I was questioning your idea that MUFC needs a women's team. I say evidence of need is absent.
Phil Neville's comments were actually very good. Asked about Manchester United not having a women's team, he said: "I will be encouraging them. A club the size of United should be the leaders, the pioneers." To describe it as need, is to exaggerate to make a point. Nonetheless there may come a time when United do "need" a women's team.
They may need it because FA and PL rules about what constitutes an Elite academy or what a top club has to do to act as good corporate citizens may demand it. They may need it, because the PR and marketing hit of being the only top 6 club that doesn't have a team may outweigh the cost of operating it. They may even one day need it because our own sponsors may see it as a missed opportunity - particular if the England national team do well in next year's World Cup.
So, I think we can get dragged there eventually as unwilling victims. Or we can use our marketing skills to reduce the cost of operating a professional team. Or we can lead in a different way and try and make a virtue of it - so instead of buying ourselves in at the top we declare a commitment to building a team based on local talent and working our way up.
Meanwhile, I want a women's team, at least partly for the completely selfish reason that when they read out the England team, I don't want to keep hearing the words City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. I'm sure some other fans (and prospective players) have better reasons than that.