Love him or hate him Marc was our gaffer & after the Womens 7's I shook his hand & wished him well for the season ahead.
We all know Jim the Rat didn't care about our Girls & we have sat & watched Arsenal move to the Emirates, Chelsea to the Bridge & seen massive investment in LCL this summer.
In return we watched Millie & Lisa leave for Birmingham & I think though what has brought Marc's resignation about is seeing Melvine walk out the door & sign for one of our biggest rivals, that hurt me, I am sure it hurt all of you & I am convinced that was the last straw & our gaffer has just decided enough is enough & told United to get stuffed.
I also expect he has been told there will be limited, to no further investment, before the next season as the owners are stating that their focus is to be on youth/academy players rather than experienced [expensive] players. As this will likely mean we are fighting to be the best of the rest, it means the PLC values stable profitability and slow growth over aggressive buying by LCL/Arsenal/Chelsea. If this is correct, we will struggle to keep players wanting silverware. I can only see us winning the Subway Cup, as the top 3 won't be involved. Testing times.
Very testing, I don't see us finishing top 5 right now & I think by Christmas the Skinner out brigade will be wondering why we have got worse since he quit.
My expectations for the season ahead were low before todays announcement & they haven't improved with this news.
I wasn't Skinners biggest fan, but he knew the squad & in my opinion has done remarkably well with the financial constraints he has had to work within.
Even The Gaurdian today said Marc's record shows he has over achieved considering what he had to work with.
Yes, agreed. Ultimately, the board taking a longterm view to growing the women's team makes sense as a regular business: slow profitable growth, and investing in youth players who will either make it to the first team or will be sold for a handsome profit later.
Having said that, the ladies tend to have a shorter footballing career and are paid far less than the men, so there is more pressure on them to make hay while the sunshines. Melvine's comments about moving to Chelsea make sense to someone wanting success.
If, as a team, we slip into lower league positions, it then becomes a war of attrition, as the best players gravitate to more successful clubs, to Europe, and if they wish to play for their national side, a more successful club is likely to provide the spotlight... unless they can't break in to the first team.
The frustrating thing is that the PLC could easily solve this with a little investment or external investment, instead of harming the brand and alienating the women's team, while over-enthusiastically proclaiming minor successes to placate fans. Hey ho. I do believe we are about to sign a couple more players, let's hope they are decent. The girls play for the shirt, not Ineos or the Glazers.
The lack of investment from our owners is very short sighted. Invest & players like Melvine stick around & gates go up, more players are attracted & the potential for success increases. Fail to Invest, players leave, gates go down, our chances of success fade.
SJR is supposed to be a good business man, I am not seeing that here.
The one person I feel truly sorry for now is Tooney, a Red through & through, she has seen our Womens team scrapped & been forced to go elsewhere to play. We built a new team, Ella came home, now she is the last of the 'Originals' playing for the club she loves, but knowing the owners don't care. Will she stick around & finish this season, then call it quits, have a baby with Joe & go off to play happy families & leave football behind. Ella, all the squad & particularly the girls in our youth set up deserve better than this.
I was not Marc Skinner's biggest fan either. I felt that the team achieved, in spite of him and his naive/absent tactics, especially against the better teams we faced in his tenure. The FA cup semi-final win against Chelsea being a highlight and our only win against them. However, I agree that the team over achieved in a club that did not (and will not) invest properly in the women's game. I have no idea who is likely to take on the job but I wish them well. We still have some good players but we lack squad depth and unless the club has held off making a move in the transfer window until they resolved the manager situation...but the announcements from the club do not indicate any interest in making big signings. I am in favour of bringing through talent but you need experienced professionals in the squad to guide them, and we lack that so I too fear a turgid season ahead and a mid table finish. I don't even think the Subway cup is a realistic target with our current squad. I will still be there at LSV but with less hope than last season or any previous season. We cannot compete with Chelsea, Arsenal or City and LCL. Plus Liverpool, Tottenham, Villa, Brighton all look like they are investing. It's depressing 😞
I didn't see this coming TBH.
