Manchester United’s women were FA Cup finalists for the second time since Sir Jim Ratcliffe took part-ownership of the club but Ratcliffe wasn’t at either Wembley game
Marc Skinner, the manager of Manchester United’s women’s team, was unable to answer when asked why part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe wasn’t in attendance for their FA Cup final on Sunday. It was the second season in a row that he has skipped the Wembley showpiece.
Back in 2024, Ratcliffe angered some when he opted to watch United’s men in a league game against Arsenal instead of taking in the final. United won on that occasion, putting four unanswered goals past Tottenham, but weren’t able to defend their title this term
“In all honesty, I don’t know why he wasn’t here,” Skinner said after the game. “But I feel we were well represented. Omar [Berrada] was here, the Glazer family, Jason [Wilcox] is up there.
“Those are the people I deal with everyday. That’s the people I need to be here, because they need to be able to look at what we need to do to close a growing gap in finance that Chelsea have created.
“The reality is that it’s the investment in the team that needs to happen. It’s not whether you’re visible. I get you the representation, the visibility is how you see investment, but as long as I play the team are being invested in, that is also a way of showing your support for the team.”
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United conceded just once en route to the final, with that run including a semi-final victory over Manchester City. However, they were unable to complete the job against a Chelsea side who finished 16 points above them in the WSL.
Sandy Baltimore’s penalty put Chelsea in front on the stroke of half-time, and the game remained delicately poised heading into the final 10 minutes. It wasn’t to be for United, though, with Catarina Macario doubling Chelsea’s advantage before Baltimore scored her second of the game.
United’s men also lost to Chelsea this weekend. Ratcliffe was in attendance for that game, a Premier League tie on Friday night, where Marc Cucurella scored te only goal of the game.
“The feeling is great. It is sometimes difficult to describe them with words but it feels really great,” Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor said after her team completed a domestic treble. “This season has been tough so for us to be as domestically dominant as we have been, we really need to enjoy it.
“All the credit to my players because they performed really well. We showed our mentality and our values in this game so we ended the season in an almost perfect scenario – we won, we were playing at Wembley, the stadium was nearly sold out and we had a strong performance and result against a strong opponent, so it is an almost ideal way to finish the season.”
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