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Manchester United Women’s Supporters Club recently celebrated their fifth anniversary and were presented with a t-shirt by manager Marc Skinner to commemorate the achievement on the Old Trafford pitch ahead of the Manchester Derby.
Marc and Deborah Henry were instrumental in the formation of the supporters club and their continued relationship with the club helps them to better serve all fans.
Debs recalled growing up a United fan: “Both Marc and I were born in half-blue, half-red homes. I was a very lucky girl because my dad never saw football as a child’s thing. And now I look back and think, I never really thought of my father as progressive, but there must be some element of that in him.”
Debs’ father took her and her brother to soccer as much as he could when they were little. She followed in her brother’s footsteps as many siblings do and she became consumed by Manchester United.
Meanwhile, Marc’s grandfather on his mother’s side was a director of Manchester City and his father, who lived in Whitley Bay, had divided his loyalties between United and Newcastle.
Marc said: “My dad took me to my first United game on May 9, 1983, and a week or two later he took me to the Cup final against Brighton.”
After that, he was completely united and has traveled the world following the team ever since.
The couple met through Deb’s brother, with whom Marc used to play football, but United could have easily derailed their relationship, as Marc recalled. “The first date we had, I had to cancel the day before because I had a ticket to go see United at Chelsea. So I phoned to cancel the date. She told me: ‘You have to go to United.’”
The Henrys bonded over their admiration for Eric Cantona and have many memorable moments watching the men’s team.
Debs recalled: “Rooney’s 250th goal at Stoke was a highlight for me. I ended up at the bottom of a pile and hurt my elbow in the process, but I saw the story!
Meanwhile, Marc witnessed that Triplet-winning moment in ’99: “I was very lucky, I saw the original triplet, as I call it.”
The pair were not interested in women’s football before United reformed in 2018 under the management of Casey Stoney.
Debs said: “I have never made it a secret that women’s football was not my thing. “I needed United to be involved, I find it difficult not to have a dog in the fight.”
When United were formed in 2018, the couple decided to show their support for their club.
“It was Marc who said: “The women’s team will have been formed if we go”, he was more eager than me. My niece was a big factor in that because Marc had taken her on as a mascot for a game, a City game, and she had said to him: Why doesn’t United have a team? And there was no response.”
Marc recalled the atmosphere at that first game: “We went to that first home game against Reading and you could tell there were a lot of people on the pitch who didn’t know what to expect or how to act.”
He continued: “I heard Nat on the other end, we were in the front row that night. The next game was a cold, miserable Thursday night and we went and stood at the back of the west stand and Nat joined us and a few others and that was really the start.”
The group created a WhatsApp chat because they were planning to travel to watch the team against Durham and crowdfunded a flag to take with them. This is how the Manchester United Women’s Supporters Club was born.
The ill-fated game against Charlton after the winter break was the first time the group hopped on a minibus to travel away from home and the committee was established.
They both work full time, Marc is a digital media specialist and Debs is a psychotherapist and hypnotherapist, but managing the group has become almost a full-time job for the committee in recent months.
Debs said: “It will be very rare for me to go a day without some form of involvement from the club, whether it be the fans or the football club in general. And that can be something as basic as an email from a staff member or a message in a WhatsApp group.”
“There will be some days where it will be a half day because there is a meeting or an hour-long phone call, or emails that need to be sent to members. Sometimes it’s hard to plan because things come up at the last minute and we have our own work schedules to work out.”
Marc added: “To be fair to United, they try to give us as much notice as possible.”
They have developed a strong working relationship with the club, holding regular meetings that allow them to frequently communicate fan needs, easily resolve ticketing issues and other queries raised by their members and the wider community.
“I think we need to have that communication so we can better serve the fan base,” Debs said. “Although we have membership, we are in a strange position where the work we do benefits the entire fan base, not just our members.”
The connection between the football club and the supporters club is one of the strongest in the entire WSL.
