Getting to know, Marc Skinner

Marc Skinner arrived at Manchester United in July 2021, tasked with turning promise into consistent performance, and, in the years since, he has delivered tangible progress.

Under his stewardship, the Red Devils secured a first major trophy with the 2024 Adobe Women’s FA Cup at Wembley, mounted their most credible BWSL title challenge to date in 2022–23, finishing second, and this season have reached the quarter-final of the UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history. That evolution has been driven by a coach who prizes development, detail and the emotional fabric of a squad.

For Skinner, though, progress alone is not the objective; sustained success is. The United boss does not hide his ambition: “I’m fortunate enough to currently be the longest serving BWSL manager and I've experienced this version of the league for a long time and I just think the challenge of the teams that we're going to face, you've got to be your best every day.

“We want to win the league and we want to win it on a consistent basis, so we've added in players like Fridolina Rolfö and Julia Zigliotti. You add that into all of the other quality that we have, then you can achieve incredible things.”

Skinner’s path across the women’s game

Skinner’s rise to this point was steady rather than sudden. He began in development roles, including time at Solihull College & University, before joining Birmingham City’s women’s setup. With the Blues, he worked initially as a goalkeeper coach and academy coach, then stepped up to manage the first team in 2016. There, he earned a reputation for improving players and getting the best from limited resources: a fifth-place BWSL finish and an FA Cup final appearance were early signs of his coaching promise.

A move to the NWSL followed with Orlando Pride, a testing environment that taught hard lessons. After a difficult opening season in which results did not come, Skinner recalibrated and led the side to a seven-game unbeaten run in 2021, the club’s longest sequence at that point. That period in America broadened his tactical palette and reinforced his focus on player development, experience he brought back to England when United approached in 2021.

Coaching DNA: intensity, relationships and detail

Skinner’s football has always been a marriage of high energy and careful player-management. Players point to the emotional work and team bonding he does behind the scenes as much as the drills on the grass.

As United goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce, who has flourished under Skinner since replacing Mary Earps between the sticks, put it:

That emphasis on trust gives players the licence to press, take risks and learn from mistakes. On the pitch, Skinner demands intensity, positional discipline and ruthlessness in the final third, a combination that has produced a team that presses with purpose, moves the ball quickly and remains defensively structured.

Skinner is also unapologetically ambitious about the club’s identity. As he says: “It’s just the history of this club, you know, we're only seven seasons old, but when you walk in the halls of this training ground and Old Trafford, and I think that for me is the romantic part of football, that's the real reason that I get up, is I want to drive a team to have the successes that our men's team have had.

“We want to be the team that gives you intensity, gives you energy, gives you commitment, but from our perspective, it's about setting our own legacy.”

Players, recruitment and defining moments

Skinner’s United have combined homegrown development with smart signings to create balance. The near-title charge of 2022–23, fuelled by the creative force of Ella Toone and the attacking contributions of the likes of Alessia Russo and Leah Galton, announced United as serious challengers at the top end. Losses of key players, like Russo and Spanish full-back Ona Battle, taught lessons, but recruitment and refinement turned those lessons into FA Cup silverware the following year.

Recent windows have been targeted: high-profile additions such as Fridolina Rolfö, Julia Zigliotti and Lea Schuller are designed to add variety and proven quality in the final third, while the club’s academy continues to supply energy and options. The result has been a team that can win in different ways, resilient in defence, lethal in attack, and one that now expects to compete across multiple competitions.

The road ahead for Skinner and his side

The mood at United is no longer tentative; this is a side built to contend. The Reds sit second in the BWSL table and carry momentum into a testing schedule: a Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich and a Subway League Cup final with Chelsea loom as concrete measures of progress.

Skinner’s contract extension in April 2025 and a recent BWSL manager-of-the-month nomination for February underline the club’s faith in his long-term plan and his ongoing impact. United are now a club that expects to compete for honours year after year and Skinner is shaping a side that looks built not just to challenge, but to stay challenging.