Marcus Rashford’s chance to etch his name into Manchester United folklore came after he was rejected by Manchester City for being too small.
The 18-year-old given minutes to prepare for Thursday’s debut against Midtjylland ended the Europa League last-32 tie in dreamland after his two goals ensured the Danish champions were knocked out, 6-3 on aggregate.
Opportunity had knocked after Anthony Martial suffered an injury in the warm-up. Any notion this might faze Rashford was banished by his strikes on 64 and 75 minutes which moved United from a 3-2 deficit to a 4-3 lead. Yet the Manchester-born forward would be at City if he had not been turned away because of his diminutive stature when a young hopeful at Fletcher Moss Rangers, a Didsbury-based club.
Ron Jamieson, their chairman, introduced Rashford to Fletcher Moss. He says: “City had a chance before he went to United because they asked his brother Dwain to do a bit of scouting. They were trying to come through the back door for Marcus. They said: ‘We’ll make you a scout if you bring a couple of lads down.’ And he said: ‘I’ll bring my brother down.’
“They didn’t fancy him because he was on the small side. Dave Horrocks [of Fletcher Moss] is an academy coach for [UNITED’S]development centres and I’m a scout for Manchester United so we pushed him towards our development centre in Moss Side and informed Derek Langley [the head of recruitment at United] he was being looked at. They put plenty of time into him to keep the wolves away and signed him in his ninth birthday year.”
Rashford’s starring role on Thursday was accompanied by an economy of emotion apart from when he scored. Then, he allowed himself a rare thing: a grin. “Marcus has been like that since six,” Jamieson says. “He’s very grounded, a quiet lad. He loves to score goals. That’ll probably be the only time you’ll see him smile. As you saw him on Thursday: he didn’t smile a lot.”
Rashford is the latest in a Fletcher Moss production line that could fill a current professional XI and which includes Wes Brown, Danny Welbeck, Ravel Morrison, Tyler Blackett and Cameron Borthwick-Jackson.
Alan Chard, a committee member, says: “Our reputation does carry us through in recruitment. It’s a lot to do with Wes really because he went on to play for England as well - people know us for that reason.”
On joining Fletcher Moss Rashford immediately showed he could follow previous old boys into the big time. “In that particular summer of 2005 we had about five or six kids that looked like they could play football. Marcus was very good on the ball, his first touch was good, and RoShaun [Williams, now at United] was a big burly centre-back. Those two were the outstanding ones.
“We took that group to one or two tournaments and they took a couple of hammerings. Then we got one or two other players and I entered them into the North West Champions Cup in Fallowfield. I put a coach with them as I was doing our club presentation, a lad called Mark Gainard. I told him where they were playing - to put Marcus out on the right, possibly up front.
“I got a phone call off Mark, who said: ‘We’re going to be late for the presentation, the lads have won their group. I’ve got Man United here, Man City, Everton - all watching Marcus. We’ll be there in about half an hour.’
“An hour passed and another phone call came. ‘We’re in the final and I’ll let you know how it goes.’ And a phone call later, saying: ‘We’ve won the North West Champions Cup.’ All the kids came back to the presentation with their trophies, which looked bigger than them.”
On Sunday Tomorrow Arsenal are at Old Trafford and Rashford may start if Martial remains unavailable. Jamieson says: “It was fortune - an injury - that opened the door for the lad. He’s earned his chance and I hope Van Gaal gives him another. I thought he was a little physically naive [ON THURSDAY], so he’s got to up his game. But I’m sure that’ll come.”
A byproduct of Rashford’s success could be to help attract much needed investment into his former club. Chard says: “We have three seven-a-side, three nine-a-side, and three 11-a-side pitches plus a training area and a clubhouse, so you can imagine it’s big. It’s all owned by the council.
“We’re in negotiations to get the facility but we’re struggling to find investors to help fund the redevelopment, help us get an Astroturf pitch, make it more businesslike, and provide better coaching.
“We’re quite worried. We’re not going to lose the facility but it’s dated and we probably need at least half a million pounds.”
Rashford is a fine advertisement for the worth of Fletcher Moss and for the invaluable commodity of youth.
Jamieson adds: “He just thought he was there to make up the numbers, a bit of lip service [FOR UNITED]to say: ‘We’ve got a youth player on the bench.’ But he banged two goals in - move over Wayne Rooney, I say. Let the youth have a go.
“When Rooney came in he was moving everybody out of the way. So maybe now Rooney should move out the way.”
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