This was before my time and I've always been curious about it. Would it happen in todays age of social media pitchforks? Were fans not mad at the nepotism?
How was the fan sentiment when SAF played his son?
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
Not really. It is not like he got a ton of chances, he was good enough to be in the academy and like a lot of other academy players he got a couple of appearances before he moved on to the lower leagues and had a decent career. If he had been hopeless I am sure there would have been a fuss made but as it was he was a decent enough footballer, just not PL quality.
I remember him doing alright against Southampton if memory serves me, I think Dion Dublin may have made his debut.
It was bad but those people ended up with egg on their face as Darren Fletcher became a key and influential player for United.
Weird question. He clearly proved himself and went on to have a fine career winning multiple league titles and a champions League. If not for his bowel issues he would have had a much longer peak.
Glad he's back at the club in role now.
Glad he's back at the club in role now.
I think Keane made a passing mention of it in that famous interview in Ireland with Gary Neville, like ‘Ferguson put his son in the Utd team. I didn’t rate him’ and made a suggestion of nepotism.
But of course Keane and Ferguson are sworn blood enemies at this point so any objectivity from Keane in opinions on Ferguson should probably be taken with a grain of salt.
I vaguely remember him and he was passable as your standard Utd academy player who’s making a first team appearance. It wasnt an Ali Dia moment.
But of course Keane and Ferguson are sworn blood enemies at this point so any objectivity from Keane in opinions on Ferguson should probably be taken with a grain of salt.
I vaguely remember him and he was passable as your standard Utd academy player who’s making a first team appearance. It wasnt an Ali Dia moment.
Have I missed something? Edit: FFS man
He wasn't a bad player as I recall. Not good enough to become a fixture in the team, but good enough that it wasn't suspicious to see him given opportunities
Darren Ferguson played the season we won the title. From memory, he seemed better than the likes of Phelan and the post-injury Neil Webb who had featured in previous years. I think he played when we had injuries to midfielders.
He got sold to Wolves, I suspect after we'd bought Roy Keane.
Perhaps if he'd become a first choice player, it might have been far more of an issue.
He got sold to Wolves, I suspect after we'd bought Roy Keane.
Perhaps if he'd become a first choice player, it might have been far more of an issue.
This thread is really confusing 
This is spot on.
He was a really good squad player and stepped in through an injury crisis to help us win the league. He deserved his medal.
There was no neoptism...he was the best Reserve midfielder we had.
Roy Keane was an improvement ad so he was sold on after a couple of loans.
Good lad.
He was actually a very good player
FFS was he stealing a living even back then?
This thread is really confusing
HIs biological son ( Darren Ferguson ) was not bad, but not the first team long term, so was moved on.
Not much said as far as I recall, he was as good as some of the other squad players
SAF was not stupid, realised he wasn't going to make it, so he moved on and did Ok elsewhere until an Injury stopped him
At the time some claimed that Darren Fletcher was not worthy of a place as SAF kept playing him ( he proved the doubters wrong, )
his time was cut short by a bad illness, never quite got it back after that.
The joke at the time was that he must be SAFs secret son for SAF to keep picking him
Two Darrens, one the real son, one called his son as a Joke
Prime Darren Fletcher would do a good job for us right now
I thought it was just me. I can't follow it.This thread is really confusing
I heard it was the phone actually.
He really wasn't.
He was decent, he played enough games to win a premier league medal before moving on. Ultimately not the level we needed but solid enough and did what was required at the time.
Why wouldn't it? Zidane's many sons were at Real Madrid and think at least one played under him, Pochettino's son was at Southampton then at Spurs while he was at those clubs. Quite a few managers have managed their sons in the past and though it doesn't happen that much of late*, there's more instances of it off the pitch.
Carlo Ancelotti has his son (Davide) and son-in-law (Mino Fulco) on his coaching staff.
Steve Bruce's son Alex is set to be on his coaching staff too.
*Mancini did sign his sons at City - one of which since played at low league English football, low league Italian football, Hungarian and MLS. The other player stopped playing football when he was released by City.
Nepotism in football is still rife. Bigger issue than Darren was probably SAF's brother being made Chief European Scout with no experience, and Darren's brother Jason being an agent for a number of United players.
Great midfielder. Thought he really blossomed as Keane was phased out. 342 appearances for us is pretty impressive.
Nobody beats Brucie for nepotism. I’m sure he signed Alex Bruce 4 or 5 times before he flew the nest and had a decent career of his own.
I thought he was shit, at that level anyway.
Would have never played for the club had he not been the managers son but times were different then and not everything was scrutinised to the nth degree like it is today.
The other consideration that needs to be taken into account is squad size. I'm not sure what other options Alex Ferguson had at the time.
In 1991/92 our central midfield was Paul Ince, Mike Phelan, Neil Webb and Bryan Robson. There wasn't really anyone in the reserves although Blackmore could slot in if necessary. Our wide players of Sharpe, Giggs, Beardsmore, Kanchelskis weren't central midfielders.
In 1992/93 Ince played 41 games and the other three were mostly injured and only started 10 games between them. So basically we had no midfield. Blackmore was getting older and didn't have the pace so in the Reserves you had Kieran Toal, Darren Ferguson and Craig Lawton.
I suppose Ferguson could have gone out and bought someone in the short term, but he had his eye on Keane and and the youth team had just won the FA Youth Cup so they were in the wings. I don't remember if Ferguson said anything in his book...but if his options were those three reserve midfielders, then Darren Ferguson was the only real choice.
Darren played 15 times, did his job next to Ince (who was fantastic that season), and then went back to the reserves when everyone else was fit again. He wasn't taking anyone's place, and did ok.
