Following our humiliating 4-1 defeat at Middlesbrough in 2005, Roy Keane had a massive rant on MUTV, ripping apart so many of our players for their attitude and performance.

Darren Fletcher was one of those players and the opinions of Keane were reflected by most of our fan base. Fletcher wasn’t good enough, and as far as we were concerned, was never going to be good enough.

Of course, we have been proven wrong since then, as has Keano, but Fletcher has today attributed the high standards set by Roy as the reason why he is the player he is today.

“I think I’m the professional I am now because of Roy,” said Fletcher. “He made clear the standards expected of a Manchester United player. He drilled that into you and that’s the thing that stayed with me. If you didn’t do something right, Roy would criticise you. If you did, he’d praise you. People never saw the praise side of things because it came quietly – a word in your ear.”




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