclays FA Women’s Super League kicks-off, I predict another good season for Manchester United Women as they continue their rapid rise right to the top of the women’s game.
By Hannah Burt
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