Manchester United’s ‘Mission 1’ target for WSL glory embraced by Skinner | OneFootball

Manchester United’s “Mission 1” target of winning their first Women’s Super League title has been described as a “difficult ask” by their head coach, Marc Skinner, but he says they will embrace the challenge.

The target is reportedly part of a wider “Project 150” plan to coincide with Manchester United’s 150th anniversary in 2028, and the Times revealed on Wednesday that Sir Dave Brailsford had unveiled to staff last autumn “Mission 21”, in reference to the men’s team’s hopes for a 21st league title, alongside “Mission 1” for the women.

The women’s team were reformed in 2018 and have won one major trophy, last season’s FA Cup. Before United continue their defence of that Cup at third-tier Wolves on Saturday, Skinner was asked about “Mission 1” and said: “It’s difficult, but I welcome that difficulty. If you don’t have an aspirational target and an aspirational goal, then your progress can get lost along the way. You can achieve a really simple target, and then, what’s next?

“I’m not a manager that wants to just stand still. I want to progress, and even if it’s an impossible task, I want to drive towards it, because we believe in it, we believe in ourselves.”

Skinner, whose side are second in the WSL, seven points behind the defending champions, Chelsea, said: “I’ll talk specifically about ‘Mission 1’; the men’s teams’ is theirs to talk about. For us, I welcome that focus. What we have to do in the meantime is we have to continue to invest in the squad, because if you were to qualify for a Champions League space then it becomes even more difficult [with extra fixtures] and you’ve seen the stretch on the English teams. You’ve seen the investment from the three teams that are currently in those spaces.

“We’re trying to do it in our own way, which is about a young, hungry, growing team, which by the time that season [in 2028] comes, hopefully they’re in a position where they’ve got more experience in the league, and then you’re just adding to it.”

The club’s two “missions” were the subject of a fiery exchange on TalkSport on Thursday, when the presenter and former Manchester United and Scotland forward Alan Brazil said that the “people around the world are not bothered” about whether the women’s team win the league. Skinner said he had not heard those comments and so did not wish to respond to them, but expressed pleasure that the club were targeting both missions together.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe sparked controversy in 2024 when admitting that Ineos had not yet “gone into that level of detail with the women’s football team” and made clear the men’s team were his priority. But Skinner said on Friday: “I’ve been in the conversation when they spoke about bringing these kind of missions together and genuinely it’s both.

“There’s not one above the other. It’s a clear focus that we want both teams to drive to be successful, to be really ambitious, and genuinely, the wording was even changed around within our kind of conversation to make sure that it supports the women’s structure and the growth of the women’s team as well.”

Header image: [Photograph: Steven Paston/PA]