Manchester United Women - Silly Season 2023/24 - Ins and outs

The whole club is a bit ugly at the moment.

Indeed!

Personally think it's only one of them. The news or Earps wanting to leave came out recently and most likely the club has a few options.

She's such a vital player, that say she does go, of the options available who are the club best advised to get?
 
Some because of where the team is now - you could make a decent team at the WWC out of players we've either lost (Batlle, Russo, Groenen, James and even Alex Greenwood) and ones who we've owned but who never got many games. Mary doesn't have that many years left to "win things" and if she's got any doubts any doubts about club, manager or team then she might be feeling impatient.
Groenen was fantastic in a deeper role in the WC I thought. A real pity we lost her.

I feel some of it may even be down to Skinner - he's made strange choices at times.
 
Groenen was fantastic in a deeper role in the WC I thought. A real pity we lost her.

I feel some of it may even be down to Skinner - he's made strange choices at times.
Like all managers, he has his favourites and he seems to make it clear to press, fans and presumably the players that those are the players he trusts. I understand it, I find it frustrating, I'm sure some of the players he's bought/loaned and not played find it miserable.

There's still a hurdle to be jumped and I do think some of it is about rotation, tactical flexibility and making changes mid match if things aren't working. It can't always be that this player or that player didn't do what he'd asked them to do, sometimes it's because they can't do what he wants, the opponent won't let them - and he has to have a plan B for when that happens.
 
Groenen was fantastic in a deeper role in the WC I thought. A real pity we lost her.

I feel some of it may even be down to Skinner - he's made strange choices at times.

Well, there’s a running joke in my circle that he’ll bench Miyazawa to play his favourite English players. I really hope he won’t.
But as it’s been said before he has his favourites.
 
Well, there’s a running joke in my circle that he’ll bench Miyazawa to play his favourite English players. I really hope he won’t.
But as it’s been said before he has his favourites.
Miyazawa is either going to be in the reserves or will be sent out on loan.

Geyse is also highly unlikely to feature in anything beyond a meaningless pre-season friendly (so meaningless that they're not telecast anywhere and no one knows about them).
 
Miyazawa is either going to be in the reserves or will be sent out on loan.

Geyse is also highly unlikely to feature in anything beyond a meaningless pre-season friendly (so meaningless that they're not telecast anywhere and no one knows about them).
I find these assertions quite bizarre. Both Geyse and Miyazawa are top quality players and will start, in my opinion. I do not think Skinner has "favourites" as such, but rather his best XI at any given moment.
 
So we're going to screw up the women's team too - about to lose the best goalkeeper in the world. I f@cking hate the Glazers
 
I find these assertions quite bizarre. Both Geyse and Miyazawa are top quality players and will start, in my opinion. I do not think Skinner has "favourites" as such, but rather his best XI at any given moment.
My post is somewhat tongue-in-cheek and I think Geyse and Miyazawa will both play as first choice options. I feel Skinner doesn’t use players that he himself seems to have signed off on. It’s as if the club is signing players and foisting them on him.
 
My post is somewhat tongue-in-cheek and I think Geyse and Miyazawa will both play as first choice options. I feel Skinner doesn’t use players that he himself seems to have signed off on. It’s as if the club is signing players and foisting them on him.
Fair enough. I thought you were serious.
 
Meanwhile, other clubs are busy as well.

Aston Villa's front two:


The new addition is Ebony Salmon - now back from a couple of years in the US. She signed for us back when we were in the Championship, but never played in a competitive match for us. Did well on loan at Sheffield United, then at Bristol after that - including scoring against us at LSV. Very talented and productive young player - still only 22.
 
So we're going to screw up the women's team too - about to lose the best goalkeeper in the world. I f@cking hate the Glazers
How is this on the Glazers??

People need to realise the Woman's team are still a new team and not dining at the top table yet.
We are currently a stepping stone, similar to a Spurs men's team in a way, where big players will always want to leave to go to bigger clubs.
 
Well, Mary. If it's Champions League games you're looking for...

VfCKT8f.png
 
Ooh, unlucky Russo!
Although this does mean they will be able to concentrate on the league…still, hopefully puts us in a good light in terms of being in the champs league for Earps and any potential signings
 
How is this on the Glazers??

