Sir Jim Ratcliffe has admitted future planning for Manchester United Women’s team has taken a backseat while he focuses on ‘the first team issues’.
The INEOS owner was referring to Man United Men’s first team as he opened up about his intentions to reform Erik ten Hag‘s side going forward.
Ratcliffe bought a 25 per cent stake in Man United in February 2024, with INEOS Sport taking control over football operations at the club.
He has been open about his intentions to elevate performance at Man United, where he sees plenty of scope for improvement.
In a recent tell-all interview with Bloomberg, the billionaire opened up about what he had been doing at the club during the last months.
But when asked about Man United Women’s team, the 71-year-old had very little to say indeed.
The interviewer mused: “I haven’t asked you what you’re doing with the women at Manchester United.”
“Well, they’ve just won the FA Cup,” Ratcliffe replied, referencing their 4-0 victory over Spurs in the final in May.
The INEOS owner was not in attendance at Wembley Stadium that day, instead opting to watch Man United Men’s 1-0 Premier League defeat to Arsenal that day.
The interviewer pressed Ratcliffe for any other information on potential plans for the side, managed by Marc Skinner.
“We haven’t got into that level of detail with the women’s team yet,” Ratcliffe responded. “We’ve been pretty much focused on how we resolve the first team issues in that environment.
“And that’s been pretty full-time for the first six months.”
“So it’s TBC?” she asked.
Ratcliffe replied: “Correct.”
The women’s team at Man United was only reinstated back in 2018 after a 13-year-absence which saw the side cut in 2005 when the club announced it was no longer financially profitable.
Having been reinstated, the team entered into the Women’s Championship for the 2018/19 season – and stormed to victory and promotion in their first year back.
Since then, they have had three fourth-place finishes, an impressive second place finish and a disappointing fifth-place finish in the WSL.
But the women’s side have suffered from some poor business, particularly when it comes to transfers.
They were unable to retain England starlet Alessia Russo, who was ultimately able to move to Arsenal on a free transfer in 2023 – and they are in danger of having the same happen with her Lionesses teammate Mary Earps.
Captain Katie Zelem, as well as key striker trio Lucia Garcia, Rachel Williams and Nikita Parris are all out of contract this summer too and Man United’s past does not inspire confidence that they will be able to retain any of them.
Manager Marc Skinner has been a similar point of tension, with fans bringing signs with ‘#SkinnerOut’ to matches throughout the season last year.
However, just days after the FA Cup victory – which may have obscured many of the problems of last season – Skinner’s contract extension was announced.
The next WSL season kicks off on September 21 and 22 and Man United Women will be looking to forget last season’s poor finish, and instead emulate the highs of the season before.
But whether meaningful changes will have been made by club ownership by that point is still, in Ratcliffe’s words, ‘TBC’.