Sir Jim Ratcliffe asked Manchester United women’s captain Katie Zelem ‘what she did at the club’ during a tour at Carrington, according to a report.
Zelem left Man Utd for National Women’s Soccer League side Angel City last summer.
It’s not a surprise given the club’s new minority owner – who has admitted the men’s team is his priority – did not know who she was when checking out the women’s facilities last year.
This is according to an incredible report from The Telegraph, where a crazy and controversial first year under Ratcliffe’s co-ownership is dissected.
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There is some truly astonishing stuff revealed in the report and the Zelem situation has created a furore.
Zelem is an England international, spent nine years as a youth player at Man Utd, played for the first team from 2018 to 2024, making her 150th appearance on February 17, 2024, three days before Ratcliffe’s minority takeover was finalised.
She captained the club to FA Cup glory last season, though Ratcliffe did not attend the final victory over Tottenham at Wembley. That and his overall disregard of the women’s team is a whole other story.
What makes things even more astonishing is that Zelem was born in the same place as Ratcliffe. The report states:
There was also an unfortunate episode when Ratcliffe was being given a tour of the women’s facilities at Carrington and asked Katie Zelem, then the captain of the women’s team, what she did at the club. Like Ratcliffe, Zelem was born in Failsworth near Oldham.
We are also reminded that Ratcliffe chose to watch the men lose to Arsenal at Old Trafford instead.
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Furthermore, there was no post-match party arranged for the women, which resulted in a shambolic get-together after they won 4-0.
Ratcliffe opted to watch United’s men take on Arsenal at Old Trafford rather than attend the Women’s FA Cup final at Wembley last May, when United beat Tottenham 4-0 to lift the trophy for the first time.
United had originally not arranged a post-match party in the event the team won, so the women instead planned to celebrate in central London where friends and family were staying. In the end, United hastily arranged for a bash at the team hotel but with the venue situated miles outside London it presented a series of last-minute logistical challenges for the women’s team and their loved ones.
The women’s side were reportedly upset to see sporting director Dan Ashworth relieved of his duties as he was considered ‘an important ally and advocate’.
It is also claimed that Ratcliffe and Ashworth did not have a single ‘meaningful conversation about the women’s team’ during the director’s 169 days at the club.
There is thought to have been a distinct personality clash between Ratcliffe and Ashworth and there was only ever going to be one winner there. Ashworth’s departure landed particularly badly with the women’s team, who considered him an important ally and advocate with a track record of growing the women’s game.
Ratcliffe said the perception he was not interested in the women’s team was “slightly misguided” but he has made it clear that the men’s side are the priority. That seemed evident from the outset when he redirected questions about the women’s team to his advisers in his first interviews with reporters last February.
It is thought Ratcliffe did not have one meaningful conversation about the women’s team with Ashworth during his 169-day tenure.
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