Youth Cup final turned into ‘Man City parade’ – Fletcher

Fletcher was annoyed that City called up each member of Reiss’s coaching staff to collect their medals before each player got theirs.

“Not only to watch a team lift the trophy but also for it 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 shouted out, that doesn’t happen in Cup finals,” the former United midfielder said.

Fletcher was also disappointed that the final was hosted at City’s Academy ground, the Joie Stadium, instead of at the Etihad Stadium. City had also turned down an offer from United for the final to be hosted at Old Trafford, where there was an attendance of 67,492 the last time the showpiece game was held there, in 2022.

There was a capacity attendance of 7,000 at the Joie Stadium last night, with an away contingent of just under 1,000.

“I’m disappointed in the FA for everything that has gone on around this game – for the location and then our players having to deal with that (the trophy presentation),” Fletcher said.

“It’s disappointing. We have to stand there, we 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. That’s my one gripe tonight but the best team won – compliments to them.”

When asked whether the FA needed to take back some control of the event, the Scot replied: “Probably a little bit. 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.

“Man City have got a fantastic manager. He’s a great, really nice guy. Dead respectful. Coaches his team the right way.

“But 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.”

Fletcher and United are also disappointed in the scheduling of the Premier League 2 play-off final, with United’s U21s travelling to face Brighton at the Amex Stadium tomorrow.

United had intended to include several members of their squad from the Youth Cup final for the PL2 showpiece.

“We have other things, with the U21s game being 48 hours after this,” Fletcher said. “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 advanced to the Pl2 final with a dramatic 4-3 win over Manchester City in the semi-finals, while Brighton beat Tottenham 3-1 in their last four game.

However, Fletcher was positive about his experiences with the U18s this season, having taken on the job in the summer.

“I’ve loved every minute of it, the boys have been fantastic since day one,” he said. “You don’t sit there at the beginning of the season thinking you’re going to get to finals.

“You think about developing them individually and trying to have a team that you can be proud of. They’ve played in our style.

“But winning is part of it as well. So the players will be gutted, but when you lose, it doesn’t half drive you forward next season. You’re thinking about making up for this and how can I improve my game and rectify the feeling of defeat?

“It’ll be a new team, a different team, and we’ll see what challenges lie ahead for us.”