Saluting Fletcher

With Darren Fletcher reported to have been granted a free transfer from Manchester United, Adam Bate looks back at his career at Old Trafford and how the midfielder conquered setbacks on and off the field...

Darren Fletcher’s Manchester United career has spanned 342 games and 12 years, from replacing David Beckham in a Champions League tie against Basel in March 2003 to captaining the team to a 2-0 victory over Yeovil in the FA Cup earlier this month. But perhaps the key moments came in the winter of 2005 as off-field drama overshadowed events at the club.

“I can’t understand why people in Scotland rave about Darren Fletcher.” Those were the words attributed to skipper Roy Keane in an infamous - and unbroadcast - assessment of his team-mates following a 4-1 defeat at Middlesbrough in October of that year. In truth, Fletcher had a good relationship with Keane and has been unstinting ever since in his praise of the high standards that his captain set. Nevertheless, the purported line struck a chord with fans.

In the following fixture away to Lille, Fletcher was jeered by sections of the visiting support as United crashed out of the Champions League in the group stages. Amid the aftermath, an internet auction even mockingly valued him at 1p, seeming to sum up the mood. The young Scot was in danger of becoming an emblem of what Keane perceived as the falling standards at Carrington. Even individuals of strong character might have wilted under such scrutiny.

Instead Fletcher responded. In the very next game against Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea, a team unbeaten in 40 Premier League games, his looping header was the difference between the sides. More than that, with Keane watching on from the stands, Fletcher delivered a man-of-the-match performance, tearing around the Old Trafford pitch with passion and purpose.

Twelve days later it was Keane on his way out of the club. “Him leaving was the best thing that could have happened,” claimed Sir Alex Ferguson in his most recent autobiography, “because a lot of the players were intimidated by him in the dressing room, and those players emerged well from his departure. John O’Shea and Darren Fletcher were certainly beneficiaries.”

In fairness, Fletcher had shown his capabilities before Keane’s exit and it seems more likely that the space freed up in the squad simply allowed him to flourish, but it’s true that he appeared to relish the increased responsibility. After going toe-to-toe with Arsenal’s ‘Invincible’ duo of Patrick Vieira and Gilberto Silva alongside Keane in an April 2004 victory over the much-lauded Gunners, Fletcher seemed to take it upon himself to lead the challenge against Arsene Wenger's side after the captain's exit.

There was another dominant display in a 4-0 FA Cup win against Arsenal in 2008, scoring twice and providing what had become the template for getting the better of their great rivals - seizing the initiative by winning the physical battle. By the following year, Wenger was exasperated after Fletcher’s all-energy approach again proved too much for his players.

“I have seen today a player who plays on the pitch only to make fouls,” said Wenger after United’s 2-1 victory in August 2009. “I think it is more anti-football.” Typically, Ferguson had a very different view. “For me, he was the star man,” said the Manchester United manager. Fletcher’s peers agreed and he was selected in the PFA Team of the Year that season.

By this point, any doubters at United had long since been won over and Fletcher’s reputation as a man for the occasions that mattered was well established. Indeed, it remains a continued source of angst that he was unavailable for the 2009 Champions League Final against Barcelona following a harsh sending off 75 minutes into another outstanding performance against Arsenal in that year’s semi-final.

It’s tempting to think United could have made a rather better fist of things that night in Rome had it been Fletcher asked to close down Lionel Messi and the rest rather than Anderson. Certainly, it’s a notion that has occurred to Ferguson. “I knew it might count against us because he is a big-game player,” he has admitted since.

Even last season, having finally had the operation to help him overcome his battle with ulcerative colitis, Fletcher continued to live up to his big-game billing. In fact, David Moyes might even wonder what might have been had he been able to count on his services prior to December. After all, United actually won eight of the nine Premier League games that Fletcher played under Moyes prior to being called upon for the second leg of their quarter-final against Bayern Munich.

Pressing the Bayern midfield for that first hour, Fletcher stirred memories of those performances of old as United led the European champions with a little over half an hour remaining. It couldn’t continue and Bayern proceeded to finish Moyes’ men off following Fletcher’s substitution with a quarter of an hour to go. It was perhaps his last performance of significance in a United shirt.

Louis van Gaal had shown willingness to embrace Fletcher’s experience, making him vice-captain and naming him in his first three United starting line-ups. Only last week, Van Gaal pointed out that Fletcher was the only FA Cup winner in the squad. But the 30-year-old has struggled for fluency in his intermittent appearances and a fresh start has looked increasingly like the best option.

Such is his popularity, there will be those within the club who regard that as a pity. Ferguson himself appeared to be grooming Fletcher for a role at Old Trafford beyond his retirement. “I had him with the reserves to do some coaching,” said his old boss. “He enjoyed that. Darren delivered a couple of half-time talks in reserve games and was impressive.”

However, the prospect of first-team football at a high level and a lengthy contract elsewhere means Fletcher’s career is set to finish in a shirt of a different colour, with West Ham reportedly among the frontrunners. Such a move could see him make his Upton Park debut a week on Sunday - appropriately enough, against Manchester United. It’s surely a worry for his old admirers given that tendency to save his best for the games against the big teams.

Whatever happens, he would be sure of a warm reception. For his longevity, for his commitment, for his ability and for his character. Where does he rank? Well, there’s an old Van Gaal line about the need to find your best eleven rather than your eleven best. Darren Fletcher might not be among United’s very best players, but he might just be among the best United players. Perhaps it’s appropriate to leave it to the words of the man himself to explain why...

“There were others who could control, pass and shoot the ball as good as me but I think football is played in your head,” he told the Mail in 2009. “It is the way you deal with everything - being at Manchester United, the expectation, the crowd, the nervousness, all of that pressure. The game is played up there before you go on the pitch and I had that strength.” It’s a strength United supporters won’t forget in a hurry.

Credit: Skysports.com