Blog post by Filip Mac.
The lack of women’s football team in Manchester United recent history has definitely been a hot topic amongst football fans , especially considering the fact that all top teams in England and around Europe have their own women’s section effectively leaving Manchester United the only big club without one. However a major breakthrough has been achieved , with United’s chairman Ed Woodward announcing that the club has applied to the Football Association to join the Women’s Super League. He summarised this announcement by stating ‘Launching a team in WSL2 would give many more of our graduates from the regional talent club the chance to establish themselves.’
The fight for women’s football team at the red side of Manchester has been going on for some time now, United have been the subject of much criticism within the game for not having a women’s team. Being most likely the biggest club in the world with the largest fan base , United are expected to set examples in all categories of football development by aiding and committing funds. Obtaining women’s team will allow them to do just that as it will provide a sizeable boost for the domestic women’s game and allow United to become a recognisable also on the women’s sports stage.
Decision to form the Women’s was also influenced by many former United players including the likes of Phil Neville who is the England women national team coach this has certainly exerted some influence over this decision as a lot of Manchester United legends still hold some kind of authority in the clubs community. In January Neville said: “They [United] have a fantastic community programme for female players and coaches. When they do set out their women’s team it will be one to challenge City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool. A club of the size of United should be the leaders, the pioneers. I am sure they are working to do that”.
Launching a team in WSL2 would give many more graduates from the regional talent club the chance to establish themselves as first team players. This is hugely important as a lot of talented women footballers tend to move to America in order to develop as footballers and as a result some British based clubs may suffer from shortage of quality.
Fortunately for the Manchester Ladies team , the facilities for them are already in place and are of high standard. The squad would be based at the club’s historic training centre at ‘The Cliff’ which was formerly the senior men’s venue. Ed Woodward highlighted the importance of this as he stated that “The Manchester United women’s team must be built in the same image and with the same principles as the men’s first team and offer academy players a clear route to top level football within the club.” The fact that the facilities already exist ensures that the club won’t struggle with finding a place for them to train which decreases the possibility of this not working out in the long run.
However Women’s sport has long been seen as the poor cousin of its male counterpart. Match attendance is significantly lower, less people tune in from home and so sponsors have been slower to get on board. This could prove to be a sort of an obstacle for a fresh starting team luckily and even though Manchester United is such a recognisable brand potential future sponsors might only see the Ladies section of the club as a small bonus due to its limited popularity ( which although is rising it still remains somewhat insignificant to the male counterpart ) and as a result clubs might struggle to find more suitable sponsors.
Overall it is definitely a step in the right direction for female sport as a whole that the biggest club in the world has committed to setting up their own Ladies section. This should not only provide a boost in the fans that attend Ladies games and actually pay attention to the competitions but also increase the level of competitiveness within the British leagues and allow WSL clubs to become more successful in the Champions League.
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