Darren Fletcher says he sought the blessing of his former Manchester United boss, Sir Alex Ferguson, before taking interim charge at Old Trafford.
Fletcher will be in charge of Wednesday’s Premier League trip to Burnley following the removal of coach Ruben Amorim and is likely to remain in the dugout for Sunday’s FA Cup third-round tie with Brighton.
He took the role after speaking to Ferguson, 84, who was at Elland Road for Amorim’s final game in charge, the 1-1 draw at Leeds.
“I don’t like to make any major decisions without speaking to Sir Alex,” said the 41-year-old. I have a really good relationship with Sir Alex, so I wanted to speak to him first and ultimately get his blessing, to be perfectly honest with you. I think he deserves that respect. I wanted to run it by him, and he echoed my thoughts. When you’re an employee of the club, it’s your job to do your best for Manchester United. It is something I try to live and believe every day, so it was comforting for me for him to say that,” revealed Fletcher.
One of Amorim’s damning observations during his rant at Leeds was his belief that senior officials at Old Trafford pay too much attention to the observations of pundits, chief among them former captain Gary Neville.
Fletcher shared a dressing room with most of them and still counts them as friends.
“The outside noise is difficult to deal with because those players have won everything. They’ve got success behind them, and they’ve got trophies. It’s hard to criticise them back because they’ve got their medals on the table,” added Fletcher.
Fletcher says that a lack of spare time since stepping in means he hasn’t had the chance to speak to his squad individually.
Instead, he restricted his conversations to captain Bruno Fernandes and the new senior players. Fletcher has met with Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko this week, having spoken to goalkeeper Senne Lammens last week. Bryan Mbeumo, United’s other major summer signing, has not had a chance to speak to Fletcher as he is at the Africa Cup of Nations with Cameroon.
