On Tuesday night, at a swanky black tie event in London, JJ Gabriel was crowned as the inaugural winner of the Premier League Under-18 Player of the Season award.
United’s top brass were in attendance but few are prouder of the 15-year-old than his boss at United, Darren Fletcher, after 23 goals in 23 league starts made him the overwhelming candidate to win Player of the Year.
‘JJ’s an amazing talent and his enthusiasm for football, his enthusiasm that he brings to the pitch every day to learn, to want to play, to be on the ball, he’s been a pleasure to work with,’ Fletcher explains.
‘He’s a fantastic kid. He’s desperate to do better, to improve, to learn, he takes constructive criticism fantastically and I’ve got a great relationship with him.’
But, like the rest of his Under-18 team-mates who are preparing for this week’s eagerly-anticipated FA Youth Cup final against Manchester City, the first time these sides meet in this final in 43 years, there is no special treatment under Fletcher.
Darren Fletcher (right) has helped develop JJ Gabriel into the best Under-18 player in the UK
Like his team-mates, Gabriel is on the jobs rota which includes everything from picking up cones, to collecting the water bottles and resetting meeting room furniture. Even Fletcher and his coaching staff are required to muck in.
‘They are all on a rota,’ Fletcher says. ‘Everyone brings something off the bus [on a matchday], even the coaches.
‘It’s not a job to punish them, it’s just that we’re all in it together as a team really and we make sure everything’s tidy, we make sure we bring the stuff out, we make sure we put it away, we make sure everything’s done.
‘So the best way to do that is to have them in groups where they’re responsible for each part and to carry a bag of balls in a training session. It’s not really a job. Or to make sure that the meeting room chairs are, you know, [lined up], all them sort of things.
‘It’s small, mundane things really but they add up. Filling up water bottles, things like that. It’s for themselves. We’re not asking them to clean someone else’s boots or to do something for something else. All the jobs they do is for their group and for their team-mates really, so that’s why it works really well.’
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It is a small part of the story of a group that has played some outstanding football en route to Thursday night’s Youth Cup final but deserves to be more than just a footnote.
Having observed United’s academy teams at close quarters and the Under-18s in particular through this Youth Cup run, with Fletcher it is the little things that matter most to him. The smallest thing can often make the biggest difference.
It was a standard he laid out to players during pre-season when he held court at a training camp put on at the adidas global headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany. No superstars, no egos, work hard, and develop into the very best player you can possibly be.
Make no mistake that Fletcher knows what it requires to make it at Manchester United. Having emerged from the youth set-up himself – he first joined at the age of 11 – few are more qualified to educate Gabriel and others on the gold standard required to become a mainstay at Old Trafford.
Watching Fletcher at close quarters this season has taught us a lot. He’s often incredibly stoic on the touchline, eager to exude calmness to players when it can be so easy to become frantic.
His intensity, for the most part, is bottled up for training where he is demanding and challenging. Nobody is beyond reproach. Every player has got fitter for his ‘first team-lite’ routine, which includes sessions filmed on drones and an intensity that prepares players to step up to join the club’s biggest stars when required.
Fletcher has high demands but it has helped create an Under-18 teams that dominate matches
They play a dominant possession-heavy style and players look fitter than their opponents
Players love him, too. His man-management, in what is his first head coach role, has been the talk of Carrington for a lot of the season. Parents emerged from a recent parents evening with Fletcher blown away.
Whether it was coming in to return to work after major surgery, the amount of hours he and staff put into film sessions, both as a group or with individuals, for players, or the individual development he has coaxed out of Gabriel, Chido Obi and countless others.
‘I’ve enjoyed it very much and to be honest it’s not as bad as it sounds looking after 17, 18 year olds!’ Fletcher laughs.
‘I think accepting that they are that age and they’re going to make mistakes and they’re going to do things that frustrate you.
‘It’s the other things that people don’t see, it’s like they’ve all got jobs to do every day and stuff like that, so keeping on top of that, it’s like you’re nagging your kids at home to tidy their room constantly!
‘So, it’s probably the other things I’ve enjoyed like the individual development sessions; there’s so much that goes on to it behind the scenes, it’s been a really good season. It’s flown by so I think that’s probably a sign of it being a good season.’
There is lots to rejoice about in this sit-down with Fletcher, his first external media interview of the season in his academy role, but also disappointment, too.
Penalty disappointment at Selhurst Park against Crystal Palace in the Under-18 Premier League Cup remains fresh, as does the fact that Manchester City elected not to stage the Youth Cup final at the Etihad Stadium.
‘We really wanted a big stadium, and Old Trafford would have been amazing occasion for the players, for everyone, so obviously we’re disappointed,’ Fletcher said.
‘I think part of this competition is about playing in these big venues – and it’s a massive competition. It’s amazing for everyone involved in youth football.
‘But ultimately, we move on from it now and we take on the challenge of playing in the academy stadium. It’s done now, so there’s no point in dwelling on it.’
There was disappointment, too, in losing out on the Under-18 league title to the very same City team that stand in between United and their first FA Youth Cup glory since a side led by Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho won it in 2022.
But United go to east Manchester on Thursday night armed with the knowledge that they have the nation’s best Under-18s player, with an up-and-coming coach playing football in a dominant and attractive 4-3-3 style, with their first team boss watching from the stands with his staff.
Positivity is flying around Carrington heading into it, not least with Michael Carrick putting so much emphasis on it.
‘I think all players love it when the first team manager is there and it does give you an extra incentive, there’s no doubt about it,’ Fletcher adds.
Noah Ajayi has taken a big step forward under Fletcher and his sessions are at a first team level
Fletcher praised Chido Obi (middle) for dropping down to Under-18 and showing leadership
‘It shows that he cares, it shows he’s got eyes on it. It’s easy to say these things but you have to live it and to do it and that’s what Michael’s doing and Kobbie’s gone in there and done it.
‘When they see Travis [Binnion] at the game, when they see other people at the game, when they see Michael at the game, it definitely inspires the players, it definitely shows them that this is a club that is thinking about young players and not just speaking it and saying it.
‘I think that’s throughout the history of the club, I think when you see that in action it brings it to life really. I think the parents like it, I think it’s so powerful and Michael realises that and ultimately again as I said, they’re so invested in every part of the club because they know it and they want it all to be successful.
‘We want all parts of the club to be successful. Of course the first team is the most important but I think everyone likes to see coaches thriving, players thriving, staff thriving.
‘We’re all trying to push and help each other and make the club a better place.’
