Darren Fletcher hit out at what he described as a trophy presentation turning into a “Manchester City parade” and called on the Football Association (FA) to take more control of the FA Youth Cup.
The Manchester United under-18s manager watched his side suffer a 2-1 defeat by Oliver Reiss’ Manchester City in the final of the prestigious youth competition, which was the first between the two clubs since 1986.
Fletcher also said he was disappointed in the FA for where the game took place after City hosted the final at their academy ground — Joie Stadium — instead of the first team’s Etihad stadium and turned down an offer from United to host it at Old Trafford.
Privately, United feel City were motivated by not wanting the Etihad to be taken over by away fans. There was an away contingent of just under 1,000 at the Joie Stadium, which made noise throughout. Some players’ families struggled to get tickets due to the reduced capacity, though.
Fletcher, however, was particularly irked by City announcing Reiss’ coaching staff up to collect their medals and then each individual player as his United team respectfully watched on.
“Not only to watch a team lift the trophy but also for it 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 shouted out, that doesn’t happen in cup finals,” said Fletcher.
“So I’m disappointed in the FA for everything that has gone on around this game — for the location and then our players having to deal with that.
“It’s disappointing. We have to stand there, we 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. That’s my one gripe tonight but the best team won; compliments to them.”
City declined to comment on Fletcher’s complaints. It is understood the United under-18s boss made his feelings clear to FA staff as the presentation was ongoing.
OUR FA YOUTH CUP CHAMPIONS! 🩵🏆 pic.twitter.com/qWVpnbZCmL
— Manchester City (@ManCity) May 14, 2026
When asked if the FA need to take back some control of the showpiece event for youth football, Fletcher said: “Probably a little bit. 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.
“Man City have got a fantastic manager. He’s a great, really nice guy. Dead respectful. Coaches his team the right way.
“But 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.”
Man United’s JJ Gabriel watches on after the FA Youth Cup final (Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
Fletcher and United are also disappointed in the scheduling of the Premier League 2 play-off final for the under-21s, who travel south to face Brighton & Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium this Saturday.
United will want to include several of their squad from Thursday night — including striker Chido Obi — for the game which will decide the winners of the competition, which could have been pushed back to Monday.
Fletcher added: “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.”
For Fletcher, who made the decision last summer to step away from Ruben Amorim’s first-team staff to take on the under-18s, the season has finished in two cup final losses and second-place in the league, but he is looking ahead to the next campaign.
“I’ve loved every minute of it, the boys have been fantastic since day one,” he said. “You don’t sit there at the beginning of the season thinking you’re going to get to finals. You think about developing them individually and trying to have a team that you can be proud of. They’ve played in our style. But winning is part of it as well. So the players will be gutted, but when you lose, it doesn’t half drive you forward next season. It really does.
“It changes your summer. There’s no celebrating. You’re thinking about making up for this and how can I improve my game and rectify the feeling of defeat?
“It’ll be a new team, a different team, and we’ll see what challenges lie ahead for us.”
United will make academy recruitments in the summer, but a touted move for 16-year-old winger Jeremy Monga is not on the cards. Monga, who has played 25 times for Leicester City’s first team, has been linked with United. But the club has different priorities.