Manchester United “need to close” investment gap to challenge for silverware, says Skinner after FA Cup defeat | OneFootball

Marc Skinner has highlighted the gulf in finances between Manchester United and their opponents, after The Red Devils suffered a 3-0 defeat to Chelsea in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup final.

Chelsea completed an unbeaten domestic season and lifted their third trophy of the campaign on Sunday afternoon, with new investor Alexis Ohanian and his wife Serena Williams watching on from the stands.

Ohanian recently purchased a stake in the club, believed to be valued at $20m, and while the Reddit co-founder flew over from the United States to attend, Sir Jim Ratcliffe was notable in his absence.

“In all honesty, I don’t know why Jim wasn’t here so I can’t give you that answer, but we were really well represented. Omar [Berrada] was up there, we’ve got the Glazer family in a massive support and obviously Jason [Wilcox] wass up there as well,” he explained in a post-match press conference.

“Those are the people I deal with every day. They need to see that for us to be able to look to what we need to do to close a growing gap in finance that Chelsea obviously have.”

The 42-year-old continued: “The reality is that it’s the investment in the team that needs to happen, it’s not whether you’re visible. I get that representation and visibility is how you see it, but as long as our club and team is being invested in, that’s also a way of showing your support for the team. For us, we need to close that gap.”

Still, Skinner is pleased with United’s season on the whole and stressed: “We’ve got to another FA Cup final, that’s three in a row. We’ve got back into Champions League qualification, so I think for me, if you saw me at the end on the pitch, I’m staring into space because I’m thinking about how I can close that gap. I’m not going to have the finances that maybe Arsenal or Manchester City are.”

Manchester United could yet close that funding gap if they’re successful in the first-ever World Sevens Football tournament later this week, with the winners of the eight-team tournament set to receive $2.5m [£1.9m].