Love him or hate him Marc was our gaffer & after the Womens 7's I shook his hand & wished him well for the season ahead.
We all know Jim the Rat didn't care about our Girls & we have sat & watched Arsenal move to the Emirates, Chelsea to the Bridge & seen massive investment in LCL this summer.
In return we watched Millie & Lisa leave for Birmingham & I think though what has brought Marc's resignation about is seeing Melvine walk out the door & sign for one of our biggest rivals, that hurt me, I am sure it hurt all of you & I am convinced that was the last straw & our gaffer has just decided enough is enough & told United to get stuffed.
I also expect he has been told there will be limited, to no further investment, before the next season as the owners are stating that their focus is to be on youth/academy players rather than experienced [expensive] players. As this will likely mean we are fighting to be the best of the rest, it means the PLC values stable profitability and slow growth over aggressive buying by LCL/Arsenal/Chelsea. If this is correct, we will struggle to keep players wanting silverware. I can only see us winning the Subway Cup, as the top 3 won't be involved. Testing times.
Very testing, I don't see us finishing top 5 right now & I think by Christmas the Skinner out brigade will be wondering why we have got worse since he quit.
My expectations for the season ahead were low before todays announcement & they haven't improved with this news.
I wasn't Skinners biggest fan, but he knew the squad & in my opinion has done remarkably well with the financial constraints he has had to work within.
Even The Gaurdian today said Marc's record shows he has over achieved considering what he had to work with.
Yes, agreed. Ultimately, the board taking a longterm view to growing the women's team makes sense as a regular business: slow profitable growth, and investing in youth players who will either make it to the first team or will be sold for a handsome profit later.
Having said that, the ladies tend to have a shorter footballing career and are paid far less than the men, so there is more pressure on them to make hay while the sunshines. Melvine's comments about moving to Chelsea make sense to someone wanting success.
If, as a team, we slip into lower league positions, it then becomes a war of attrition, as the best players gravitate to more successful clubs, to Europe, and if they wish to play for their national side, a more successful club is likely to provide the spotlight... unless they can't break in to the first team.
The frustrating thing is that the PLC could easily solve this with a little investment or external investment, instead of harming the brand and alienating the women's team, while over-enthusiastically proclaiming minor successes to placate fans. Hey ho. I do believe we are about to sign a couple more players, let's hope they are decent. The girls play for the shirt, not Ineos or the Glazers.
The lack of investment from our owners is very short sighted. Invest & players like Melvine stick around & gates go up, more players are attracted & the potential for success increases. Fail to Invest, players leave, gates go down, our chances of success fade.
SJR is supposed to be a good business man, I am not seeing that here.
The one person I feel truly sorry for now is Tooney, a Red through & through, she has seen our Womens team scrapped & been forced to go elsewhere to play. We built a new team, Ella came home, now she is the last of the 'Originals' playing for the club she loves, but knowing the owners don't care. Will she stick around & finish this season, then call it quits, have a baby with Joe & go off to play happy families & leave football behind. Ella, all the squad & particularly the girls in our youth set up deserve better than this.
I was not Marc Skinner's biggest fan either. I felt that the team achieved, in spite of him and his naive/absent tactics, especially against the better teams we faced in his tenure. The FA cup semi-final win against Chelsea being a highlight and our only win against them. However, I agree that the team over achieved in a club that did not (and will not) invest properly in the women's game. I have no idea who is likely to take on the job but I wish them well. We still have some good players but we lack squad depth and unless the club has held off making a move in the transfer window until they resolved the manager situation...but the announcements from the club do not indicate any interest in making big signings. I am in favour of bringing through talent but you need experienced professionals in the squad to guide them, and we lack that so I too fear a turgid season ahead and a mid table finish. I don't even think the Subway cup is a realistic target with our current squad. I will still be there at LSV but with less hope than last season or any previous season. We cannot compete with Chelsea, Arsenal or City and LCL. Plus Liverpool, Tottenham, Villa, Brighton all look like they are investing. It's depressing 😞