Manchester United manager Marc Skinner says that he understands the importance of the Manchester derby for the club and for the fans and he will be absorbed into the culture of the fixture this weekend.
Skinner will take charge of The Red Devils for his first Manchester derby on Saturday and he is not playing down the importance for the game both for the club and for the red side of the city’s footballing community.
When speaking in his pre-match press conference in which FAWSL Full-Time were present, Skinner said “I think you have to absorb yourself into that culture and be part of it. While I’m Manchester United manager, I’m going to bleed absolute red so for us, I have to understand what it means to the fans and what it means to be part of a derby of this magnitude.
“It’s going to be something exciting but also as a coach, you have to love the emotion but also stay focused, that’s important because you have to stay focused to make quick decisions. I want the fans to be the energy in this and we can be the focus and control.”
Manchester United fans are yet to celebrate a Barclays FA Women’s Super League victory over their neighbours, Manchester City are one of just two top flight sides never to be defeated by The Red Devils. Skinner went on to say that he wants to see his side create derby memories for the fans, however, the responsibility to create special memories doesn’t stop at Manchester City.
He added “I want to create memories regardless of the opponent, we have to. We want young girls to turn the TV on and see wonderful players playing at the top of their game and being really exciting to watch and seeing something that they might want to envisage in their futures. Absolutely, we need to create memories.
“I’ve been part of women’s football for a long time now where I’ve seen those games that just weren’t covered by TV and they were memories and they are continuously, but now that we have more exposure, as coaches, I am pretty sure Gareth (Taylor) will want to do the same, we want to create moments where it takes people’s breath away.
“We would love to create derby moments, of course, I’d love to guarantee that we do that every time that we play just so that we can have a narrative of spectacular every time. We want to do that, we will try to do that against Manchester City.”
The Barclays FA Women’s Super League fixture between Manchester United and Manchester City kicks-off at 1.30pm on Saturday afternoon and will be broadcast live on BBC One.
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