Darren Fletcher gave an emotionally charged interview after Manchester United's U18s were beaten by Manchester City in the FA Youth Cup final.
Fletcher was not happy with City's celebrations.(Image: 2026 The FA)
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Darren Fletcher ripped into Manchester City for reading out the names of individual coaches during the trophy-lift celebrations after beating Manchester United to win the FA Youth Cup. Fletcher also admitted he was "disappointed" with the FA for allowing the final not to be played at the Etihad.
United lost 2-1 against City in the Youth Cup final, suffering defeat after a late goal from Reigan Heskey. During the trophy-lifting ceremony, the City announcer at the Joie Stadium read out the names of every player in the City squad, along with the names of their Under-18 coaches.
Fletcher was irked by City's post-match celebrations, which he felt were excessive, and City officials noted that United's U18 boss approached FA officials while the presentations were underway to air his views.
Fletcher spoke to reporters after the final whistle and did not hold back when he was asked if the Youth Cup final defeat was a painful lesson.
"Not only to watch a team lift a trophy, but 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 be shouted out," he said.
"That doesn't happen in cup finals. So I'm disappointed in the FA for everything that's gone around this game, for the location, for everything. And then our players having to deal with that.
"But as you say, it's disappointing. You have to stand there. You 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. But that's my one gripe for tonight. But the best team won, compliments to them."
The venue for the Youth Cup final was a controversial topic in the build-up to the game. Ordinarily, finals in the competition are played at a club's main ground, but City could not accommodate the fixture at the Etihad due to construction work taking place around their three remaining Premier League home games.
Fletcher diplomatically expressed disappointment with the decision in an interview before the game, but he did not hold back when asked whether the FA could have done more to ensure the final was played at a main stadium.
City received special dispensation to play their Youth Cup fixtures at the Joie Stadium this season, but it's understood the FA were supportive of the game being played at the Etihad if possible. United offered Old Trafford to host the game, but City declined before hitting back at complaints over their decision to play the final at the Joie Stadium.
"Probably a little bit," he said of whether the FA had to take 'control back' in the Youth Cup. "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. But what I will say is Man City have got a fantastic manager. He's a great, really nice guy. Dead respectful. Coaches his team the right way.
"You know, no antics on the sidelines between both of us. So I've got a massive respect for them. And their players have got a lot of good players. But, you know, 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 there.
"So that was my one little bit of disappointment from that is that these things are looked at. You know, 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."
United received 968 tickets for the final at the 7,000-capacity Joie Stadium. City's club website referenced "a sold-out Joie Stadium crowd" in the aftermath of the game, but there were empty seats spotted in different areas of the ground during the game.
There were 67,000 fans at Old Trafford when United's U18s beat Nottingham Forest in the 2022 Youth Cup final.