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Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe expressed concern during an interview when asked about the women’s team.
Ratcliffe completed a 27.7% partial investment in United and since then has put all his focus on identifying areas of improvement across the club.
As part of the deal with the Glazers, Ratcliffe took full control of United’s sporting operations. On several occasions since, the INEOS billionaire has outlined his plans to raise the performance levels of United’s team, particularly Erik Ten Hag.
In a recent interview with Bloomberg, the British businessman was asked what he has been doing at Old Trafford over the past few months.
Although she gave detailed answers each time, Ratcliffe had little to say when assigned to the women’s team. In fact, he explained that there are currently no clear plans in place on Mark Skinner’s part.
“They didn’t ask what they were doing with the women at Manchester United,” Bloomberg’s Francine Lacqua said in an interview.
He replied: “Well, they just won the FA Cup.”
Lacqua pressed Ratcliffe further, asking whether the club had been looking for external investment to accelerate the growth of its women’s team.
“We haven’t gone into that much detail about the women’s team,” Ratcliffe said. “We’ve been focused on how to tackle the (men’s) first-team team and its environment, and we’ve been working almost full-time for the first six months.”
Wrapping up her questions, Laqua asked the 71-year-old petrochemical mogul about whether her plans for the women’s national team were “TBC” (To Be Confirmed). Ratcliffe simply said, “That’s right.”
United’s women’s team only returned in 2018 after a 13-year hiatus after the club announced it was no longer profitable.
Despite winning their first major title in the FA Cup last season, Skinner and his players endured a difficult season, finishing in fifth place, their worst finish since promotion to the Women’s Super League (WSL) in 2019.
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