Manchester United Women appoint Casey Stoney as manager

Manchester United Women may not have played a game yet, but they’re already making purposeful moves ahead of their first season in competition. The club have announced today that their manager will be former England captain Casey Stoney, who retired from playing last February.

Since then, Stoney has been assisting England manager Phil Neville. Speaking to United’s website, she said:

The fact that we are going to have a women’s team and I’m going to be able to introduce that from scratch, to build a team, build a philosophy, with the biggest club in the world, means that, for me, there is no more exciting opportunity. My ultimate aim is to grow this team so that every little girl growing up dreams of playing for Manchester United when she’s older, because they’re the most successful team in women’s football.

During her playing career, Stoney won 130 caps for England, as well as playing for three of United’s domestic rivals: Arsenal, Liverpool, and Chelsea. She won the league title twice, in 2001 and 2002, and the FA Cup four times, most recently in 2016.

United Women were successful in their application to the Women’s Super League, and will play in the second tier, known as the FA Championship. We can expect a busy summer, as United and Stoney build up a team from nothing for a season that begins in just a couple of months, on 18 August.