“If someone has a ticket issue to resolve, if we can’t respond and just direct them back to the box office, what’s the point of us? We need to have that contact with the club. I’m told we have more access than most WSL supporters clubs. The relationship with the club is two-way, we need them but they also need us a lot.”
One of the Peña’s achievements was the travel subsidy for fans traveling away from home. “I still think it’s one of our best points, because again, all fans can access that. “What we were able to do for our partners for tickets to the Cup final was another great achievement – the relationship we have with the box office is excellent, they are really brilliant.”
Marc added: “I think the way we work with the box office is unique. We laugh with them and we can ask for certain things, within reason, and they will try to do it.”
Many fans don’t appreciate what goes on behind the scenes, the work that the couple, Shane and Fiona, do on a regular basis. Even now they are preparing for next season, as together with the club they are looking for how to surpass the sale of season tickets for this season. “There are many things that we cannot consider victories because people do not know what the battle was. The battle is not just the things that happen but the things we make sure don’t happen sometimes.”
Having been embedded in this football club all their lives, seeing what is available for the men’s team and their fans, the two have pushed for equality in women’s football too. Debs highlighted: “Having the calendar in the app is something I’ve pushed for – the smaller details, but it’s equality, the Player of the Month trophy. “The fan events, being part of the photo shoots for new signings, I think they’re brilliant, I think they need to do more of that sort of thing.”
Over the last few years, United fans have been keen to have an away section allocated at grounds across the country. Last season saw success as United traveled to venues such as the Emirates.
This season, fans no longer have to register on other clubs’ websites to buy tickets: “United are the only club I know of that sell tickets through their own website. A few years ago everyone had to sign up to go get a ticket for Villa or a ticket for Chelsea. We’ve always tried to push for it to be done this way and in fact Debs, myself, Shane, Fiona and Chloe, we can’t take credit for that, this was the club that pushed this idea and they were like what? do you think about this? And we said, yes, absolutely.”
As fans, you have your own thoughts and opinions on issues that affect the club. However, as representatives of all Manchester United Women’s fans, they have to make decisions and have conversations with the club that best reflect the views of all fans.
Last year, when offers came in for an ownership change, the committee had to think about what conversations might arise depending on that decision. Marc recalled: “I have my own opinion about what should happen. Debs will have hers, you will have yours. “I don’t think people agree because I just don’t think anyone knows what the other side is like.”
He continued: “We now know that Sir Jim is buying a 25% stake in the club. I think when it came to the Qataris, I think that was too big – the sportswashing, the LGBTQ+ rights, the way they treat women – it was a bigger problem. And, in fact, those were conversations that I don’t think Debs or I or Shane or any of us expected to have with the club.”
Debs added: “We can’t affect the ownership, I just hope the ownership offers dialogue.”
As well as being the bridge between fans and the club, the group raises funds for charity each year during the Christmas season. For this year’s fundraiser they enlisted the help of goalkeeper Safia Middleton-Patel, who nominated the charity.
Although the women’s team is in its infancy, the couple were there to see them win promotion to the WSL, follow them to the FA Cup final, cheer them on in Paris in the Champions League and travel around the world with them to the camps of training.
Marc chooses a game from last season as his favorite moment with this team. “My favorite moment with the women was Arsenal at the Emirates last season. “That was a season-defining win for us.”
Meanwhile, Debs goes back to that first season in which both the team and the club began to grow. “I came back to Everton in that first season, they were a super league team and we were a Championship team and we beat them in that first half. But the reason that really sticks with me is that there was a core of visiting fans, that was the core and I got really excited because we had 100 followers on Twitter that night and now I look and we have 7000, from little acorns!
Five years after those initial conversations, the supporters club continues to grow as it serves fans daily, organizing opportunities for members to participate in club events and making it easier for fans to follow the team around the country. It wouldn’t be possible without the hard work and dedication of people like Debs and Marc Henry.
