Casey Stoney - we may play at Old Trafford this season

[jojojo]

Casey has done an interview with RTE https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/201...man-united-dont-do-anything-by-half-measures/
She's in Ireland at a conference promoting women's sport.

On getting offered the job (incidentally she says there was a lot of competition for the manager's job): "The biggest thing they said to me is ‘we want you to feel a part of the club and not apart from the club’."

On United choosing to apply for a Championship licence instead of a WSL1 one:
"We’ve gone in that league so we can get the processes right, the structure right. Also, to give the players a chance to bed in out of the limelight a little bit. Manchester United is a massive club. To give me a chance to get things right, and make mistakes. We’re going to make mistakes, it’s our first year."

She talks a bit about the Leigh stadium (and it's less than ideal location for Manchester) and hoping to eventually build the crowd to fill it, but she also talks about "tentative plans" for a game at OT.
"We will have a game on it this season I believe, which would be good. It will be interesting to see what kind of crowd we can draw if we do well at the end of the season. It’s in discussions at the moment."

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

Good interview. Would love the women’s team to play a few matches at OT. We need to make sure they feel let of the club, and it’s difficult building from scratch.

 

[arthurka]

This has got better planning than the lads got for this season.
Looking great.

 

[El Zoido]

I like Casey a lot, she comes across really well in the interviews I’ve seen. Feels like it could be the start of something special.

 

[Vincent Vine]

If they played at Alty they would get much bigger attendances.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

I like her interviews. It speaks of a well-thought long term plan is in motion. Sensible, realistic and ambitious.

 

[Norris]

Would be wonderful seeing that happen

 

[Rolandofgilead]

You would think an FA Cup tie would be the desired choice, assuming we eventually draw one of the big teams at home. United v City for example

 

[Heardy]

If they get a game at Old Trafford, I hope they get a great crowd. Would be a bit of an anticlimax if it only had 5,000 fans and would look barren.

 

[jojojo]

If they get a game at Old Trafford, I hope they get a great crowd. Would be a bit of an anticlimax if it only had 5,000 fans and would look barren.

It would be quite an ambitions gamble. As RoG says, it would be nice to give ourselves a chance of getting a good crowd - which probably means a Cup match against City or Liverpool.

The U23 and youth teams play the odd game at OT, free admission of course, but there's no PR hit to them playing to an empty looking stadium. 5000 at Leigh with the cameras on the closed side of the ground looks good - 5000 at OT even if just the lower tier of North stand is open, leaves the stadium sounding very empty and echoey.

 

[jojojo]

If they played at Alty they would get much bigger attendances.

Altrincham is one of our named backup grounds (Old Trafford is our other backup ground). To be honest I don't think it can be anything more than a backup though.

It's a better location but the capacity isn't big (about 6085, with only 1323 seated). The lack of seating won't encourage the family groups. The overall capacity isn't that great for an ambitious team - we've already had close to 5000 for a match, and we're getting over 2000 per League game.

The Salford rugby AJ Bell Stadium has better capacity but it's location really isn't any better than Leigh (for most people!).

I'm still holding our a vague hope that we can find a deal with Salford Rugby (and even Salford City!) and build on the old Salford racecourse (the opposite bank of the river to The Cliff training ground). Sadly I think that dream will shortly disappear under a new housing estate and Salford rugby's financial collapse.

 

[Pogba's Barber]

I like her interviews. It speaks of a well-thought long term plan is in motion. Sensible, realistic and ambitious.

Agreed. This got me thinking - how long until we see a female head coach of a men's PL team?

Would they get as much of a bashing by the media as Jose does?

 

[jojojo]

Agreed. This got me thinking - how long until we see a female head coach of a men's PL team?

Would they get as much of a bashing by the media as Jose does?

At the moment the majority of coaches/managers in the women's pro game are men, so I think it'll be quite a while.

As for criticism, the first ones will need a very thick skin. Here's an idea of what people were writing to Chelsea player Rachel Karney on social media a couple of nights back

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Imagine what venom a manager will get. Some of the media may try to help, but others will just add fuel to it.

 

[Nick7]

Agreed. This got me thinking - how long until we see a female head coach of a men's PL team?

Would they get as much of a bashing by the media as Jose does?

