Marc Skinner believes stripping the emotion out of a sold-out Women’s FA Cup final at Wembley can help Manchester United claim their first major trophy. Sunday’s showdown between United and Chelsea is a 90,000 sell-out, setting a new attendance record for a women’s domestic club match outside the Women’s Champions League. But United boss Skinner has promised to treat the occasion as a “business-like event”, saying he has learned lessons from Manchester City beating his Birmingham team 4-1 in the 2017 FA Cup showpiece at Wembley. Skinner said: “What we got wrong at Birmingham is that we made it a massive event. We made it bigger than it should have been. “Everyone knows it’s a big deal, but we put quotes on the wall from players and families. We made mistakes, and that was naivety. “It became an emotional event rather than a clear business-like event. “You can celebrate after if you win the cup and be as emotional as you want, but the reality is there’s going to be enough emotions in the game that we need to save them up. “I’ve learned from that and we have to manage stages of the game better than we did at Birmingham. These are the factors we are looking to develop for this one.” United’s women’s team have had a remarkable rise since their formation in May 2018. They were promoted from the Championship in their inaugural season and currently top the Women’s Super League, holding a one-point lead over serial winners Chelsea who have a game in hand. Emma Hayes’ Chelsea are chasing a third successive league and cup double, but Skinner insists the Wembley clash will have no bearing on the title race. He said: “I’m not thinking about that at all. I am solely focused on a one-off game. “For the first time I’ve allowed our players to separate the games and we are looking at this before two difficult games in the league (against Manchester City and Liverpool). “This has no effect in our league and we are going to treat it as such, play it as the one-off event that it is.” Skinner is adamant there is no extra pressure on him on Sunday, even though women’s football will be under a fierce spotlight both in the stadium and around the country with a nationwide television audience. “It’s not pressure I don’t have every day,” said Skinner. “I even think there’s more pressure on us than Chelsea, Arsenal or Manchester City because we are Manchester United. “I feel that because every Manchester United fan will want us to win and we are huge around the world. “I’m sure there will be some nerves, but I’m fuelling my focus and attention to maximise this because, if we win, it will be massive.” United captain Katie Zelem is available after suspension as Norway defender Maria Thorisdottir misses out with the foot injury that ended her season prematurely. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Kitman Chris Marsh overcomes illness to help support Coventry’s promotion push Premier League and PFA announce new five-year partnership ‘Nobody really knows what I can do’ says fit-again Aspinall

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Birmingham boss John Eustace is prepared to remain patient as he aims to bring success back to St Andrew’s. It has been 12 years since the Blues were a Premier League side and on Saturday they travel to Swansea for their Sky Bet Championship season opener with renewed hope of returning to the top-flight. July’s Shelby Companies Limited’s takeover, which also reunited the club with St Andrew’s, ended 14 years of Chinese ownership, firstly under Carson Yeung and then Birmingham Sports Holdings Ltd. American financier Tom Wager’s tenure offers the belief Birmingham can return to the Premier League for the first time since relegation in 2011 – just months after winning the League Cup. Those years have seen final day survival scraps – surviving on goal difference in 2014 – and they have not finished higher than 17th in six years but while promotion is the ultimate goal there is realism to the ownership’s plans. “They understand the challenges of the Championship,” said Eustace. “Success isn’t given to you overnight. When I came in I said I wanted to build something special here, we started that last year. It was important we laid a lot of foundations last season. “I’ve spoken to Garry (Cook, chief executive) who has set out the plans and what he wants which has been great. Everyone is on board, everyone knows their jobs, roles and responsibilities. “The club has been taken over by some very passionate and powerful people and they care deeply. They want to grow this club and make it a force. “That’s going to be done over time, it’s not over a short period. It’s done over two, three, four or five years. Eventually it’ll be up there. It’s about stabilising again this year.” It has not been an easy journey for Eustace since his appointment last summer. A fire at Blues’ Wast Hills training centre in March forced the first team out and they have largely trained at Wasps’ former base near Henley since, although they have managed to return occasionally. It remains unclear when the players will be there full-time while the lower tiers of the Kop and Tilton stands at St Andrew’s have been closed to fans since December 2020 because of safety concerns. That they will reopen this season is an early sign of Wagner’s intent. Last season ex-Barcelona and AC Milan striker Maxi Lopez was involved in a consortium, including Blues fan and businessman Paul Richardson, who claimed to be close to buying a 21 per cent stake. That bid failed and Lopez, Richardson and Matthew Southall admitted breaching EFL owners and directors’ test rules by taking control of the club without going through the proper procedure, a process which saw the club given a two point suspended penalty. So for Eustace to guide the club to 17th, avoiding last-day drama amid a backdrop of uncertainty, remains an underrated achievement – even if there is a tinge of frustration having been seventh at Christmas. “The problems, for me, haven’t been a problem. On the pitch the players last year were exceptional. We went through a lot of tough times but we had a lot of good times,” he told the PA news agency. “The atmosphere we created with the staff and the players was excellent, that’s why we got through what we got through. “There was always a ‘no excuse’ culture. There were no problems for me last year, I was very privileged to work with a very good group of players. “It doesn’t matter what level you’re at. I managed for two years in the Conference North (with Kidderminster). There are the same difficulties, you still have to manage people, expectation. “It was about the football club growing, coming in last year I wanted to get the connection back with the fans and the players. “Now we’ve got that. Now it’s important we get that connection back with the football club and the fans. They can see the owners are the real deal. “The recruitment side from Frank (McParland, director of recruitment) and Craig (Gardner, sporting director) has been very good. There are a lot of new players who have to get used to the environment and the settings.” Nine have arrived this summer with Dion Sanderson, Tyler Roberts, Ethan Laird and Siriki Dembele among them. Krystian Bielik is one of Eustace’s key recruits, signing permanently after last season’s loan from Derby – his second at St Andrew’s. Having spent four years at Derby – being relegated to League One in 2022 – the defender knows all too well what it is like to play for a chaotic club. Yet that is no longer a brush which can tar Birmingham. “We have proper owners, finally,” says Poland international Bielik. “They are not saying something and doing something different. It feels like they know what they are doing and what they want to achieve. “We want to push for that promotion, that’s the aim for Birmingham. It’s the Second City and it should be in the top league. It’s not going to happen just like that but that’s the plan of the owners. “At Derby it was about the deduction, 21 points, and then when it happened you have to agree with reality, that we would probably go down. “We had a good go as well but as a player you have enough stress – although don’t get me wrong people like doctors and firefighters have stress in their jobs – we are doing the best thing in the world so we shouldn’t be stressed that much. Here we can focus on our football.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live We want drama – Mark Bonner ready for another exciting season at Cambridge 2026 Rugby League World Cup to be hosted in southern hemisphere Marcus Stewart thinks former clubs Sunderland and Ipswich can push for promotion

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