Manchester United’s promotion to the Women’s Super League felt inevitable from the moment their reformation was announced in May last year - barely eleven months ago - and predictably they have zoomed over the line with three league games remaining.

That Casey Stoney’s side did it via a 5-0 win over Aston Villa, the side against whom their league campaign began with a 12-0 demolition, was a fitting end to promotion hunt that ultimately turned, as it was always wont to, into a fairly relentless procession.

One more win hands them the title and it is hard to imagine Stoney’s side slipping up when they have won 15 of their 17 league games with an aggregate score of 81-7 and such are the expectations of their manager that her assessment of United’s 4-1 win over Spurs in November read: “I actually think we should be playing teams more off the park.”

The coach

It was only right that Manchester United’s return to women’s football after a 13-year absence was spearheaded by one of the most recognisable faces in the game and Casey Stoney - 130 England caps, MBE, Team GB captain at London 2012 - was the obvious candidate.

The months Stoney spent as Phil Neville’s England assistant at St. George’s Park have informed her approach to management and her conversations with Gareth Southgate over dinner - specifically, his emphasis on ensuring his players “love playing for England” - spawned Stoney’s Team United programme. That saw the first team locked in mazes, having boxing lessons at 6am, filming street dance videos, completing the assault course from Ninja Warrior UK and handling snakes and spiders to improve their mental steel.