Manchester United head coach Marc Skinner says that having the fans invested in what he wants to achieve at the club means everything to him.
The former Orlando Pride boss arrived at the Leigh Sports Village in the summer and his performance as Manchester United head coach was very much put under the microscope by the club’s fans in the first half of the season.
Some inconsistent results early in his tenure raised questions with some fans but his team now look to have fully absorbed his tactics and strategies and Manchester United go into this afternoon’s home clash with Birmingham City aiming for both a fourth consecutive win and fourth clean sheet on the bounce.
The vibe from the Manchester United fans has been extremely positive in recent weeks with many now believing that Skinner is the right man to take the club forward. When speaking to FAWSL Full-Time ahead of this afternoon’s match, the Manchester United boss said that having the fans’ acceptance and total support means everything to him.
“It is hugely important to me personally because all I want to do is please our fans,” Skinner said. “By that, it doesn’t always mean do the things that they want, you have to adapt your own way of thinking onto what you want their style to be but then they have the biggest impact for us because the game doesn’t exist without them, especially ours because they are super energetic and noisy.
“You need to have their support but all I am trying to do is put a Manchester United team on the field in the way that we see it, that expresses the mental aptitude to take the weight of this wonderful club on them. It’s not an easy thing – three years, 30 years, 300 years, it is still a weight of expectation at Manchester United.
“Hopefully, the fans stay with us and stay on that journey. I feel their support, I feel their love and hopefully, we reciprocate to them, we want them to be super proud of the performances and how we are trying to do it.”
Skinner went on to discuss this afternoon’s opponents Birmingham City. He said that he is really impressed by what interim head coach Darren Carter has brought to the Blues since being appointed into his role in late November.
He said “I’m not surprised but I’ve been impressed. When we played Birmingham last time, it was about beating the block for a lot of the game and using counter attacks the best that we could and that’s nothing against Scott (Booth). We’ve seen Birmingham driving, dribbling numbers to the box (under Carter) so I think he’s got a nice balance, he’s got Marcus Bignot who will do the defensive structure and Darren’s energy to drive them forward.
“It will be very difficult. I’ve got a lot of respect for the club and what they are doing. The brilliant thing about Birmingham is that they know exactly who they are. Sometimes they are going to have to soak up pressure and hit you on counter but that gives you real foundations to express yourselves and that’s what I saw against Arsenal.
“It is going to be a difficult game and we can’t look at league position, we must look at what we can do to be the best version of ourselves.”
The Barclays FA Women’s Super League fixture between Manchester United and Birmingham City kicks-off at midday. Tickets remain available and can be purchased by clicking here.