"We've got to grow because we're eight years old." Marc Skinner said it himself after the Bayern Munich UWCL defeat in April, and now he's gone — mutual termination agreed, one chapter closed, a structural crisis very much still open.
His replacement is Eva Olid, 40, who turned Hearts from SWPL relegation candidates into champions over five years in Scotland. United moved quickly, handing her an initial two-year deal with an option for a third. The appointment comes with a clear brief: develop academy talent, build young, spend less. Whether that's a genuine long-term vision or a convenient cover story for another round of underfunding is the question that will define Olid's tenure.
The investment gap isn't new — it's just getting harder to ignore
Skinner's exit shouldn't have shocked anyone. Sources told ESPN he offered his resignation before the club agreed to a mutual termination. The surprise was the timing — weeks before the WSL season kicks off — not the outcome itself.
In five years, United reached four domestic cup finals, won the 2024 FA Cup, and made the UWCL quarterfinals in their first European campaign. On a budget of £10.7 million operating costs against Arsenal's wage bill alone of £11.3 million, those results look like overachievement. Manchester City's operating expenses exceeded £14 million before they won the WSL. Chelsea have led league spending for years and collected six consecutive titles to show for it.
United's wage bill last season: £5.88 million. That's the competitive environment Skinner was operating in, and it's the same one Olid is walking into.
The structural problems predate Skinner entirely. His predecessor Casey Stoney left citing the same frustrations over the club's commitment to the women's programme. Sir Jim Ratcliffe admitted in 2024 he hadn't given the women's team his full attention. He didn't attend either FA Cup final. The women's squad was moved into temporary portable buildings at Carrington while the men's facilities underwent a £50 million renovation. The symbolism was hard to miss.
This summer, United sold Melvine Malard to Chelsea for £850,000. There is little evidence that money has been reinvested. Their net additions to the squad: Spanish defender Andrea Medina and goalkeeper Janina Leitzig. Three senior players left permanently, another went on loan. Alessia Russo, Mary Earps, Ona Batlle and Katie Zelem all departed on free transfers in recent years — several landing at direct rivals. A pattern, not a coincidence.
The youth strategy has a serious credibility problem right now
United's new model centres on producing academy talent rather than competing in the transfer market. The logic isn't wrong in theory. Barcelona have built the benchmark — 18-year-old Clara Serrajordi started last season's Champions League final after years of careful integration through one of the most developed youth systems in world football. United are nowhere near that infrastructure.
Last season, United ranked last in the WSL for minutes given to players under 21. They handed professional contracts to Layla Drury, Jess Anderson and Scarlett Hill — all aged 17 or 18 — but gave them next to no senior exposure. Drury will miss the start of the new season entirely, called up to England's Under-20 World Cup squad in September. Even Arsenal, who run one of English football's most respected academies, have seen only two recent graduates — Michelle Agyemang and Katie Reid — establish themselves at senior level, and both suffered ACL injuries in their first year.
Seven academy graduates left United in 2023-24. Another 11 departed across 2025-26. You can't build a pipeline while the talent is walking out the door.
Olid inherits a squad that was already stretched at the back end of last season's UWCL campaign. It is now thinner. United open their WSL season away to a strengthened London City Lionesses side — backed by billionaire Michele Kang, spending beyond what United can currently match — before back-to-back fixtures against Chelsea and Arsenal. Lose all three and any talk of a top-three challenge becomes academic before October arrives.
Chief executive Omar Berrada has publicly targeted a WSL title by 2028. Under the current recruitment approach and squad depth, that looks optimistic. The window is still open, and United genuinely need to use it.
Olid's track record developing young players is real and it's exactly why United appointed her. The problem isn't her credentials. It's whether the club will actually back her — or leave her to perform the same magic trick Skinner was expected to pull off, with one hand tied behind her back.
