Arsenal legend Ian Wright has slammed Manchester United’s hierarchy following recent comments made by head coach of the women’s team, Marc Skinner.
Discourse has continued to surround United’s minority shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe after he made several controversial statements in regards to the club’s women’s team being a “work in progress”.
Ratcliffe, who has full control over the sporting arm of Manchester United, defended the club’s surprise decision to move the women’s team to portable buildings while the men’s team occupied their training facilities amid renovations in the summer, claiming: “The men’s team make £800m – the women’s team cost us £10m.”
Co-hosting the new women’s football podcast Crossways, former Arsenal player Ian Wright has heavily criticised Manchester United’s commitment to the growth of the women’s side, deeming it a matter of the club “not caring enough”.
“When you hear murmurings of the club saying, ‘Once we sort out the men’s, we’re gonna focus on the women’s’, when is that going to be? You look at the men’s team and how far they are off it at the minute, when are they actually going to take notice of the women’s? I genuinely believe, especially with how Man Utd Women are playing, they do not care. They genuinely do not care enough.”
United head coach Marc Skinner received backlash for his post-match comments after his side drew 0-0 with Aston Villa in the Women’s Super League (WSL) last Sunday. The manager pinned the lacklustre performance down to them still being “a new team” even though this is his fourth season in charge.
Wright admitted that he “was quite pleased to see Man Utd fans pull him up about that interview and how David Brent-ish it was”, adding that he believes Skinner’s comments prove that the club have “no plan B, no real structure of what they’re doing.”
“They were playing against a Villa side that were bottom of the league and he’s talking about they got a good result, at home,” Wright sniffed.
“What he’s saying, in respect of new players, is that the team is gelling. He’s had this team for long enough now where they should be doing a lot better. You talk about the four new players, [Celin] Bizet, she’s played in the WSL before. [Dominque] Janssen has been there before, [Elisabeth] Terland and then Grace Clinton who had to go to Tottenham to get herself better and in the England squad.
Skinner responded to the criticism from fans ahead of his unbeaten side’s trip to Leicester City this weekend, stating: “Everyone has the right to their own opinion.
“The reality is, there’s always noise. Good, bad, indifferent. You have to focus on performance, and that’s what we’re going to get back to doing.
“I’m not giving my team excuses, and they’re not giving me excuses. I’ve never given excuses, I’ve just given the context, and this is how it works. We just have to be better, and that’s the part and part of being a Manchester United manager, you have to challenge yourself. You have to challenge your players to be better every single day.”