Manchester United Marc Skinner admitted he did not know why the club’s minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe wasn’t in attendance at the women’s FA Cup final on Sunday but stressed investment in the team was more importantly than visibility.
United failed in their FA Cup title defence as they suffered a 3-0 defeat to Women’s Super League winners Chelsea at Wembley Stadium, courtesy of goals from Sandy Baltimore and Catarina Macario.
Sunday’s trip represented United’s third FA Cup final in three years. However, for the second year in a row, Ratcliffe was not in attendance.
The 72-year-old was at Stamford Bridge on Friday for the men’s team’s 1-0 Premier League loss against Chelsea.
Chief executive officer Omar Berrada, technical director Jason Wilcox and majority owner Avram Glazer were in attendance at Wembley on Sunday.
Ratcliffe’s absence last year attracted fierce criticism from fans and pundits and once so again this season.
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United head coach Skinner admitted that he was not provided a reason for Ratcliffe’s absence.
“In all honesty, I don’t know why he wasn’t here,” Skinner said. “But I feel we were well represented. Omar was here, the Glazer family, Jason 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.”
Skinner was unable to claim a second FA Cup with United on Sunday (Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Asked whether he expected an explanation for Ratcliffe’s absence, Skinner replied: “I would never get that explanation, I’m here to work with the team but reality is I felt we were well supported from the club.”
United struggled to match the individual quality of Chelsea, who completed the domestic treble in historic fashion, going 30 matches unbeaten under new manager Sonia Bompastor.
United finished third in the WSL, 16 points behind Chelsea in the league. From the 16 matches across all competitions between the two sides in the past five years, United have won only twice.
Chelsea recently announced a £20million investment for an eight percent stake in the club by co-founder of Reddit and the co-founder of NWSL side Angel City Alexis Ohanian. The investment puts a valuation on Chelsea Women at approximately £245million, according to people familiar with the deal.
Ohanian and his wife, former tennis star Serena Williams, were in attendance for Sunday’s final.
“Visibility is key and I get that [Alexis and Serena] have flown over,” Skinner said. “Let’s see if they fly over in the season for Chelsea, because it’s a final. And credit to them for doing it. But from my perspective, I feel the support and we need to show it in the right way in the summer.
“We need to close that gap. As long as the club continues to invest in the right way to close that gap, then they’re still showing the support in that way. And I really think that’s a pertinent point.”
(Top photo: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
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