Darren Fletcher's son saves 88-year-old Man Utd record

Martin Macdonald

Updated: 8 Nov 2025 10:37 GMT
6 min read

Jack Fletcher, Darren Fletcher — © IMAGO

Manchester United have been forced to draft in a younger to maintain a remarkable 88-year record that was at risk of being broken this weekend.

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Since 30 October 1937, when Tom Manley and Jack Wassall featured in an away match at Fulham, Man Utd have always had at least one academy player in their squad for a Premier League match.

That is a run that has stretched 4,332 matches.

This season, that academy player was Kobbie Mainoo as although his minutes on the pitch have been limited by manager Ruben Amorim he has featured in squads. Tom Heaton was also around, but he has recently been dropped from squads due to the acquisition of new goalkeeper Senne Lammens.

The player in question that has been called up to the senior squad is 18 year old Jack Fletcher, the son of former Man Utd midfielder Darren Fletcher who is currently the head coach of the Under-18s side.

Jack and his twin brother Tyler were previously part of Manchester City's academy before making the switch to United for a reported combined fee of around £1.25m.

He is yet to make his first-team debut for the Red Devils but is in line to in Saturday's match against Tottenham if called upon by Ruben Amorim. He has been included in squads previously.

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The Portuguese manager previously stated a desire to keep that 88-year record alive, telling reporters:

"We want to maintain that, I don’t want to be the guy to break that record, or that idea."

"If you see the past of Manchester United, it’s built on kids who grow up here for a long time. I think that should be our goal in the future, so I should try to maintain that, that is for sure."

A homegrown player is classed as one who signed before the age of 21 having not played for another senior team, and played for a junior team at United.

Man Utd have become famed for their academy graduates in the Premier League era.

Indeed, the 'Class of 92', which featured legends such as David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes and the Neville brothers was seen as a transformative group of players that helped the club reach the heights of previous generations.

They won numerous Premier League titles together and were an integral part of the squad that won the Champions League in 1999.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe criticises Man Utd academy

Man Utd shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe recently criticised the Man Utd academy for not producing as much players as they used to.

“The academy has really slipped at Manchester United," he told The Business podcast.

"You need the academy to be producing talent all the time.

"It helps you financially. That’s not a light switch. You don’t solve the academy problem overnight. It takes time. We just recruited a new academy director.”

Stephen Torpey is the currently academy director.

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