Fans of Manchester United women's team want more input from Ratcliffe

The Guardian

16-02-2025

As John Denver's 'Take Me Home, Country Roads' rang around Leigh Sports Village, after a seventh league victory in a row for a team second in the table, the most reliable source of positivity at Manchester United right now is surely their women's team.
This week marks the first anniversary of the formal completion of Ineos's acquisition and at the women's team's latest home victory the jury was still out among fans regarding Sir Jim Ratcliffe's impact on the WSL side. The generally optimistic mood, though, is somewhat at odds with the gloomy feel across much of the rest of the club amid the latest reports of a further 200 job losses.
On the pitch this team have put smiles on faces. Enjoying a pastry before this lunchtime kick-off, Martyn, who goes to around 10 men's games a season at Old Trafford but enjoys bringing his six-year-old daughter to WSL games at Leigh, jokes before kick-off: 'It's nice to come to a United game where I can look forward to winning, for a change.'
His confidence was not misplaced, as the Norway striker Elisabeth Terland slotted in low to give Marc Skinner's side the lead. Bottom-of-the table Crystal Palace did manage to level before half-time through Mille Gejl on the counterattack – Manchester United conceded to a team in the WSL's bottom half for the first time this season – but Terland rolled in her second for the dominant hosts after the Sweden international My Cato inadvertently knocked the ball into her path. The England midfielder Grace Clinton headed in the hosts' third late on, from a free-kick whipped in by an in-form Ella Toone.
Despite the good results on the pitch, there was still a lingering feeling of frustration among some United supporters, summed up by home fan Aimee, who had travelled up from Wales to see this game. 'These girls are amazing. Just imagine how good they could be with a bit more support from Jim.'
It would be unfair to say the dislike of Ratcliffe is universal: many fans speaking to the Guardian were keen to point out 'he's better than the Glazers'. Yet there is frustration at some of Ratcliffe's comments in interviews that suggested the women's team is not his priority. Andy Slater, editor of the Manchester United women's team fanzine Barmy Article, who is sad about the job cuts changing the 'family feel' of the club, said: 'It's just baffling, the things he comes out with. It's more about attitudes.
'Even without putting Chelsea levels of money into it, it [the women's team] doesn't take a whole lot to let it run itself – give the women's side the tools to do what it needs to do, and let it run. Since the winter break, we've really turned things around [in the WSL] and now we're playing this way, if we can keep it going, it's a really exciting team to follow.'
Another fan who has followed the women's team since it was reformed in 2018 is presenter and content creator Mina Ibrahim, who said she has seen pros and cons. 'The most important thing is, the women were backed sufficiently in last summer's transfer window to bring in talent, like a proven goalscorer. That was needed.
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'I've also been disappointed with the public comments made. He's kind of suggested multiple times that the women's team is not on the forefront, and it would be nice for fans and players to feel like they're standing side-by-side with the ownership and being supported publicly as well as privately.
'I'd like to hear more about the plans for the women's team, and hear Sir Jim Ratcliffe speak about the women in a much more positive tone. With women's football growing, the gap to Chelsea is only going to get bigger, unless owners of all clubs start investing in their women's team.'
Most fans agreed on one thing - they would like to see Ineos representatives attend more women's team fixtures. Ratcliffe is yet to attend any women's matches at Leigh Sports Village – something that even Michael Owen managed to do earlier this season as a fan – although the chief executive Omar Berrada and other senior club figures have done so.
There was an attendance of 4,761 for this game, many hundreds of whom were determined to stay outside the players' entrance for well over an hour after full time in the hope of a selfie. Maybe one day, Ratcliffe will be among them.