People need to realise the Woman's team are still a new team and not dining at the top table yet.
We are currently a stepping stone, similar to a Spurs men's team in a way, where big players will always want to leave to go to bigger clubs.
We pushed Chelsea all the way last year - fell one point short. Not to mention the name of the club. We should be attracting top players not losing them - simply because we won't give them a good enough contract. Failed to keep hold of Russo and lost her to a rival. Not the way to run a club
 
We pushed Chelsea all the way last year - fell one point short. Not to mention the name of the club. We should be attracting top players not losing them - simply because we won't give them a good enough contract. Failed to keep hold of Russo and lost her to a rival. Not the way to run a club
Again, in the Woman's game United just don't have the lustre that Chelsea or Arsenal do.

It's a simple fact, and something that can only be changed by United actually winning trophies.
The woman's team is stuck in that rut of being a nearly team, this is not a fault of the owners at all.
 
Again, in the Woman's game United just don't have the lustre that Chelsea or Arsenal do.

It's a simple fact, and something that can only be changed by United actually winning trophies.
The woman's team is stuck in that rut of being a nearly team, this is not a fault of the owners at all.
They quite literally disbanded the women's team when they bought the club.
 
Don’t like Earps anyway. Telling opposition players to F off after saving a penalty is not my kind of player.
 
Don’t like Earps anyway. Telling opposition players to F off after saving a penalty is not my kind of player.

I think that's exactly the type of attitude (on the pitch) good keepers need. Being happy and celebrating a saved penalty in the World Cup final would probably cause similar feelings in most of us. Although it doesn't look good if you're a keeper who then makes easy mistakes. Pickford an example.

Good to see the "didn't like her anyway" posts about the best keeper in the world have started to surface. Lucky you, I'm not in that stage yet. ;)
 
Last edited:
She has to stay cause we are going to need her more than ever when we find out who we face in that Qualifier for the Champions League group stages
 
They quite literally disbanded the women's team when they bought the club.
Not quite, the club focused on youth due to the rather limited aspect of the women's game.
 
We pushed Chelsea all the way last year - fell one point short. Not to mention the name of the club. We should be attracting top players not losing them - simply because we won't give them a good enough contract. Failed to keep hold of Russo and lost her to a rival. Not the way to run a club

They didn't even bother with a women's team for years. They thought it was a waste of money. Its not a surprise that they won't invest much in it.
 
Again, in the Woman's game United just don't have the lustre that Chelsea or Arsenal do.

It's a simple fact, and something that can only be changed by United actually winning trophies.
The woman's team is stuck in that rut of being a nearly team, this is not a fault of the owners at all.
And you win things but getting the top players - of course, it's to do withe the owners and (yet again) their lack of investment in the club
 
And you win things but getting the top players - of course, it's to do withe the owners and (yet again) their lack of investment in the club
I feel this is going around in circles.

United can't attract the bigger players due to not having the trophies and history of Chelsea and Arsenal, United's name doesn't have the sparkle that those clubs do, not yet anyway.

City woman's team tried to buy their way into the top clubs which worked for a few seasons before they had multiple players leave in quick succession, which has left them underperforming somewhat.

Really isn't the owners fault, unless you want to take onus on them being late to the woman's football party.
 
I feel this is going around in circles.

United can't attract the bigger players due to not having the trophies and history of Chelsea and Arsenal, United's name doesn't have the sparkle that those clubs do, not yet anyway.

City woman's team tried to buy their way into the top clubs which worked for a few seasons before they had multiple players leave in quick succession, which has left them underperforming somewhat.

Really isn't the owners fault, unless you want to take onus on them being late to the woman's football party.

We just signed the World Cup Golden Boot winner. We can if we want to. We can match the wages offered elsewhere, if we want to.
 
We just signed the World Cup Golden Boot winner. We can if we want to. We can match the wages offered elsewhere, if we want to.
And we have matched wages, we offered the same wages to Russo as Arsenal,
So the investment is there,
so you need to ask yourself why players like Russo or Earps might want to leave United for teams like Arsenal and Chelsea?
The simple answer is Chelsea can guarantee medals whereas Arsenal woman's are a dominant force in the woman's game, albeit seemingly on a slight decline if recent results are anything to go by!
 
And we have matched wages, we offered the same wages to Russo as Arsenal,
So the investment is there,
so you need to ask yourself why players like Russo or Earps might want to leave United for teams like Arsenal and Chelsea?
The simple answer is Chelsea can guarantee medals whereas Arsenal woman's are a dominant force in the woman's game, albeit seemingly on a slight decline if recent results are anything to go by!

We maybe did after offering ridiculously low wages (compared to what Arsenal offered) for a year or so. Too little too late, she had already made up her mind and confirmed to Arsenal that she was signing.

If we have the money maybe it’s time to be proactive and make sure we don’t lose our best players.
 
I feel this is going around in circles.

