Marc Skinner
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Marc Skinner (born 23 March 1983) is an English professional
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
coach who is the head coach of Manchester United Women in the
FA Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...
. Having been involved with their youth set-up, Skinner went on to manage the Birmingham City Women first team before moving to the United States to manage
Orlando Pride The Orlando Pride are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Orlando, Florida, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The Pride began play in the 2016 National Women's Soccer League season, 2016 ...
in the
NWSL The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...
. He holds a
UEFA A Licence The UEFA coaching licences are documents testifying credentials of manager (association football), managers/ coach (sport), coaches among members of UEFA. The governing body for association football, football in Europe mandates several licences, e ...
.


Coaching career


Solihull College

Formerly a teacher, Skinner was football academy manager at Solihull College which opened a ladies-only academy and regional talent hub linked to professional team
Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...
in 2013.


Birmingham City

Skinner had held various roles at Birmingham City since 2006 including technical director, reserve team head coach and first-team goalkeeping coach. In December 2016, he was promoted to the position of head coach of the first team. Upon the appointment he said "Since I found out I haven’t stopped smiling, this club is deep in my heart. I am extremely proud to lead this fantastic team and I am hoping to continue the success there already been in the past." The
FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...
was in the middle of a switch to the traditional autumn-to-spring calendar and, as a result, Skinner's first campaign was the shortened 8-game Spring Series from February–May 2017 where Birmingham finished 7th. The team also made the
FA Cup final The FA Cup Final is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official attendance of 89,472 ...
. The Blues improved to a 5th-place finish in the 2017–18 season. Upon his departure in January 2019, Skinner's Birmingham side sat 4th in the WSL table. He was credited with turning around the Blues’ style of play - creating a well-organized and defensively sound system while implementing a dominant attacking style on a small budget compared to
Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...
,
Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
and Chelsea who were above them.


Orlando Pride

On 14 January 2019, Skinner was announced as head coach of
Orlando Pride The Orlando Pride are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Orlando, Florida, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The Pride began play in the 2016 National Women's Soccer League season, 2016 ...
, a team he called "one of the biggest clubs in the world." He became the team's second ever head coach following the departure of
Tom Sermanni Thomas Dorby Sermanni (born 1 July 1954) is a Scottish football manager and former professional player, who mostly works in women's football. He has previously managed the Australia women's national team across three stints (1994–1997, 2005†...
at the end of 2018. After a difficult start having failed to win any of his opening nine games, Skinner earned his first win as Orlando head coach on 22 June in a 2–1 victory over
Sky Blue FC Gotham Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in the New York metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 un ...
. In his debut campaign, Orlando finished bottom of the league with a franchise record-low 16 points. With the 2020 season disrupted by the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, Orlando Pride saw their schedule reduced to four Fall Series matches. The team failed to win any of them but notably ended the series in dramatic fashion with a second-half comeback from three goals down to tie with
North Carolina Courage The North Carolina Courage are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Cary, North Carolina, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It was founded on January 9, 2017, after Stephen Malik acqui ...
. After finishing third of five teams in the group stage of the
2021 NWSL Challenge Cup The 2021 NWSL Challenge Cup was a league cup tournament that took place during the 2021 National Women's Soccer League season. It began on April 9 and ended May 8, one week before the start of the regular season. It was the second iteration of th ...
, Orlando picked up 15 points in seven games during an unbeaten start to the regular season, the longest unbeaten start in club history. Combined with the two unbeaten games at the end of the Challenge Cup, the nine game streak matched Orlando's record all-time unbeaten run in all competitions set in October 2017. He stepped down on 23 July 2021, amid reports he had agreed terms with
Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...
.


Manchester United

On 29 July 2021, Skinner returned to the
FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...
to become the second head coach of
Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...
, taking over from
Casey Stoney Casey Jean Stoney (born 13 May 1982) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who currently serves as the head coach of the Canada women's national soccer team. A versatile ...
following her resignation in May 2021. He signed a two-year contract with the option for a third. Under Skinner's tenure, Manchester United finished second in the 2022–23 WSL season, their highest finish in the league to date, as well as runners-up in the
FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...
that same season. This finish also saw the club reach the
UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach football in Europe and the transcontinental countries of Turkey, Azerbaijan, ...
for the first time, though they failed to advance to the group stages after being defeated by
Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...
across both second round qualification legs the following season. Despite an underwhelming 2023–24 league campaign, which saw the club finish fifth in their lowest placement to date, this season saw Skinner win his first silverware as a manager as Manchester United won the 2024 FA Cup final on 12 May. He signed a one-year extension with the option for a further year on 17 May 2024. On 2 April 2025, Skinner signed a further contract extension with United, keeping him at the club until 2027 with the option for an additional year.


Personal life

Skinner is in a long-term relationship with former
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
international defender
Laura Bassett Laura Bassett (born 2 August 1983) is an English former football defender who represented England internationally. She played for FA WSL club Notts County, Birmingham City (two separate spells), Arsenal, Leeds Carnegie, Chelsea, and Australia ...
having met while both coaching for Birmingham's U-14s team. Their daughter, Saede, was born in December 2018. The couple's second child was born in March 2024.


Managerial statistics

All competitive games (league and domestic cups) are included.


Honours

Birmingham City *
Women's FA Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup, and now Women's FA Cup (currently known as the Adobe Women's FA Cup for sponso ...
runner-up: 2016–17 Manchester United *
Women's FA Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup, and now Women's FA Cup (currently known as the Adobe Women's FA Cup for sponso ...
: 2023–24; runner-up:
2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...
, 2024–25 Individual *
Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...
Manager of the Month: December 2021, January 2022, October 2022, December 2022, April 2023


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skinner, Marc 1983 births Living people Orlando Pride head coaches Manchester United W.F.C. managers National Women's Soccer League head coaches Women's Super League managers English football managers Birmingham City W.F.C. managers