Clermont Foot hired Helena Costa a few years back, but she quit after a month or so because of a lack of respect. However they hired Corinne Diacre just after that and she was in change for three years before leaving to manager the French Women's team.

 

[BrianMcClair'sBarnet]

That would be great.Hopefully they'll get a decent crowd.
I'm sure a fair few match going fans will turn out.

At the moment the majority of coaches/managers in the women's pro game are men, so I think it'll be quite a while.

As for criticism, the first ones will need a very thick skin. Here's an idea of what people were writing to Chelsea player Rachel Karney on social media a couple of nights back

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Imagine what venom a manager will get. Some of the media may try to help, but others will just add fuel to it.

Fecking horrible.

 

[SquishyMcSquish]

Agreed. This got me thinking - how long until we see a female head coach of a men's PL team?

Would they get as much of a bashing by the media as Jose does?

This will never happen .. or at least not for the foreseeable future.

I can't even imagine trying to get PL footballers with massive egos to respect a female manager, who has probably never been involved in the game at a level anywhere near their own. They would treat it as a hilarious joke.

 

[Pogba's Barber]

This will never happen .. or at least not for the foreseeable future.

I can't even imagine trying to get PL footballers with massive egos to respect a female manager, who has probably never been involved in the game at a level anywhere near their own. They would treat it as a hilarious joke.

It could be sooner than you think, but it will probably need to start with having more female coaches on the training ground - which could then eventually progress into head coach positions. With gender equality being drummed into kids from an early age, respecting a female figure of authority will come more naturally to every passing generation of footballers. I suppose its a similar process to overcoming racial prejudices and I think football would be better for it.

 

[groovyalbert]

At the moment the majority of coaches/managers in the women's pro game are men, so I think it'll be quite a while.

As for criticism, the first ones will need a very thick skin. Here's an idea of what people were writing to Chelsea player Rachel Karney on social media a couple of nights back

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Imagine what venom a manager will get. Some of the media may try to help, but others will just add fuel to it.

Not to belittle this in anyway (it's absolutely vile), but those tweets are horribly phrased - it sounds like Phil Neville sent them himself!

 

[Grande]

This will never happen .. or at least not for the foreseeable future.

I can't even imagine trying to get PL footballers with massive egos to respect a female manager, who has probably never been involved in the game at a level anywhere near their own. They would treat it as a hilarious joke.

True it will take time, still, this is what they said about a woman for prime minister not long before Maggie Thatcher, and in English football, about managers like Jose Mourinho that hadn’t played at the higher levels. It probably why England stuck with Old star players while other footballing nations more often went for grown up people with competence in leadership, football tactics, team building, man management and organization. If you hve those qualification, eventually some will stop giving a shit wether you ‘played at the upper level’ yourself.

 

[SquishyMcSquish]

True it will take time, still, this is what they said about a woman for prime minister not long before Maggie Thatcher, and in English football, about managers like Jose Mourinho that hadn’t played at the higher levels. It probably why England stuck with Old star players while other footballing nations more often went for grown up people with competence in leadership, football tactics, team building, man management and organization. If you hve those qualification, eventually some will stop giving a shit wether you ‘played at the upper level’ yourself.

True, but I can't think of an environment less suited to a female manager than football. I'm guessing most guys who have played for a team will understand this, and then you have the egos involved at PL level and generally footballers aren't the most enlightened sort. IMO, managing a sports team environment is very different to being prime minister for example.

I think it would take a very special kind of woman to win over the dressing room, and even if that woman exists .. why would a club take that risk? It's not like a female manager would be any more competent than the many male managers out there .. it just doesn't feel like something which would ever happen unless people pushed for quotas.

 

[Grande]

True, but I can't think of an environment less suited to a female manager than football. I'm guessing most guys who have played for a team will understand this, and then you have the egos involved at PL level and generally footballers aren't the most enlightened sort. IMO, managing a sports team environment is very different to being prime minister for example.

I think it would take a very special kind of woman to win over the dressing room, and even if that woman exists .. why would a club take that risk? It's not like a female manager would be any more competent than the many male managers out there .. it just doesn't feel like something which would ever happen unless people pushed for quotas.

I don’t disagree with what you write about wardobes, just note that even wardrobes do change, as long as the leadership is steadfast. It did work at Clermont Foot, though not the first time. Anyway, it will take tine.