United can't attract the bigger players due to not having the trophies and history of Chelsea and Arsenal, United's name doesn't have the sparkle that those clubs do, not yet anyway.

City woman's team tried to buy their way into the top clubs which worked for a few seasons before they had multiple players leave in quick succession, which has left them underperforming somewhat.

Really isn't the owners fault, unless you want to take onus on them being late to the woman's football party.
I’m not sure how much I buy into that. I’m sure it will impact a bit but the United name is huge and I don’t think that suddenly disappears because you start talking about women’s football. The problem is we’re still not funding it at the same level as other top teams, and that doesn’t just mean wages.

We may have eventually offered the same as Arsenal for Russo, but only did so once she’d apparently agreed to join them. We had a budget of 5 million last year, compared to 8 million for Chelsea and 6.3 for city. That’s a huge difference.

Training facilities will also play a role and to be honest, maybe even Skinner, which has been discussed quite a lot on here in the past. The owners could have chosen to put an extra £2 million into the budget since being promoted and it would have made no difference to the men’s team, and elevated the women’s team hugely.
 
We maybe did after offering ridiculously low wages (compared to what Arsenal offered) for a year or so. Too little too late, she had already made up her mind and confirmed to Arsenal that she was signing.

If we have the money maybe it’s time to be proactive and make sure we don’t lose our best players.
Not necessarily,

United woman's team, or in particular Francesca Whitfield spoke at great length about how United are striving to match the other 'big clubs' but want to do so in a way that doesn't harm the target of the club breaking even.
She is fighting for a salary cap as it's well known that most if not all WSL clubs are running at huge losses.
That's simply not sustainable, United woman's team generate the biggest revenue in the WSL yet are still running at a loss, when Arsenal and Chelsea are offering even higher wages with far less revenue, the FA will eventually have to step in.
 
Not necessarily,

United woman's team, or in particular Francesca Whitfield spoke at great length about how United are striving to match the other 'big clubs' but want to do so in a way that doesn't harm the target of the club breaking even.
She is fighting for a salary cap as it's well known that most if not all WSL clubs are running at huge losses.
That's simply not sustainable, United woman's team generate the biggest revenue in the WSL yet are still running at a loss, when Arsenal and Chelsea are offering even higher wages with far less revenue, the FA will eventually have to step in.

If it’s not sustainable and they don’t want to break the wage structure, why did they offer the matching salary to Russo in the end?
 
If it’s not sustainable and they don’t want to break the wage structure, why did they offer the matching salary to Russo in the end?

Pretty sure you can answer that and its because they did not want to lose her.

It is not sustainable though
 
Pretty sure you can answer that and its because they did not want to lose her.

It is not sustainable though

So obviously they were able to match the wages if needed. I'm sure we could pay world class players £300k a year if we wanted to. The women's team was formed a few years ago and they know that for the first few years it's more or less an investment that doesn't pay back, just like a lot of new companies are. It's been rumored that Bancroft wasn't given green light to promise that kind of wages, but when the club realised Russo and Batlle were actually leaving someone from the men's side came in and took over the negotiations. And offered big wages, finally. So clearly the club can invest accordingly if they want to.
 
So obviously they were able to match the wages if needed. I'm sure we could pay world class players £300k a year if we wanted to. The women's team was formed a few years ago and they know that for the first few years it's more or less an investment that doesn't pay back, just like a lot of new companies are. It's been rumored that Bancroft wasn't given green light to promise that kind of wages, but when the club realised Russo and Batlle were actually leaving someone from the men's side came in and took over the negotiations. And offered big wages, finally. So clearly the club can invest accordingly if they want to.

Yes but again you are missing the point about sustainable investment.

Yes a lot is possible but not a lot of it is sustainable. Look at the mess the mens team is in today
 
Yes but again you are missing the point about sustainable investment.

Yes a lot is possible but not a lot of it is sustainable. Look at the mess the mens team is in today

As long as I'm aware the club is still forecasting to make a £140-150m annual profit. And as long as I'm aware none of the big clubs in women's football make profits which means they're not run sustainably. They still invest heavily because they believe in the women's game.
 
As long as I'm aware the club is still forecasting to make a £140-150m annual profit. And as long as I'm aware none of the big clubs in women's football make profits which means they're not run sustainably. They still invest heavily because they believe in the women's game.

Their womens football team operate at a loss and so does ours.

Don’t get me wrong, I think we should be investing more, especially on the facilities etc. However I am just pointing out the point about sustainability is a valid one.

And the club needs to be pushing the FA to sort it out. An arms race where wages and fees in the womens game far out paces the amount of revenue generated is not good for the womens game overall period