Manchester United are coming under pressure to introduce a women's team.

While the other heavyweights of English football - Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Everton - all boast highly-performing ladies' sides, United have not had a women's team since 2005, when club bosses decided to concentrate their funds on youth development instead.

One Reds supporter - 67-year-old retired headteacher Graham Pheby - has raised a petition with the aim of persuading club chiefs and new manager David Moyes to consider restarting the women's team.

Pheby told the Manchester Evening News: "United are conspicuously absent from the fast developing phenomenon of women's football. FC United of Manchester, even with their limited resources, have a women's team so it doesn't make sense that United haven't got a team.

"The United girls academy is very good but it's a real shame that they have to leave at 16 and potentially sign for another club such as City or Everton."