Darren Fletcher

Darren Barr Fletcher (born 1 February 1984) is a Scottish football coach and former professional player who is currently the technical director of Manchester United, where he spent the majority of his playing career and won 13 trophies including five Premier League titles and the UEFA Champions League.

He mostly played as a central midfielder, but began his career as a right winger and also featured occasionally in defence.

Fletcher came through the ranks of Manchester United's Youth Academy and spent 20 years with United, making 342 appearances for the club.

With them, he won five Premier Leagues, one FA Cup, two League Cups, four FA Community Shields, the FIFA Club World Cup and the UEFA Champions League.

He had been part of the reserve team that won the Manchester Senior Cup in 1999–2000.

Fletcher was initially seen as a right midfielder, similar to David Beckham, and was tipped by many to break into the first-team with ease and stay there for many years to come.

As he developed he came to be viewed more as a central midfielder.

Over the next couple of seasons, Fletcher's involvement was limited due to various injuries, including a broken foot.

He progressed quickly with Manchester United, and could have become the youngest player ever to appear in their first team when he was selected in their squad for the final fixture of the 1999–2000 FA Premier League season, against Aston Villa on 14 May 2000.

This plan was stymied as Premier League rules prohibited players on schoolboy contracts from appearing at the senior level, and his debut was delayed.

For his performances for the reserve team during the 2002–03 season, Fletcher received the Denzil Haroun Reserve Player of the Year award.

Fletcher made his full international debut for Scotland in 2003, and scored his first international goal on his second appearance.

The following year, he played as the team's youngest captain for over a century.

Nevertheless, by the 2002–03 season, he had become a regular member of the reserve team, and after several appearances as an unused substitute, he finally made his first-team debut on 12 March 2003 – almost three years behind schedule – starting on the right side of midfield against Basel in the second group stage of the UEFA Champions League.

He was substituted for David Beckham after 73 minutes, but a second Champions League appearance followed against Deportivo de La Coruña a week later, and he was named as a substitute for both legs of the quarter-final tie against Real Madrid.

Fletcher broke into the Manchester United team during the 2003–04 campaign, playing a number of important matches and starting in United's FA Cup Final win over Millwall in May 2004.

Despite a slow start to the 2004–05 campaign, in which in the early part of the season he made very few competitive appearances, Fletcher again broke into the United first-team.

On 1 January 2005, Fletcher scored his first goal at club level in a 2–0 win over Middlesbrough.

Fletcher was one of the players singled out for criticism by club captain Roy Keane in the wake of United's 4–1 defeat to Middlesbrough in October 2005.

Keane reportedly said, "I can't understand why people in Scotland rave about Darren Fletcher."

However, Keane later attempted to set the record straight stating, "If you listen to any of my comments over the last two or three years, if I've given any player credit over the years it would be Fletch. Fletch Will Tell you that himself."

Fletcher went some way towards answering his critics on 6 November 2005, with his performance in the vital league match at home to Chelsea, scoring the only goal of the game with a looping header.

His winning goal ended Chelsea's 40-match unbeaten run in the Premier League.

In 2006–07, at the start of the season Fletcher retained a place in the first-team but only on the bench and scored in an away win over Charlton Athletic, as well as scoring the headed winner in the away game with Middlesbrough in December and another headed goal in the home win against Charlton in February, making it a double against the club that season.

Fletcher was included in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year for 2009–10.

He was named vice-captain in his last season with the club.

After Barry Ferguson was banned from international football because of a breach of regulations, Fletcher was given the captaincy on a full-time basis in August 2009.

In total he won 80 caps and scored 5 goals for Scotland.

The middle of Fletcher's career was disrupted by an extended break from football due to health problems caused by ulcerative colitis.

Between November 2011 and December 2013, he played only ten times for his club, undergoing an operation in early 2013 to lessen the effects of the condition after a failed return in September 2012.

Fletcher was born in Dalkeith and raised in Mayfield near Edinburgh.

He was educated at St Luke's RC Primary School and St David's RC High School in Dalkeith.

He is of Irish descent through his mother who hails from Achill Island.

Fletcher played his youth football at Hutchison Vale, Tynecastle Boys Club and Celtic Boys Club before being scouted by Manchester United.

He first joined the Manchester United youth setup at the age of 11, and then signed with the club when he was aged 15.

He joined West Bromwich Albion in February 2015, where he made 97 appearances.

After leaving Albion in 2017, Fletcher had a two-year stint with Stoke City.

He returned to Manchester United in a coaching capacity in October 2020, working with the club's under-16s players, before being appointed to the first team in January 2021.

In March 2021, he became technical director at Manchester United.

Fletcher said in 2020 that he had almost signed for Newcastle United instead, as some people advised him it would be harder to break into the Manchester United first team.