It was a different time when Manchester United’s Rachel Williams first played in an FA Cup final.
The now 36-year-old striker was playing for Birmingham City in 2012 in front of 8,723 fans at Ashton Gate in Bristol. This weekend, she will be part of United’s squad at a sold-out Wembley — more than 10 times that initial attendance.
Chelsea were the other finalists 12 years ago, but they will not be facing United this weekend because Williams scored the winner in the semi-final which ended their three-year stranglehold on the competition.
Instead, United will be facing Tottenham Hotspur — Williams’ previous club — with a new name guaranteed on the trophy for the first time since Manchester City won it in 2017.
“I was quite naive to what certain things meant, trophy-wise, to a club because, as a kid, you just played,” says Williams, reflecting on that first senior final she played in.
“It wasn’t until we got to the day of the game that the chat was going around — ‘Oh, if Birmingham could win it… especially against Chelsea’ — that I started to think. ‘This is going to be big. This is going to mean something’.”
At the time, Williams was in her first stint at Birmingham, having played for Leicester City and Doncaster Rovers Belles. She scored a 91st-minute equaliser to send the final to extra time, and Birmingham went on to win on penalties, despite her missing their first kick in the shootout. It remains Williams’ only major honour.
“Everything just kind of slows down,” she says. “We’re all going mad and it was carnage afterwards. But I don’t actually think — I’ve never seen one — I’ve got a picture of me holding the trophy from that day. I don’t think I even got hold of it, because it just got passed around everyone. There’s probably no proof of me winning.”
Well Rachel, allow The Athletic (and Getty Images) to help you out here…
Proof, Rachel! Proof! (Nigel French – PA Images via Getty Images)
United Women are still waiting for that first moment as a club.
It has been an underwhelming season for them as they find themselves in fifth place in the WSL and on course for their lowest points tally in their five-year stint in the top division. After last year’s second-place finish — they were just two points behind eventual champions Chelsea — manager Marc Skinner has come under pressure.
There were rumblings of ‘Skinner out!’ in a pre-season friendly, with criticism of the playing style, and after a 3-1 loss to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in January, Williams asked fans to put down signs saying exactly that. Williams had originally played under Skinner in her second stint at Birmingham, between 2017 and 2019, before he signed her for United at the start of last season.
“We’ve had a few tricky games this year, a few ups and downs,” says Williams. “A lot of media and fans out there forget that United are (only) five or six years old. We’ve got a young squad, we’re still learning. One thing we can guarantee is we give everything, and trophies will come to this club. It might be in my time here, it might be after. We just have to stick together.”
United may be a relatively new club but they have the fourth-oldest squad in the WSL, with an average age of 27.5. Williams is one of their players who can offer experience.
At 36 years and four months old, she is the second-oldest player to appear in the WSL this season, behind Liverpool captain Niamh Fahey, who is 89 days older. And she is having one of the most successful seasons of her career, with 10 goals in all competitions, her best tally since 2015 when she was at Notts County. That goal against Chelsea in the semi-finals was the most important of them all.
Rachel Williams in the air :pinched_fingers:
The delivery from @ellatoone99 was pinpoint for @ManUtdWomen :dart:#AdobeWomensFACup pic.twitter.com/ajBoTl7y0k
— Adobe Women’s FA Cup (@AdobeWFACup) April 14, 2024
“I got the call-up to start that game and I left training on Saturday and thought, ‘There is never, ever a doubt in my mind that I’m going to play the biggest game of my life’,” says Williams.
“I haven’t had a lot of game time with Tooney (team-mate Ella Toone) but I sit there and watch her every week putting crosses in and think, ‘I want to be on the end of them’.
“And she said to me in the changing room, ‘Rach, if I get a cross in, where do you want it?’. I said, ‘Tooney, I promise you, just beat the first defender. Beat the first defender, I’ll find it’. I was watching her on the touchline and saw her whip it in. And that was it. I found the end of it to put us 2-0 up.
“I thought, ‘Yeah, damn right. For once, they (Chelsea) can see what it’s like to be on the receiving end of that’. It wasn’t the prettiest game but we won and that’s all that mattered.”
Despite Lauren James pulling a goal back in first-half stoppage time, United held on to achieve a first-ever victory against Chelsea at the 10th attempt. It has set up a second consecutive FA Cup final.
“When that final whistle went, I didn’t even think that, ‘You’ve just got into the FA Cup final.’ It was like, ‘Finally, we’ve competed with Chelsea, we’ve done what we’ve needed to do, and won the game’,” Williams says.
That reaction shows the psychological gap United have had to deal with when it comes to facing the most successful side in the domestic women’s game in recent years. But the win has not brought an uptick in form, with Skinner’s team having won only one of their three league fixtures since — including a 2-2 draw against Sunday’s opponents Tottenham.
“I like that we drew against Spurs. It’s left us in a very humble place,” says Williams. “We will go in knowing we’re on a level playing field.
“I just want to win a trophy and a medal. I love playing football and that’s what I’m there to do.”
(Top photo: Williams celebrates her semi-final winner against Chelsea. Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)
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