The rise of Manchester United
In only their second-ever WSL season, the Red Devils are leading the title race
At the start of 2018 Manchester United’s women’s team did not even exist. By the end of 2020 they were England’s top club, four points clear in the Women’s Super League. Even given United’s resources it has been a meteoric rise, though for Casey Stoney, the manager, “it isn’t about December, it is about May. There is a long way to go and a lot of games to play.”
Stoney, 38, won 130 England caps and spent the best part of two decades in the top flight with Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Charlton and Lincoln, twice winning the title. One of the reasons she never played for United was that the club disbanded their women’s team, which was amateur and played in the lower divisions, in 2005, soon after the Glazer family bought the club. The new owners declared the team “unprofitable” and “not part of the core business.”
A dozen years later, with the WSL thriving and England having reached successive tournament semi-finals, the women’s game began to look as if it could be profitable. United, meanwhile, were encountering increasing criticism for their stand, the lack of a female team cast in sharp relief by Manchester City’s successful investment.
So, in May 2018, United announced they were forming a women’s team. At the time Stoney was England’s assistant manager, working under former United men’s player Phil Neville. “I heard about the opportunity through Phil,” she told
“I never expected to get the job. When I heard I’d got it all the cogs were going about how I was going to do things. I went to the London office and met [CEO] Ed Woodward, explained my vision for the women’s team, and gained an understanding of how the club were going to support me.”
Though in pole position to succeed Neville with the Lionesses it was an opportunity Stoney knew she had to seize. She did so because “of the history, the scale of the club, and that it was going to be a blank canvas – I was going to get to build this club from the bottom up. They knew I knew women’s football better than they did and they allowed me to just get on with it. It was a unique opportunity you never get in football.”
Stoney was able to handpick all her staff and players, and decide the philosophy and environment. It was like running her own fantasy football team. The catch was she had ten weeks to recruit and bed all them in before the start of the season. With a licensing round providing a chance to leapfrog the lower levels United opted to start in the second tier Championship, giving the team a chance to settle. But the expectation was immediate promotion.
Stoney began by bringing back some of the talent which had left. When United disbanded their women’s team they maintained their girls’ programme, thought to be a requirement of having a boy’s academy. Back came players such as Katie Zelem (Juventus), Millie Turner (Bristol City) and Ella Toone (Manchester City). All were young, as were recruits Leah Galton, Jess Sigsworth and Lauren James (brother of Chelsea defender Reece). To provide experienced leadership Stoney raided Liverpool for England internationals Siobhan Chamberlain, Alex Greenwood and Amy Turner. “I wanted a young team that I felt we could develop, coach and could get promotion in the first year,” she said.
United won their first match against Aston Villa 12-0 and romped to promotion. Based at Leigh Sports Village, a 12,000-capacity venue west of Manchester shared with rugby league’s Leigh Centurions, they quickly attracted a strong and vocal fanbase.
Having begun the campaign with a stylish video launch, they ended it with a trip to China for Stoney and several players on behalf of a United sponsor, flying first class. “Manchester United,” said Stoney, “just did things differently.”
For their first season in the top flight Stoney added more experience in Dutch midfielder Jackie Groenen and England defender Abbie McManus. Focusing on a solid defence with a leavening of attacking flair United came fourth – “the best of the rest” behind the big three of
“I was going to get to build this club from the bottom up… It was a unique opportunity you never get in football” Manchester United manager Casey Stoney
Chelsea, City and Arsenal.
Last summer they added depth and class, notably in the form of American World Cup winners Tobin Heath and Christen Press, hired, said Stoney, for their “winning mentality” and the example they would set as well as their ability. Heath has been more influential than the injury-and-illness-hit Press, but both have raised the team’s profile Stateside with United struggling to keep pace with demand for replica shirts.
However, it is notable that the homegrown core remains with many of the original squad, including Zelem, the Turners and Toone, regular starters this season.
Having held champions Chelsea on the opening day, United won five matches, including a 1-0 defeat of Arsenal, then came back from a 2-0 deficit in the Manchester derby to draw 2-2. Three more wins sent them into the Christmas break four points clear of Arsenal with Chelsea two points further adrift, albeit with two games in hand.
Stoney revealed their progress has been quicker than anticipated and added claiming one of the three Champions League qualifying places remains this year’s prime target. “If I compare our budgets to some of the others we probably shouldn’t [win the title] so it won’t be a failure [if we don’t],” she said. Then she added: “But there is a winning mindset in that dressing room. We will fight every game to finish as high as we can.”