Manchester United women’s return is 13 years in the making
MANCHESTER, England — Within weeks, Casey Stoney has assembled a squad from scratch.
Thirteen years after ManchesterUnited women’s team was disbanded to prioritize resources on the men, and only 83 days after being granted a license by the English Football Association, United’s women’s side plays Sunday against Liverpool with Stoney as coach.
“It was a blank canvas,” Stoney said in an interview with The Associated Press.
The appointment of Stoney was a statement by United. The former England defender is one of only eight female coaches among the 22 teams in England’s top two women’s divisions.
Concerns over sexist attitudes are still encountered, too, particularly when Stoney is accompanied by assistant coach Willie Kirk.
“People automatically go and shake Willie’s hand,” Stoney said.
The women’s game has been transformed in England since women previously pulledon United jerseys.
The Women’s Super League has been growing in status since its launch in 2010 and the entire 11-team top flight now is fully professional. United has a squad of 21 professionals trying to gain promotion from the second-tier Championship.
Just as Manchester City has overhauled its neighbor’s men as the dominant force in the Premier League, ownership has also invested to turn the women’s team into WSL champions.
United is playing catch-up due to famed coach Alex Ferguson’s determination to focus resources on his men’s pursuit of supremacy. The women’s team was scrapped months before United was bought by the Florida-based Glazer family in 2005.
United vice chairman Ed Woodward said in 2012 that the idea of reviving the team had never been discussed by the board.
By March this year, he realized girls deserved the chance to go from the youth ranks to play for United — just like Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba did.
Stoney has accomplished what would be unthinkable in the men’s game, persuading seven players to leave Liverpool for United.
Adding an extra edge to United’s opening match, Liverpool is the opponent in the Continental Cup.
The sprawling Carrington campus is the home of United men’s teams in south Manchester. Stoney’s side will train in the north of the city at The Cliff.
Whatever the distance between the team bases, Stoney feels United is an integrated operation.
“I’ve never been at a club where I’ve felt so much a part of the club,” Stoney said. “There’s not a day gone by since I took the job where I haven’t gone ‘Wow.’ It’s what I’ve dreamed of in terms of where the women’s game needs to be. It’s what I would have absolutely wanted when I was a player.”