Sunday 14th
January 2024
Fourth Round
Manchester United vs. Newcastle United
It’s 9.30 on a Tuesday morning, I should be listening to Christmas songs on Smooth Radio while I work, but instead, I’m trying to figure out Instagram (or ‘The Gram’, as what I believe the youngsters call it?) Anyway, the draw for the fourth round of the FA Women’s Cup is being broadcast on the social media website and what with the Fourth Round being the entry point for the top-level Women’s Super League clubs, it’s an exciting occasion. Imagine my elation when the draw is made – Newcastle, the team I’m following now, only get last season’s runners-up, Manchester United away! If you don’t know already, Manchester United play at Leigh Sports Village – but the actual stadium this time! Having seen the First Round match between Wigan and Chorley here from the outside of a cage housing a 3G pitch, it’s quite the contrast.
Regardless of whenever it turns out positively for me, I love the openness of the FA Cup draw – yes, the ‘bigger’ clubs enter at different stages, but unlike other sports, the leading names aren’t protected by a ranking, meaning they can draw anyone home or away. This makes any ‘meaningful’ tie (one against a big/notable club, a local rivalry or anything else) that bit more special – the draw is random and therefore, it must be a fate that this tie has been created. This is a plum tie for the Magpies, what with their hosts being a leading WSL side, containing several England internationals and last season’s Women’s FA Cup runners up to boot – but it’s also a plum tie for me (and my wallet) because the stadium is a mere 7 miles away from my home! Two quid on the bus. I’m feeling as smug as a peacock in full plumage, let me tell you.
Primarily home to Leigh Leopards Rugby League club, Manchester United use the stadium to host their men’s reserves (since 2014) and women’s teams, since their creation in 2018. The 12,000-capacity stadium is the centrepiece of a council scheme that saw the regeneration of the local area, with other sporting facilities – the 3Gs we’ve already experienced, an athletics track, sports centre, swimming pool – as well as retail spaces, a hotel and the Leigh campus of Wigan & Leigh College. I feel it’s become a trend to deride 21st-century development schemes as ‘pie in the sky’; poorly-thought out ideas that would never work in reality, but the LSV development has genuinely been a success in its remit to offer top-class sports, health and education facilities. It’s rather heartening then, to see a professional women’s football club and the thousands of people who come and watch them every other week continuing to add to that success.
I get to Leigh about an hour before kick-off, so to while away the time, I decide to get one of my ‘five a day’ (cider) in at The Whistling Wren, the evocatively-named pub/restaurant that sits close to the stadium. There are a lot of people in here already, so I elect to sit outside and take in the stark contrast to when I was last here, during the Euros 18 months ago. After enjoying a previous match in Group C between Portugal and Switzerland (a 2-2 draw), I was fortunate enough to grab a last-minute ticket to see the Portuguese take on Sweden on a sweltering hot day. 7,118 people came to see that final group match that day, as the Swedes ran out 5-0 winners. Pre-match, the immediate area was awash with supporters from all over the place and a real party atmosphere was being enjoyed, as the bright sunlight exquisitely mixed with the different types of people, colours and sounds that swamped the Leigh landscape. I was even wearing shorts such was the occasion – and I only do this in the gym or in Tenerife. Today, it’s not quite as warm, with the weather being something that a polar bear would wear a jacket in. But at least I have my cider to remind me of those halcyon days gone by.
The fact that it took until 2018 for a football club the size of Manchester United – arguably the biggest in the world – to establish a professional women’s team (especially considering all their rivals had already done so, and enjoyed great success), mystified many. There had been unofficial United teams in operation since the FA lifted their ban in the 1970s, but they were described as ‘supporter teams’ and initially played other unofficial teams of other clubs. As the women’s game grew and became increasingly more organised in the 1980s, ‘Manchester United Supporters Club Ladies’ emerged and were founder members of the Manchester & District League. This league would later merge with other regional leagues to become the North West Women’s Regional League (which is still in existence today, occupying the 5th and 6th tiers of the women’s football pyramid).
