Manchester United men’s team are set to use the women’s first-team building during the renovations being carried out at Carrington during the 2024-25 season, in a move that will see the women’s side asked to use portable cabins.
Work will be carried out on the gym, medical, nutrition and recovery facilities, and follows the £10million ($12.7m) redevelopment of the women’s and academy building last summer.
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The plan is for the men to use the revamped women’s and academy building, which will see the women’s team and academy using portable cabins when schedules cross over.
United’s statement when announcing the Carrington revamp said that “temporary modifications” would be used to allow players to continue training on-site. Administrative staff who had been working elsewhere at Carrington have already moved into the women’s team building during the summer.
United say they considered temporarily relocating teams to an alternative facility to ease pressure at Carrington, but this was ruled out for performance reasons.
The pitches, fitness and nutrition facilities there are of significantly higher quality than what would have been available elsewhere, they say, and access to them will remain available to all teams through what the club call “a phased approach”.
It is a one season project and the women’s side will be back in the redeveloped building next season.
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The move poses fresh questions as to INEOS’ commitment to providing an elite environment for the club’s women’s team, following comments made by the company’s founder and United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Asked by Bloomberg about whether United would consider looking for external investment into the women’s side as Chelsea have, Ratcliffe replied: “We haven’t got into that level of detail with the women’s team yet.
“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.”
Asked whether that meant it was to be confirmed, Ratcliffe replied: “Correct.”
In February, Ratcliffe took part in a Q&A with journalists at United’s training ground where he was also asked about his ambitions for the women’s team.
“I know we have been around since Christmas but we only took over today,” the 72-year-old said. “What I would say is that if it’s a team wearing a Manchester United badge on their shirt then it’s Manchester United and they need to be focused on winning and being successful.”
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The state of the women’s side has often come under scrutiny in recent years.
In March, The Athletic published a special report into the team which disclosed that delays at senior level had caused them to miss out on key signings, they reneged on a verbal deal agreed to keep former striker Alessia Russo — who then joined WSL rivals Arsenal — and there had been a lack of clarity regarding budget and strategy.
Following the 2020-21 season, The Athletic published a similar report into the state of the women’s team following manager Casey Stoney’s resignation and Lauren James’ impending departure to Chelsea. That revealed that women’s team players and Stoney had approached the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) when unhappy with the state of training facilities and accommodation they were provided with.
United ended the 2023-24 season as FA Cup winners but finished fifth in the Women’s Super League, their lowest finish since winning promotion to the top tier in 2018-19. Manager Marc Skinner signed a one-year contract extension, with the option for a further 12 months, in May.
There remains uncertainty over key players as well, with the contracts of Mary Earps, Nikita Parris and Katie Zelem all expiring at the end of this month.
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(Top photo: Lewis Storey/Getty Images)