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Darren Fletcher

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Darren Fletcher
Personal information
Full name Darren Barr Fletcher
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 1+1⁄2 in)
Position(s) Centre midfielder
Right midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Manchester United
Number 24
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 21:25, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

Darren Barr Fletcher (born 1 February 1984 in Dalkeith, Scotland) is a Scottish footballer currently playing for Premier League club Manchester United.

Club career

Fletcher has been at Manchester United for his whole career coming up from the youth team. Fletcher joined Manchester United as a trainee in July 2000 and he signed a professional contract in February 2001. He was initially seen as a right midfielder in the David Beckham mould and was tipped by many to break into the first team with ease and stay there for many years to come.[1] His first few seasons at the club, however, were marred by injury, and as he developed came to be viewed more as a central midfielder.

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.[2]

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.[3]

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.[4] 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."[5] 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.[6] His winning goal ended Chelsea's forty-match unbeaten run in the Premier League.[6]

In 2006-07, at the start of the season he 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. As the season progressed, Alex Ferguson preferred the midfield quartet of Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick and Ryan Giggs, limiting Fletcher to a few substitute appearances. However, with Paul Scholes absent through suspension, he made a starting appearance in United's 7–1 win over AS Roma in the Champions League quarter-final.

In the 2007-08 season, with the further arrival at the club of playmakers Owen Hargreaves and Anderson and winger Nani, Fletcher played even less than during the previous season, and was even rumoured at one time to want to leave the club out of displeasure at not playing enough. Indeed, as before, Ferguson preferred Carrick, Scholes, Giggs and Ronaldo to him in midfield, and he even played less than the new arrivals. He did, however, put in some stalwart performances when given the chance, including two goals in the 4-0 defeat of Arsenal at Old Trafford in the FA Cup Fourth Round.

In the 2008-2009 season, he started the first two games, due to the injuries of Carrick and Ronaldo, and scored against Newcastle United at Old Trafford in Manchester United's first Premier League match of the season, forcing a 1–1 draw after Obafemi Martins' goal.[7] Fletcher notched his second goal of the season opening the scoring from close range against Portsmouth, following a pass from Patrice Evra. He was later shown a yellow card on the 93rd minute before the match ended 1–0.[8] On 3 October 2008, Fletcher signed a three-year extension to his contract with Man Utd, keeping him at the club until 2012. [9] Fletcher notched his third goal of the season against Everton on 25 October. He then went onto to score in the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup semi-final against Gamba Osaka on 18 December 2008 after coming off the bench. Will now miss the champions league final due to a red card against Arsenal in the semi final. No appeal was confirmed moments after even all though he won the ball.

International career

Fletcher has established himself as a regular choice for Scotland and scored his first goal in a 1-0 win over Lithuania, having come off the bench for only his second cap.[10] His goal took Scotland to the play-offs for Euro 2004. On 26 May 2004, he captained Scotland to a 1-0 friendly win against Estonia in Tallinn. This made him the youngest Scotland captain since John Lambie of Queen's Park led the side that beat Ireland 7-2 on Saturday, 20 March 1886. Lambie was aged just 17 years and 92 days.[11]

Fletcher's improvement for his national side was capped by a 25-metre strike in an October 2005 World Cup qualifier against Slovenia. Fletcher was Scotland's vice-captain under Alex McLeish, deputising in the absence of regular captain Barry Ferguson, but when George Burley took over as manager, Stephen McManus was given the vice-captaincy. He has captained his country four times.

International goals

Scores and results list (Scotland's goal tally first).
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 11 October 2003 Hampden Park, Glasgow  Lithuania 1-0 1-0 UEFA Euro 2004 Qual.
2 30 May 2004 Easter Road, Edinburgh  Trinidad and Tobago 1-0 4-1 Friendly
3 12 October 2005 Arena Petrol, Celje  Slovenia 1-0 3-0 2006 FIFA World Cup Qual.
4 2 September 2006 Celtic Park, Glasgow  Faroe Islands 1-0 6-0 UEFA Euro 2008 Qual.

Personal life

Fletcher is the father of twin boys, Jack and Tyler (born 2007) with English girlfriend, Hayley Grice.[12] In February 2009, Grice was held at knifepoint by thieves who had broken into their house.[13] The incident occurred while Fletcher was in Italy for Manchester United's Champions League fixture against Internazionale.

Fletcher is involved in a programme to encourage "Deaf Friendly Football" for youngsters. The programme is run by the Manchester United Foundation and the National Deaf Children's Society.[14]

Career statistics

Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Europe Other[15] Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Manchester United 2002–03 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 0
2003–04 22 0 5 0 2 0 6 0 0 0 35 0
2004–05 18 3 3 0 3 0 5 0 1 0 30 3
2005–06 27 1 3 0 4 0 7 0 0 0 41 1
2006–07 24 3 6 0 1 0 9 0 0 0 40 3
2007–08 16 0 1 2 0 0 6 0 1 0 24 2
2008–09 21 3 3 0 1 0 5 0 4 1 29 4
Total 128 10 21 2 11 0 40 0 6 1 206 13

Statistics accurate as of match played 05 April 2009[16]

Honours

Club

Manchester United

International

Scotland

References

  1. ^ "Fletcher is ready to fill Beckham's boots". ESPN Soccernet. 2000-07-28.
  2. ^ "Man Utd win FA Cup". BBC Sport website. 2004-05-22.
  3. ^ "Middlesbrough 0-2 Man Utd". BBC Sport website. 2005-01-01.
  4. ^ "Keane gagged by United after TV attack on players". Guardian. 2005-11-01.
  5. ^ Grant, Michael (2005-12-18). "Keane Rates Fletcher". Sunday Herald. Retrieved 2006-11-27.
  6. ^ a b "Man Utd 1-0 Chelsea". BBC Sport website. 2005-11-06.
  7. ^ "Man Utd 1-1 Newcastle". BBC Sport. 2008-08-17. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
  8. ^ "Portsmouth 0-1 Man Utd". BBC Sport. 2008-08-25. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
  9. ^ "Scholes & Fletcher sign new deals". BBC Sport. 2008-10-03. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  10. ^ "Scotland battle past Lithuania". BBC Sport website. 2003-10-11.
  11. ^ "Sat 20 Mar 1886 Ireland 2 Scotland 7". Retrieved 2006-11-27.
  12. ^ "Scotland hopes".
  13. ^ Walker, Peter (24 February 2009). "Robbers held knife to throat of Darren Fletcher's fiancee during raid". guardian.co.uk. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 8 March 2009.
  14. ^ Northcroft, Jonathan. "Darren Fletcher: out of the shadows". The Sunday Times. Times Newspapers. Retrieved 8 March 2009.
  15. ^ Includes other competitive competitions, including the FA Community Shield, UEFA Super Cup, Intercontinental Cup, FIFA Club World Cup
  16. ^ Endlar, Andrew. "Darren Fletcher". StretfordEnd.co.uk. Retrieved 18 February 2009.


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