Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s plans for Man Utd Women under spotlight as training base given to men

Manchester United were crowned Women's FA Cup winners in May - AP/Kirsty Wigglesworth

Manchester United’s women’s team will have to use portable buildings as changing rooms and for team meetings because their facility at the club’s training ground will be taken over by the men’s side.

United have decided to modernise the men’s first-team building at Carrington in a £50 million revamp. Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who bought a minority stake on behalf of his company Ineos this year to take control of the football side of the business, said the project would “create a world-class environment for our teams to win”. But, in the short term, it is the women’s team who will be hardest hit during the renovations.

With the work expected to last for the entire 2024-25 season, the women’s players have been told they will have to move out of their purpose-built facility, which opened only last year.

Instead, with the men using their facilities, the women will be housed in portable buildings for players and staff, although they will still be able to use the same training pitches and canteen.

The United hierarchy thought that it was better to keep the women’s team on the same site rather than ask them to move away and use pitches of a lower standard, as well as deprive them of the same access to medical facilities. The women’s squad and staff are smaller in number than the men’s, so it was felt that it would be easier to move them to portable buildings.

In the long term, it is believed all teams will feel the benefit of the work, but it has led to criticism of the way the women’s operation is being run.

That was not helped by a recent interview with Ratcliffe, who admitted that Ineos had not looked into the way the women’s team were being run in detail because they were concentrating on the men’s.

“We’ve been pretty much focused on how do we resolve the first-team [men’s] issues, in that environment,” he told Bloomberg. “That’s been pretty full-time for the first six months.”

Analysis: ‘Ratcliffe’s comments do not help change perceptions about United’s commitment to women’s team’

Perceptions matter in football and the accusation being levelled at Manchester United is that their women’s team is not important enough to the new regime.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has repeatedly made it clear that the men’s side are his main, if not his only, priority. That is what he wants to focus on because that is what generates the club’s income and it is what the vast majority of United supporters care about too.

He bought a stake in Manchester United to restore the club to its former glory, to build a new stadium, to sort out recruitment and to improve the academy. In his eyes, the success of that project will be determined by whether the men’s team is challenging for domestic and European honours every season again.

The fallout from that, though, is that the women’s team feels like it is little more than an afterthought and that is bound to provoke criticism.

The feeling is that the club lacks the required interest and ambition to challenge the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City to become the best side in the country.

That may be a little unfair, but when the man responsible for running the football side of the business has made it clear where his attention lies, it is understandable for people to reach that conclusion.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe pictured meeting members of the women's team after assuming control of the club at the start of the year - Getty Images/Manchester United

Ratcliffe did not even bother to attend the Women’s FA Cup final at Wembley in May, which United won to collect their first major trophy, and instead went to watch the men play in their final league game of the season.

Then there is the news that the women’s team are being turfed out of their purpose-built facility at Carrington so that the men’s team can use it while the training ground undergoes a revamp. As one source put it, “it’s short-term pain for long term gains”. The women’s team will ultimately benefit from the modernisation of the training ground as much as the men, but again perceptions matter.

In the last couple of years, United have also lost two England internationals on free transfers, weakening their team, strengthening their rivals. Striker Alessia Russo turned down a new contract to sign for Arsenal last summer and now goalkeeper Mary Earps has done the same in order to join Paris St-Germain. They are two of the most high-profile players in Europe and left United because they felt their football ambitions could be better met elsewhere.

There are currently doubts about whether another two England internationals will still be at the club next season, with Nikita Parris attracting interest from several clubs, including some in the US, while captain Katie Zelem is also believed to be unsettled. Top teams do not consistently lose their best players.

Telegraph Sport has spoken to sources within the club who are adamant this does not mean the club is unambitious or that the women’s team is unimportant. There is always a turnover of players and supporters will be reassured when they see the calibre of players United are trying to recruit. This summer is described as a “reset” while they argue context is key.

Manchester United only re-established their women’s team in 2018, starting life in the Championship before winning promotion to the WSL. A fifth-place finish last season was disappointing but they won the FA Cup and were runners-up the previous year.

This has all been achieved in a short period of time and the fact manager Marc Skinner was awarded a new contract shows they are committed to him and are impressed with the work going on behind the scenes. It is and always has been a long-term project.

However, if you are a top international player on the move, are you going to want to sign for a club that will ask you to get ready for training in a portable building or look elsewhere?

United are believed to be on the verge of signing Elisabeth Terland from Brighton, but as good as she might be, the 22-year-old Norwegian is not a Russo or Earps-level player.

What is sad is that there are people at United who are dedicated to the women’s team, not least Skinner and his coaching staff. There are people who are trying to close the gap on the top clubs and to turn the women’s team into a major force, domestically and in Europe.

They have not been helped by Ratcliffe’s comments about where his focus lies. It is something new sporting director Dan Ashworth will surely need to address when he finally starts work. Ashworth is a big advocate of women’s football and it will be part of his remit to oversee improvements of this area of the club as well as the men. The problem is, as things stand, Ashworth will remain on gardening leave until the end of 2025 because Ratcliffe will not pay the money to Newcastle United to end it early.

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