By the early 1990s, the club approached Manchester United for support and formal recognition – which they got; they agreed to let them use The Cliff, United’s training complex at the time, were allowed to use the name ‘Manchester United Ladies FC’ and were even advertised in the men’s matchday programme. It seemed, what with women’s football steadily growing and moving towards professionalism in the early-2000s, that Man Utd would be at the forefront – then new ownership happened. In 2005 – ironically, the year that England hosted the 2005 Women’s Euros in the North West – Manchester United scrapped their women’s side. The sweeping changes brought in as a result of the takeover by the Glazer family saw several cuts made, which included the women’s club. Instead, they decided to concentrate their resources on community coaching for school-age children – but with no organised team to play for at United, girls had to search for a senior side to continue their progress in the game. Apparently, The Manchester United Foundation (the community initiative assigned to youth coaching) would coach as many as 3,000 girls in age groups up until under-16. Naturally, competition for places within other clubs was already high – especially considering they had their own youth players to develop – so with a smaller pool of professional clubs to choose from, it’s not hard to see that a lack of a senior team at United would have been an impediment for many girls to progress further.
As women’s football continued to progress throughout the 2010s, the noise about how the biggest and most well-equipped football club in England not having a senior women’s team was deafening – by 2018, they were the only Premier League club to not have a women’s side. Perhaps finally realising that there was some long-term commercial viability in the women’s game, United announced the formation of a professional women’s club for the 2018-19 season, which was immediately parachuted into the Championship. Appointing former England captain, Casey Stoney, as head coach, United quickly recruited a strong side (which included several players who had played in their youth set-up but had to leave to pursue a career – such as Katie Zelem and Ella Toone). United won the league at a canter, earning a promotion to the WSL and have since grown steadily – last season, now under the management of Marc Skinner, they finished as runners-up to Chelsea in both the league and this very competition – a second-half goal by Sam Kerr separating the teams at Wembley last May in front of a record Women’s FA Cup attendance of 77,390. Clearly, they’re a club on the up – it’s just a shame they couldn’t have formed a decade or so before!
United have made a somewhat slow start to this season – with expectations high after the relative success of last season, Skinner has come under criticism from a section of the fanbase. The supporters’ displeasure at performances has led to cardboard ‘Skinner Out’ signs being spotted at games. Currently, United are points behind leaders Chelsea in the WSL, they didn’t get past the group stage in the League Cup, and they were knocked out of the Champions League in the second qualifying round by Paris St Germain, leaving the FA Cup as their only realistic prospect of silverware. You’d imagine Skinner, whose contract expires at the end of the season, needs to win it to stand a chance of holding back the critics and earning a new deal. In fairness, it does seem he’s been hamstrung a little; he’s had to contend with several injuries to key players and then there’s the ongoing ownership saga at Manchester United, which has undoubtedly affected their ability to recruit and retain players. Alessia Russo – starting striker for England in the World Cup – apparently had a contract offer withdrawn in the summer and so left on a free to sign for Arsenal. Recently, INEOS billionaire, Jim Radcliffe, has purchased a stake in the club and taken over the running of its football operations, with plans for the women’s side not clear as of yet.
Another key part of the United team is goalkeeper Mary Earps, who this week came to national attention once again, winning the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award. Voted for by viewers, it’s the second year in a row that an England Lioness has won, with Beth Mead taking the trophy home last year. This has rather, shall we say ‘upset’, some viewers who have labelled the win as a ‘box ticking exercise’ by the BBC as aside from winning the Golden Glove for best goalkeeper in the World Cup and being a key part of England reaching the final, Earps ‘hasn’t achieved anything’ of note. Personally, I think heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson (who was voted third) should have won it – she did, after all, win gold in the World Athletics Championship that year. But as the award is voted on by the public, it’s only logical to assume that it’s the fact women’s football is more popular than athletics is the reason why Mary won the award. More people are aware of her and what she achieved and voted that way. Maybe critics should bear that in mind the next time they say ‘nobody watches women’s football’?
Speaking of which, over four-and-a-half thousand people have turned up to Leigh on this gloomy Sunday afternoon – a good thousand of them being from Newcastle. On my way to the stadium, I pass several coaches that have driven down from the North East – and Old Trafford. There’s no train station in Leigh, with only a guided busway offering a connection to Manchester. So, to get as many United supporters to Leigh as possible, United’s travel club lay on transport to every game at LSV. Interestingly, I think this makes for a better atmosphere – getting on board with your fellow supporters outside the ground, the coach offers an environment for people to unite in anticipation and camaraderie. A solitary car journey confines people to their own bubble, whereas the coach fosters interaction and connections; views are aired, songs are sung, hopes are declared. When you arrive at your destination, you carry all of that into your seat, as you try and affect the game with your cheers. And some coach providers allow you to take bags of cans on, which I suspect is fuelling many of the Newcastle supporters who are shouting ‘Tooooooooooon’ in the East Stand right now.
