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Manchester United coach Darren Fletcher reportedly “had to be held back” by a colleague as he launched an X-rated rant at match officials during the comeback win over Brentford last month.
Fletcher passionately protested when Ethan Pinnock scored against a 10-man United, after referee Sam Barrott sent Matthijs de Ligt off the field to stop the bleeding from a head wound.
Then-manager Erik ten Hag and his assistant Ruud van Nistelrooy were both booked for their protests.
It’s believed that Fletcher went a step further, confronting match officials in the tunnel. A few days ago, it emerged that the former United midfielder was handed a three-match touchline ban for the incident.
He was also fined a sum of £7,500.
Fresh details have now emerged, indicating that Fletcher aimed a furious rant at match officials, to the extent of being held back by another United staff member.
The Independent Regulatory Commission have revealed their written reasons [via The Daily Mail] for Fletcher’s ban, with Barrott and three other assistant referees explaining how the former Scotland international conducted himself.
Fourth official Gavin Ward detailed to the Commission, “Following the half time whistle and as I made my way up the tunnel, I was approached by Darren Fletcher of Manchester United in an extremely aggressive manner pointing and shouting at me ‘you are all f***ing shit, that is a f***ing joke, every f***ing week.’”
“I asked him to calm down and highlighted that his behaviour was completely unacceptable at this point.”
“He then needed to be held back by another member of staff, as he tried to get closer to me. With this, I turned away and continued to make my way to the match officials changing room.”
“Once in the changing room and when the other match officials arrived, I made them aware of the conduct of Mr Fletcher.”
It’s understood that the Commission viewed video evidence from the tunnel and concluded that Fletcher became “agitated and started to remonstrate with the Fourth Official, gesturing with his hands, shouting, and attempting to get closer to the Fourth Official in a confrontational manner. He is then held back and pushed away by a Manchester United colleague.”
Fletcher had issued an apology and blamed his aggressive reaction on the controversial manner in which Pinnock’s goal came about.
The 40-year-old insisted that he would have reacted differently if he had more time to calm down.
Despite consideration of Fletcher’s impeccable disciplinary record as a player and coach, the Commission judged that the three-match touchline ban was “a fair and reasonable sanction given the confrontational behaviour displayed on the video evidence and the fact that there was an opportunity to leave the remonstration with the Fourth Official, but Mr Fletcher decided to carry on.”
Fletcher already served the first of his three-match sanction last weekend, during the club’s 3-0 win over Leicester City.
He will not be in the dugout alongside new boss Ruben Amorim for upcoming clashes vs. Ipswich Town and Everton on November 24 and December 1 respectively.
