DARREN FLETCHER

by Jude Cauchi

Research shows that for any organisation to be successful, amongst other variables, it needs to have an identity which differentiates it from its competitors. People will wonder, what has this got to do with Manchester United? The answer is simple: in the Sir Alex Ferguson era, Manchester United centred the values of the club around ‘professionalism’, ‘passion’, ‘loyalty’, ‘hard work’, ‘family’ and building for the long-term rather than the short-term. This type of strategy worked for United for so many years as this signified that no matter who represented Manchester United on the pitch, the culture and standards of the club dictated that each stakeholder associated with the Red Devils should give everything for the club.

They say that one should never change a winning formula. However, after a longspell of unprecedented success, different managers and coaches arrived at the club and tried to do things their own way.

Hence, without analysing the long-term repercussions of such appointments, the club was gradually moving away from that foundation with the hope that the club could still be successful in the short-term. Consequently, although both Louis Van Gaal and Jose Mourinho delivered trophies for Manchester United, it is difficult to argue against the fact that both failed to fulfil the expectations at the club.

Fast forward in 2021, United have someone in charge who appreciates what the club is all about. Manchester United have finally someone who loves the club, has been there as a player for many years, has learned from the best and understands that in order to be successful, the club needs to have a solid foundation that people representing the club can relate to. Additionally, to assist him with the long-term project at the club, Solskjaer appointed coaches who despite their different technical skills, have common ground together due to being part of the previous United regime. Whilst, Mike Phelan and Michael Carrick accompanied Ole from the first day he was appointed interim manager, recently Darren Fletcher also joined the coaching staff as first team coach at Carrington.

While bringing ex-players to the club won’t necessary guarantee success especially if the competencies of the people appointed are not aligned with the profile of the job, one cannot ignore the positive impact that such personnel are likely to have at the club. In fact, nowadays, the environment at the club seems to transmit much more positivity and gives the impression that it is a happier place than it was during the last couple of years.

Manchester United is very famous for its academy and the quality of players that are nurtured from it. As a matter of fact, no football fan can ever forget that players like Beckham, Giggs, Scholes, Neville, Butt, Rashford and

Greenwood were all academy products. While Darren Fletcher is not as naturally gifted as some of the names mentioned in United’s folklore, he is also a lad who came through the Academy and experienced all the highs and lows both in his career as well as his personal life. In fact, the former midfielder faced a very difficult spell in his early days in the first team in view of his lack of creativity, lack of tactical awareness and tendencies to give the ball away very often. Such a poor start led to a lot of fans and critics to question whether the former Scotland international had the necessary competencies to succeed at United.

However through his hard work and dedication, Fletcher proved to be a key player for the Red Devils for so many years and on most occasions, similar to other players which include Ji-Sung Park, Darren was an unsung hero at the club. Up until today, people still question what a difference he could have made to United had he not been suspended for the Champions League Final against Barcelona in Rome.

During his career, Fletcher won a total of five Premier League titles, one Champions League, one FA Cup, the FIFA Club World Cup and the League Cup. Additionally, he also served as a vice-captain under Louis Van Gaal.

In terms of his strengths, Darren Fletcher was utilised at United as a box‑to‑box midfielder due to his work-rate, energy, intelligence in reading the game as well his tackling and marking abilities. The Scotsman also scored some very important goals in United’s history in addition to other invaluable contributions.

Furthermore, representing your country on an international level is a dream that every footballer aspires to. Luckily for Darren, in addition to having a positive career with Scotland, he was also the youngest Scottish captain since John Lambie. Moreover, as his career progressed, Darren Fletcher was eventually named Scotland captain in November 2009. Surely such experiences in developing his leadership skills can only help in his new role at Manchester United.

On the other hand, in addition to all the challenges that Darren had to face in his career including relegation from the Premier League with Stoke City, he also had the unfortunate experience of suffering from an inflammatory illness which hindered his career. On the bright side of life, the principle of ‘’what does not kill you makes you stronger’’ certainly applies to this man as he aims to utilise such life-skills as well as the lessons learned during his career in order to transmit them to the players at Manchester United.

As we approach the business end of the season, while many supporters will always demand more from the team especially since the Red Devils currently trail Manchester City by 10 points, Manchester United are currently in second position in the table and few people would have predicted that the team could be in such a strong position given the shocking start of the season. On the other hand, there is still much to play for this season and the team must guard against complacency since the top four places are still up for grabs. From United’s perspective, anything other than a comfortable top four finish will surely be considered a disappointment.

Hopefully with personnel like Darren Fletcher around the club, combined with the support that the club desperately needs from the top, United can start to seriously challenge at the top in the coming years. Unless this changes, the likelihood is that Manchester supporters will be experiencing ‘more of the same’.