As for me, I’m sitting in West Stand and I’m cursing myself for not getting here earlier, as it’s quite packed – I usually like to sit on the end of a row for easy entry/exit so I don’t bother people. However, on this occasion, I’m having to squeeze in between two groups of people and as I turn to the only available seat, I see it has bird shit on it. Typical. Thankfully, it’s dry and as I use an old Aldi receipt to wipe my hands just in case, I’m struck by the realisation that we’re in the fourth round now, with thousands coming to games instead of hundreds. Those times when I could rock up 5 minutes before kick-off are long gone now. Aside from us in here and the Newcastle supporters opposite, there’s a decent number of home supporters behind one goal, while the other (the terracing) is closed – but there are several United flags erected there and somewhat fortuitously, the colour scheme of the LSV itself is red, white and black (which were Leigh RLFC’s traditional colour scheme, before they rebranded to ‘Leopards’ last year). It’s easy to imagine that all this works to provide a ‘home feeling’ for United’s supporters and players, which can only help the atmosphere, driving the team forward – many women’s football clubs don’t have a specific home to call their own – one that they’re able to deck out in their colours – so any perceived ‘home advantage’ will be minimal. Here, everything is in place for them – even the colour scheme.
United have named a strong side for the visit of third-tier Newcastle, which I wasn’t expecting, as England players Ella Toone and BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2023, Mary Earps, start. However, they’ve just returned from a mid-season training camp in Malta, with their last competitive game being a month ago, so it makes sense that they’ll want to brush off the cobwebs by naming their regular players in today’s team. Earps is definitely winning the battle for popularity amongst the supporters here too – I know this because there’s a plethora of cardboard signs telling me so. This is a unique phenomenon in the women’s game – the only time I’ve seen signs at a men’s game, it’s usually a bedsheet asking for a manager’s head or of late, requesting a player’s shirt. This has received criticism from the football community, citing ‘fan entitlement’ which has ‘gone out of control’ – and with the women’s game offering easier interactions, it’s been an issue that has reportedly made some players uncomfortable. In fairness, I don’t see any shirt request signs here today – they’re just saying how great Mary is. They’ve used glitter pens and everything, it’s quite impressive.
What isn’t impressive, at least in my opinion, is Manchester United’s mascot, Fred The Red. The anthropomorphic representation of a devil looks like a cartoon character from the 90s, all garish and shiny, complete with a nose and stupid grin on his face. Here he is now, waving to us and slapping his badge to chants of 'Fred The Red' from supporters. I feel sick. He’s wearing number 55 and as I’m Googling why that’s the case, I instead come across an article that says he’s the highest-paid mascot in the Premier League. Allegedly, he gets £70,000-a-year – that can’t be right, surely? Seventy. Thousand. Pounds. Even half that is a fantastic wage to wear a foam head, wave at people and just generally piss about at events. If anyone at United is reading this – I know times have been hard with the billion-pound investment and everything – but I’m willing to help out and do it for just £30k. Meal and travel allowance on top. As for why he wears 55? No idea – even some of the United supporters don’t know. Dan Brown should write a book on it – he likes that mystery numbers coupled with religious iconography and stuff.
Thankfully, the game soon kicks off and Fred goes off to spend his wages on some champagne or After Eights or something, and his WSL team naturally dominate the ball. A few early shots are either deflected wide or skied over the bar from distance as the players work to find their range – already, it seems it could be a long day for Newcastle here. Rather aptly, just as I noted that down, Newcastle come into the game and start to keep the ball and the United defence work. On two occasions, they get close to the penalty area but it’s just that final ball that’s lacking – one was hit too hard and ran out of play, the other wasn’t hit hard enough and was easily intercepted. It’s just a warning for the Reds – as they spend most of their time ripping apart sides in the third tier, Newcastle are very practised in creating chances out of nothing.
Just to endorse what I’ve just said – United nearly take the lead as a shot from just inside the area is tipped onto the bar by Grace Donnelly, then her team collect the ball, go up the other end and just as it seemed they’re bearing down on Earps, United make a last-ditch tackle. It’s exciting end-to-end stuff at the moment and the supporters are slightly uncomfortable – but they do make me laugh, as the way they’re supporting the team is slightly different from what I’m used to. As an example – instead of going absolutely mental over a free-kick and swearing their heads off in front of children, a poorly-taken free-kick is met with some ‘polite criticism’ which went along the lines of ‘Is this the men’s team?’. I can only imagine the amount of salt that would be cried by a social media critic of the women’s game if they heard that. Fair play, that’s good banter!
