{"id":236779,"date":"2026-01-09T22:21:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T22:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/236779\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T22:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T22:21:08","slug":"no-fletcher-talks-as-interim-boss-focuses-on-short-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/236779\/","title":{"rendered":"No Fletcher talks as interim boss focuses on short term"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Interim boss Darren Fletcher says he has had no fresh talks about his Manchester United future ahead of this weekend&#8217;s FA Cup clash with Brighton.<\/p>\n<p>A week that started with Ruben Amorim\u2019s sacking after 14 underwhelming months in charge ends with Sunday\u2019s third-round tie at Old Trafford and the former midfielder\u2019s second game in caretaker charge.<\/p>\n<p>United put in a lively display in Fletcher\u2019s first match but were ultimately frustrated in Wednesday\u2019s 2-2 draw at struggling Burnley, where chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox watched from the stands.<\/p>\n<p>The pair have been the 41-year-old\u2019s only points of contact within the club leadership since temporarily taking the reins as the hierarchy considers the best man to lead the side forwards.<\/p>\n<p>Asked if there were any updates on his future and whether he had spoken to ambitious United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Fletcher said: &#8220;I\u2019ve not, no.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The process here works that I speak to Omar and Jason. For me, I\u2019ve been focusing on the job in hand, preparing the team for these two games. There\u2019s been no thoughts or conversations about my future.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Honestly, the people in Jason and Omar have given me full responsibility to take control of these two games, make my own decisions, lead the team, guide the team, prepare the team, and that\u2019s what I\u2019ve been doing.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There\u2019s been no conversations with anybody outside of those two people in higher up positions in the club.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Former Manchester United players Michael Carrick and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer arrive ahead of the funeral service for Sir Bobby Charlton at Manchester Cathedral, Manchester. Manchester United and England great Sir Bobby Charlton died aged 86 in October. Charlton scored 249 goals for Manchester United, a\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0023b4a2-614.jpg\"\/><br \/>\nMichael Carrick and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer are the frontrunners to take the caretaker role until the end of the season<\/p>\n<p>Fletcher and Ruud van Nistelrooy remain in the conversation for the United caretaker job, but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Michael Carrick are the frontrunners.<\/p>\n<p>Solskjaer is set for face-to-face talks with the club on Saturday, it is understood, while Carrick met with the United hierarchy earlier this week.<\/p>\n<p>However, nothing is understood to be imminent in terms of an appointment by a club whose foundations have come under the microscope this season, including the academy.<\/p>\n<p>Amorim did not show much faith in homegrown players and made some pointed remarks around a set-up that Fletcher knows better than most, having come through ranks as a player and this season worked as Under-18s boss.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Historically this club is built around the academy,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We\u2019ve got an amazing academy.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our record speaks for itself. I\u2019m not going to stand here and say anything other than that. We\u2019ve got an amazing record. I think it\u2019s hard to beat in terms of the history of clubs around the world.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We\u2019ve got some amazing players, some amazing talents. I think what I see is a lot of hardworking, humble young players who aren\u2019t perfect because they\u2019re young and they\u2019re learning and they\u2019ve got a lot to do.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think we ask and expect too much of young people sometimes in society and in general. And that\u2019s not a criticism of anybody, that\u2019s just my beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think we have to let them learn, educate them, help them. Understand they\u2019re going to make mistakes and they\u2019re going to do things that will frustrate you.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But through time with good guidance of coaches, family members, players in the first-team squad, all of us play a part.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That\u2019s our role, that\u2019s our jobs of developing them to be Manchester United players and Manchester United people.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;So, all I can say is (in) my workings with those players as individuals and in general throughout the academy, I deal with hard-working, honest, coachable, super-talented kids.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We\u2019ve got a lot of talent in our academy and hopefully they can showcase themselves like Shea (Lacey) did when he came on against Burnley and was so close to scoring a fantastic goal.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Fletcher expects to have the same players available as at Burnley having confirmed whichever of Noussair Mazraoui and Bryan Mbeumo go out of the Africa Cup of Nations on Friday will not play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Interim boss Darren Fletcher says he has had no fresh talks about his Manchester United future ahead of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-236779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}