Man Utd are set to appoint an interim head coach this week and Darren Fletcher has told the players they are fighting for their futures.
Darren Fletcher has told Manchester United’s players they need to prove they have a future at Old Trafford after challenging them to make sure they don’t waste this season. Fletcher’s spell in charge of the side is likely to come to an end after a 2-1 defeat to Brighton in the FA Cup third round at Old Trafford.
That game ended United’s hopes of winning silverware this season and they have exited both cup competitions at the first hurdle for the first time since 1981/82. They will play just 40 games this season, the lowest tally since 1914/15, and the interim head coach will only have 17 Premier League games in four-and-a-half months to make an impact.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Michael Carrick are battling it out for that role and they will take over with United seventh in the Premier League. They face Manchester City and Arsenal in the next two games, but Fletcher is convinced Champions League qualification is a realistic aim.
The Scot was part of the backroom staff in 2021/22, when the season fell apart under Ralf Rangnick after United were knocked out of the Champions League in mid-March, and although that was a difficult campaign, Fletcher felt it revealed plenty about the players, something that could be repeated this season.
“That was a very strange season,” he said. “There were a lot of players out of the contract and there was a lot of different dynamics and it was difficult when we went out in the Champions League. There was a massive drop-off, you could see that, and it was visible for everyone to see. But that also let us know the true characters of the players. True character reveals itself in difficult times, so we learned a lot about a lot of the players in that situation.
“That will be the same about these lads now. In difficult times, true character is going to show. They have to dig in, show they want to be part of Manchester United’s future, learn from this. And ultimately, if you’re not, then I don’t think you should be here or will be here. Sounds strong, but that’s just the reality and the way it should be.”
Although United are again on the brink of wasting another season, having sacked Ruben Amorim on Monday without a plan to appoint a successor, Fletcher is convinced that there is still a target worth chasing.
United are only a point off fifth and three off Liverpool in fourth, and securing a return to the Champions League would be a major bonus. That will be the aim for whoever takes charge this week, but Fletcher said it is about the players as much as the new manager.
“I think these players have got the ability to qualify in the Champions League place, and that should be their objective, that should be their mindset,” he said.
“But they’re going to have to come together and be part of that as well. It’s not about a manager, it’s not about directors, it’s about everyone. The players have to group together, take responsibility, find a way of improving quickly and take on the challenge for the rest of the season. Don’t waste the season.”
Wasting the season would have been anathema to Fletcher and his teammates in the days when Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge, but he admits the club is a long way removed from that now.
“They understand it. They understand the club. They understand the expectations,” said Fletcher. “I keep saying I was lucky to play with the players I did, and then it became a cycle.
“We weren’t aware of that when we were young. We thought we knew and we didn’t and the older players and the experienced players and the ones who had been there before and did it, they educated us. They moulded us. Sir Alex moulded us and that was a cycle that was created but that takes time to create.
“But there’s experienced players in that dressing room who need to come together, who need to carry the team, who need to challenge the team, who need to make the new players or the ones that maybe don’t understand it, they’re going to have to challenge them and pull them along with them, we’re going to have to drag them and I hope that they do.”
