Rare Man Utd visit a big night for Grimsby chief Bancroft

When the Carabao Cup second-round draw was held, Grimsby Town’s CEO Polly Bancroft and her five-year-old son were at home.

She became acutely aware of Manchester United’s capacity to sabotage best-kept plans after serving as its head of women’s football for two and a half years because of the intense international interest in them.

On August 13th, Bancroft was given another reminder that her current club and old one were the final two names chosen at this point in the competition.

Interest in the tie at Blundell Park was so high that League Two Grimsby’s website almost immediately crashed after being paid for their first meeting since a 1-1 draw in 1948.

We had to halt the website until Thursday morning when we reunited, according to Bancroft.

“My phone turned on its head.” Everyone connected to Grimsby Town had a moment of a pinch.

She wants to draw attention to the larger significance of a game in which Grimsby could have resurrected their 9, 000-capacity stadium three times.

However, there is a personal component.

As the Women’s Super League grew, United was a late starter. In their first season in the WSL, they made it to the top of the standings in 2018.

She remarked, “The women’s team was four years old when I joined the club, and the men’s team was 144.”

“Embedding that start-up within the establishment, naturally, had some growing pains.

It’s the same sport, but with different activities, demands, and requirements. We combined it as much as we could.

One of United’s accomplishments while playing at Old Trafford is a third-place finish in the FA Cup, two FA Cup finals, and Champions League qualification, according to Bancroft.

Since then, United has reached another FA Cup final, and they will begin a new European quest this week. The Ineos Group and minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe continue to have the impression that the club’s female members are uninterested.

I had to give a very specific response, Bancroft said.

There wasn’t much interaction between the two of us when they first started out in February and when I left in May.

They were also getting a good look around, meeting some key staff members, and understanding the landscape at the time.

Bancroft’s assessment of the appeal of the Grimsby job serves as a hint of a hidden message. The comparison is not like-for-like because she now holds a much more senior position at a much smaller club.

“I had close working relationships with the owners and the head coach, neither of which I had at Manchester United,” she continued, adding that the biggest opportunity was to report directly to the owners and line manage the head coach.

Bancroft is acutely aware of the need to fully integrate Grimsby’s women’s team, who currently compete in the East Midlands Women’s Regional Football League, into the organization.

They feel like they belong, said Bancroft, who occasionally moves their games from Clee Fields to Blundell Park.

The players’ names are now visible on the backs of their shirts for the first time, and we transport them to away games and make player appearances for the men’s first team.

However, Bancroft’s job at Grimsby is to represent the entire organization, not just one particular group.

When Debbie Cook, the then-Grimsby CEO, spoke at a Women in Football conference in March 2023, she heard someone who had an interest in a wider role.

One of a handful of well-known women who ran professional clubs included Mansfield’s CEO Carolyn Radford, Port Vale chair Carol Shanahan, Bolton chair Sharon Brittan, Leicester chair Susan Whelan, and West Ham vice-chair Karren Brady.

When Bancroft accepted to take over Cook’s position with the Football League in February 2024, she was aware of what she was getting into.

She claimed that because “it’s not new to me,” she shouldn’t feel uneasy about England’s professional clubs’ lack of female chief executives.

Although I don’t think much about it, Bancroft continued, “I’m reminded of it quite a lot.”

She hoped to serve as a positive role model for those who want to follow and that it was a problem that needed to be addressed.

She said, “I don’t understand the situation.” More needs to be done to improve the gender balance, including ethnic minorities and other inclusion-related issues, to improve it.

Role models certainly aid, as well as some bias training.

“I hope that speaking to the women who work in these roles about their paths and experiences, and ideally having me in the room as one of the only females, will help to spread the message that women can do a good job in these positions,” he said.

“You don’t have to have been in the men’s game from day one to make it to the men’s game.”

“I’ve obviously worked in the women’s game and transitioned into the men’s, but I still have responsibility for the women’s team.” People’s career paths are different. It has always been mine.

I don’t believe any other people have done that so far, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t do it in the future.

This week, Bancroft anticipates seeing some familiar faces.

She chuckles and asks, “Does that still occur?” When compared to the John Beck era at Cambridge and how lower league clubs turned off hot water in the visiting dressing rooms of emerald top-flight visitors and soaked warm-up balls so they were unable to be used, “” is invoked when compared to the days of the John Beck era.

However, United boss Ruben Amorim and his players might prefer to stay on the cosy side of the competition because they want to avoid a major upset and have one of only two legitimate silverware chances this year.

The players and staff might find it more uncomfortable than they’re used to in the Premier League because it’s obviously a little smaller than Old Trafford, added Bancroft.

“I am aware that our fans will make their lives as uncomfortable as possible.”