By the time 1993/94 came around, Keane and Ince were the midfield pair with Butt and one or two others coming through. So Darren Ferguson was sent out on loan to Rotterdam and Wolves and never got back into the team.
Was in nepotism? I don't think so.
Was Darren good enough? Not as a regular Manchester United central midfielder.
Were we negatively impacted? No. There is no way Ince could have run the midfield on his own so Darren played his part. He did good enough to stay in the team for 15 games while we were fighting for the league title. There is no way Alex Ferguson would have played him if he was shit. He couldn't afford to given what happened the season before and how close we were to winning the league for the first time in 26 years.
Did the fans criticise it? I watched all the games home and away that season and I don't remember anyone in the crowd getting on his back. I think we all realised there was an injury crisis, particularly in the first half of the season when Darren played most of his games, and when everyone got fit, Cantona arrived and we were on a roll.
He was never the best, did a job for us and deserved his medal.
In 1991/92 our central midfield was Paul Ince, Mike Phelan, Neil Webb and Bryan Robson. There wasn't really anyone in the reserves although Blackmore could slot in if necessary. Our wide players of Sharpe, Giggs, Beardsmore, Kanchelskis weren't central midfielders.
In 1992/93 Ince played 41 games and the other three were mostly injured and only started 10 games between them. So basically we had no midfield. Blackmore was getting older and didn't have the pace so in the Reserves you had Kieran Toal, Darren Ferguson and Craig Lawton.
I suppose Ferguson could have gone out and bought someone in the short term, but he had his eye on Keane and and the youth team had just won the FA Youth Cup so they were in the wings. I don't remember if Ferguson said anything in his book...but if his options were those three reserve midfielders, then Darren Ferguson was the only real choice.
Darren played 15 times, did his job next to Ince (who was fantastic that season), and then went back to the reserves when everyone else was fit again. He wasn't taking anyone's place, and did ok.
By the time 1993/94 came around, Keane and Ince were the midfield pair with Butt and one or two others coming through. So Darren Ferguson was sent out on loan to Rotterdam and Wolves and never got back into the team.
Was in nepotism? I don't think so.
Was Darren good enough? Not as a regular Manchester United central midfielder.
Were we negatively impacted? No. There is no way Ince could have run the midfield on his own so Darren played his part. He did good enough to stay in the team for 15 games while we were fighting for the league title. There is no way Alex Ferguson would have played him if he was shit. He couldn't afford to given what happened the season before and how close we were to winning the league for the first time in 26 years.
Did the fans criticise it? I watched all the games home and away that season and I don't remember anyone in the crowd getting on his back. I think we all realised there was an injury crisis, particularly in the first half of the season when Darren played most of his games, and when everyone got fit, Cantona arrived and we were on a roll.
He was never the best, did a job for us and deserved his medal.
Can this be submitted to the 2022 RedCafe comedy genius award?
Brilliant. I didn't see it coming, it's perfectly apt. Bravo
You'd do it too if you were a dad.
Even the players used to joke about Fletcher being his favourite.
For some reason I always thought Darren Gibson was his cousin or nephew or some sort of distant relative.
He was a decent lad who stepped into the first team when needed but was never going to be good enough to go on and play hundreds of games for United.
I think Keane was overegging it a bit to suggest that Fergie was playing him ahead of more deserving starters. Fergie was pretty ruthless and I don't think even his own son would have been allowed get in the way of his will to win.
I think Keane was overegging it a bit to suggest that Fergie was playing him ahead of more deserving starters. Fergie was pretty ruthless and I don't think even his own son would have been allowed get in the way of his will to win.
Exactly this.
You could see what a small man Keano is at times when left Scholes and Giggs out of the best 11 he played in, just because they were huge Fergie favourites.
Darron Gibson was one of those fairly average players that Fergie got a great tune out of at times.
Who can forget him pile driving goals in late on in that Euro seasons!
Nice one.
Some people on this thread seem to think Darren Fletcher was actually Fergie's son. It was Darren Ferguson who played in the early 90s. I wasn't that pissed about it, he barely played and wasn't good enough. We have had a lot of those in midfield. Like somebody else pointed out Phelan got the most ire and Paul Parker. Neither could progress the ball forward.
As others have said, he wasn't bad enough to make anyone seriously question Fergie's integrity in the matter. And he was moved on when it became clear that he would never amount to much (as a United player).
Was it 100% free of any possible hint of nepotism? Probably not. But it wasn't an actual problem.
Was it 100% free of any possible hint of nepotism? Probably not. But it wasn't an actual problem.
Recent example from this season would be at Hertha BSC Berlin, were Pal Dardai played his son Marton. Was looked at critically, but Marton proved to be talented, so no one had any real issue with ot in the end. Pal Dardai was sacked in the meantime, but Marton still is part of the club's plans.
No one really made an issue of it. He played his part, was Liam O’Brien levels of quality, in a squad of better players I don’t remember him having many howlers. Fergie had some credit in the bank by the time he was featuring semi regular. No problems.
Darren scored a few screamers when at United, although he clearly was never good enough. He didn't prove himself to be PL standard with his 5 years in Everton either. I feel nepotism got him his last gig at Salford too.
Someone wanting to know if we got offended and tried to cancel the tyranny of the Ferguson clan. The answer really is no one gave a shite and fans only really cared about the god son until he proved them wrongThis thread is really confusing
I don't remember anyone really caring that much
he wasn't a bad player, had some decent passing ability but like a lot of young players breaking through wasn't good enough for United and was shipped out
he wasn't a bad player, had some decent passing ability but like a lot of young players breaking through wasn't good enough for United and was shipped out