Marc Skinner leaves Man Utd Women: Lack of investment, a change of direction and inconsistent playing style contributed to head coach exit | Football News

Just a month out from their opening Women’s Super League fixture, Manchester United find themselves without a head coach after Marc Skinner departed on Monday morning.

Sky Sports News understands the decision to part ways with Skinner was made after a series of talks over the summer regarding the future direction of the club.

But the signs were there long before. Investment has been a contentious topic for the women’s team ever since INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe took over the club in December 2023.

He made his position on the team fairly clear when, in June 2024, he told Bloomberg: “We haven’t gone into that level of detail with the women’s football team yet. We’ve been pretty much focused on how do we resolve the first-team issues, in that environment, and that’s been pretty full time for the first six months.”

The comments drew ire at the time and, in the two years since, Ratcliffe has only further demonstrated how the women’s team is not a priority.

Even as recently as April, Skinner – who had signed a new two-year deal last summer – was calling for more investment into the women’s team if they were going to compete with the best.

“I’m absolutely passionate about what we do. But we have to do some changes in the summer,” he said. “We have to make some changes to make sure that we can compete with what’s clearly a financial market at times.

“And we want to do it our own way, we’ve said that and we’re clear on that. But we have to make sure we write those smart assignments to keep pushing this team forward.”

But it appears that his demands would not have been met. That, alongside a host of other issues, has finally come to a head and caused the split between Skinner and Manchester United.

Man Utd’s change of approach

The ethos of the women’s team is changing. When Ratcliffe and INEOS came in, the target was to win the league by 2028.

Now, the focus is completely different, with the club deciding to concentrate on the academy and developing players from within to challenge for silverware.

Man Utd believe investing more significantly in their academy will lead to longer-term success rather than higher investment in the transfer market which they currently believe is unsustainable. They feel there has been a lack of return on investment in star players and big wages.

Of course, the men’s academy has a history of winning trophies with academy products, but this is untested in the women’s game.

But this approach also takes something that is almost anonymous in football – time.

Skinner led Man Utd to four finals – three in the FA Cup and one in the League Cup – winning their first major trophy in the 2023/24 season, as well as competing in Europe for the first time.

They reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League last season and are the only team to have disrupted the WSL’s ‘big three’. But if youth is the approach, it may take some years before there are such consistent returns year on year.

And what message does this send to the big-name players already at the club? Ella Toone is out of contract at the end of the season. Will the club’s new direction meet her ambitions to win trophies?

Man Utd a selling club as others continue to strengthen

For many years now, Man Utd have been a selling club – even before Ratcliffe came in. Players have often been sold to direct rivals, the latest being Melvine Malard’s move to Chelsea this summer for around £750,000.

Before that, there was Alessia Russo to Arsenal and Mary Earps to PSG. She returned to Man Utd last season in the Champions League and lined up against her former side. Now, she is set to do the same with London City Lionesses, who United face in their WSL opener on September 4, live on Sky Sports.

In the last few months alone, two players who joined the club when it was reformed in 2018 – Millie Turner and Leah Galton – have also left. Only Toone remains from that squad.

And Man Utd’s approach of utilising youth is already been felt, with just two incomings so far in defender Andrea Medina and goalkeeper Janina Leitzig. Whether there are any more remains to be seen.

Man Utd are concerned about the ever-increasing cost of trying to be a WSL title contender – but that is not the same for the teams around them.

The ‘big three’ – Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea – have all significantly strengthened. Tottenham – who finished in fifth behind Man Utd last season – and Everton have signed multiple players with WSL experience. Then there is London City Lionesses who are splashing the cash to try and win it all.

With so many squads in place, United are already playing catch up.

Lack of consistency cost Skinner

Some Man Utd fans will not be sorry to see the back of Skinner. He has not always been a popular figure in the dugout, despite his success at times.

Skinner is a great talker, a pleasure to chat to – but fans will say his words did not translate into actions.

Any time there seemed to be some sense of progress, it soon fell apart and consistency was an issue. Pace and intensity could often not be sustained over 90 minutes, allowing other teams back into games. There was often a marked difference to the approach from one half to another, or one game to another. You never knew which Man Utd would turn up.

That being said, in Skinner’s five seasons at the club, Man Utd were fairly consistent with their attack. They often ranked fourth in the league for goals and other metrics.

But defensively, Man Utd were inconsistent and have arguably been saved from further embarrassment by their goalkeepers Earps and Phallon Tullis-Joyce, both of whom won the Golden Glove under Skinner. While the goals conceded remained relatively low, the other defensive metrics varied wildly from season to season.

Defensive frailties often proved to be fatal and two key examples came this year. After the League Cup final against Chelsea, Skinner called the goals conceded “rubbish”. A late slip in concentration against Bayern in the Champions League quarter-finals saw them score twice from set-pieces and win the tie, undoing much of the good work Man Utd had done up to that point.

There is a well-known saying that ‘to be the best, you have to beat the best’ – but Man Utd often did not.

In his five years at the club, Skinner never beat Chelsea in the WSL and only once in cup competitions on their way to the FA Cup title in 2024, perhaps illustrating the point even further.

In the 2022/23 season, he was unbeaten against Arsenal (W2) and Man City (W1, D1). However, he only won one further game against Man City in January 2025 – thanks to a Toone hat-trick – although did play out goalless draws in both WSL meetings with the Gunners last term.

In their first four WSL fixtures, United face both Chelsea and Arsenal live on Sky Sports, giving any incoming coach an immediate test and that could set the tone for the remainder of the campaign.

So what awaits the incoming head coach?

While fans were not always receptive to Skinner, they will also not be happy if Man Utd begin to slip down the pecking order.

Whichever team is wearing that famous red shirt, the expectation is to win – although it appears the WSL title is not one of those targets any more, at least not in the next two years as was the original aim of Project 2028.

Sky Sports News understands the club believe they are in a position to announce a new head coach quickly as background checks have already begun over potential candidates. A key quality the club are looking for in a new coach is one with a track record of improving and developing players.

Trying to reach finals and break into the top three must be achieved with youth rather than investment, which will be a tricky balance to strike. Man Utd have certainly over-achieved in recent years – do they have any more in them?