Man Utd boss Fletcher rips into Man City over cup final celebrations – ‘Our players have to deal with that’ | OneFootball

Manchester United boss Darren Fletcher is thoroughly unimpressed by everything about the FA Cup Youth final that was more like a “Manchester City parade”.

A late goal from Reigan Heskey secured a 2-1 victory for City and Fletcher took issue with the names of every player and coach being read out at the Joie Stadium during the trophy ceremony.

Fletcher felt the post-match celebrations were excessive and the United Under-18s boss was seen approaching FA officials during the presentations.

“Not only to watch a team lift a trophy, but to be a Man City parade when it’s an FA Youth Cup final. I’ve never heard individual coaches be shouted out, every individual player be shouted out,” he said.

“That doesn’t happen in cup finals. So I’m disappointed in the FA for everything that’s gone around this game, for the location, for everything. And then our players having to deal with that.

“But as you say, it’s disappointing. You have to stand there. You have to respect the opposition. But not when Man City take over an FA Youth Cup. It’s an FA competition. It should never have been like that. But that’s my one gripe for tonight. But the best team won, compliments to them.”

Man City a ‘disgrace’

Finals are typically staged at the main ground of the finalist club drawn first in the draw – Manchester City in this instance – but City told United that the game would be played at their academy Joie Stadium as construction work was being done on the Etihad.

United offered Old Trafford to host the game, but City declined before hitting back at complaints over their decision to play the final at the Joie Stadium, including from Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST) and Manchester United Fans’ Forum representatives, who called the decision to move the 14 May final to the 7,000-capacity ground “a disgrace” in a joint statement.

Fletcher said he was disappointed with the decision before the game but was rather more forthright following the defeat.

“Probably a little bit,” he said of whether the FA had to take ‘control back’ in the Youth Cup. “If you see the things that have gone on throughout this game, it’s a historic competition.

“So there’s been a lot of disappointments in the build-up. But what I will say is Man City have got a fantastic manager. He’s a great, really nice guy. Dead respectful. Coaches his team the right way.

“You know, no antics on the sidelines between both of us. So I’ve got a massive respect for them. And their players have got a lot of good players. But, you know, it’s an FA competition and it felt like it was a Man City competition for this whole build-up to the game in terms of how we had to deal with that at the end there.

“So that was my one little bit of disappointment from that is that these things are looked at. You know, we have other things with the Under-21s game being 48 hours after this. So some of our players aren’t going to experience that.

“We’re dealing with a lot of difficult dynamics just now in terms of these youth fixtures, which is disappointing. And hopefully people take a step back now when they’ve come away from it. And there’s a lot of learning to be done for the Premier League and for the FA for these historic competitions.”