Newcastle’s resistance lasts for 28 minutes – Lucia Garcia outmuscles her marker on the left, cuts the ball inside towards Nikita Parris; it’s blocked but finds its way to the edge of the penalty area where Toone takes a touch to get away from a defender before shooting and looping the ball over Donnelly and into the middle of the goal. Toone scores against the Toon! United continue to pressure after the restart – they’ve been tested in the last 15 minutes, with Newcastle constantly hitting them on the break but they’re composed now and are keeping the ball again. Toone is involved in the second goal 10 minutes later – from the left touchline, she crosses high, and Parris finds the space amongst a crowd of defenders to head home. The supporters around me think their side have a third in first-half injury time as another long ball into the box is headed in by Parris – but it’s ruled that she came back from an offside position. United are in complete control at half-time, despite having to withstand a spell where Newcastle looked threatening – it just goes to score the importance of making pressure count.
I go down into the stand during the break to try and find a programme seller, as I didn’t see one on the way in – and I’ve got no chance. The queue for food is snaking around the concourse, as is the one for the women’s toilets. This is something that never fails to me chuckle – it’s tough on the women and girls who need the toilet, obviously, but it’s a clear sign of the popularity of women’s football amongst a group of people who have been classically stereotyped as ‘not liking football’. Unfortunately, beyond requisitioning one of the men’s loos, there’s not much that can be done to remedy this issue in multi-purpose stadiums such as this. Maybe have gender-natural versions and assign them depending on the types of crowds that are expected? Naturally, I’ve got plenty of time to ponder all this as I saunter into the near-deserted men’s and take my sweet time, warming my cold hands under the dryer for good measure. I could get used to this luxury, it’s an amazing feeling.
Any hopes Newcastle had of holding off their hosts and get a foothold in the mountain they had to climb were ended just 10 minutes into the second half, as United get a fortunate goal to make it three. Centre-back, Maya Le Tisser, finds herself out on the right wing; she mishits a cross, the ball loops towards goal where Donnelly can only palm it out to Garcia who proceeds to play it across the 6-yard box to Parris and she bundles home. It’s a scruffy goal but those around me obviously don’t care as they sing ‘We’re going to Wembley’.
Feeling the match is done with, Skinner makes FOUR subs on 65 minutes, giving a rest to some of the regular starters and bringing on those who need some game time. One of the players who was replaced was the industrious Garcia and there was a nice moment as she walked around the pitch, giving high-5s to several kids who had lined up by the advertising hoardings. Again, summing up the family feeling this fixture helps – although I suspect it helps being 3-nil up too. One of the sub introductions for United was Rachel Williams, who I learn later is a plasterer by trade – celebrating her 36th birthday last week, she started her career at a time when there was little money women’s football, which shows just how quickly it’s grown to become fully professional. The former England international is quickly involved in the action as she hits a shot that canons off the bar – it falls back to her, and she proceeded to lift the ball over Donnelly to make it four. Dare I say great finish by the plasterer?
With only a couple of minutes left, the away support – who have been constantly singing throughout the game – make one last sign of appreciation of their side’s efforts; ‘Stand up if you love the Toon’ and waving their black-and-white scarves around. It looks great – it should be interesting to see what crowds they attract in the second tier if/when they get there. Their support during this run – the group of people that came to Skem, the crowd at Gateshead and the horde here at Leigh have been in great voice, constantly getting behind their girls. With the backing Newcastle United have, I would imagine more success is on the way for their new Women’s team. Although, I’m not sure why they’re standing up and saying they love the opposition number 7, Ella, though? Great player and all but she’s cost you a place in the next round.
As the added time of five minutes is announced, the United support chant 'We want five' and low-and-behold, they get their wish just a minute later. A corner is swung in and forward, Melvine Malard powerfully heads home. It finishes as an empathic win for United – Newcastle did struggle to keep up for large periods of the second half as their hosts passed around them, highlighting the gap between the divisions. In fairness, as one of the best sides in the WSL, United regularly score loads anyway, so perhaps the gap between Newcastle right now and the rest of the WSL isn’t that large? It’s nevertheless something to build on for the National League side as they look to getting into the Women's Championship. As for United, considering they were finalists last year and are still ranked in the upper region of the WSL table, so I’m already wondering if I'll be following them to Wembley? Let’s see what the draw brings – Leigh again? Can I be that lucky?
Manchester
United 5
(Toone, 28. Parris, 37, 55.
Williams, 71. Malard, 90)
Newcastle United 0
Attendance: 4,731
Next round: Southampton vs. Manchester United
