Manchester United F.C. Reserves and Academy

Manchester United F.C. Reserves

Full name	Manchester United Football Club Reserves
Nickname(s)	The Red Devils, United
Founded	1878, as Newton Heath Reserves
Ground	Moss Lane Altrincham (Capacity: 6,085)
Chairman	Joel & Avram Glazer
Manager	Ole Gunnar Solskjær (Reserves) Paul McGuinness (Under 18s)
League	Premier Reserve League
2008–09	Premier Reserve League North 2nd
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Manchester United Football Club Reserves are the reserve team of Manchester United F.C. They play in the North section of the Premier Reserve League. They have been champions three times since the league's inauguration in 1999; in 2002, 2005 & 2006. They also participate in the Manchester Senior Cup, although in recent years the teams entered in this competition have featured an increasing number of youth players.

The current Reserve team manager is Ole Gunnar Solskjær, who was appointed in the summer of 2008 after working with the club's first team strikers following his retirement from playing in August 2007. His assistant is Warren Joyce, who was previously the manager of Royal Antwerp, Manchester United's feeder club in Belgium. Since November 2008, the reserves have played all of their home matches at Moss Lane in Altrincham, the home of Altrincham F.C. In previous seasons, the team has played at the Victoria Stadium, the home of Northwich Victoria, and Ewen Fields, the home of Hyde United.^[1]

The most successful Manchester United Reserves coach has been René Meulensteen. Meulensteen won four of the five available reserve team trophies in the 2004–05 season – the Premier Reserve League North, the Central League North, the Central League Cup and the national play off between the winners of the Premier Reserve League North and the Premier Reserve League South. The team also finished as runners-up in the Manchester Senior Cup. Meulensteen followed this up in 2006 by leading the team once more to the Northern and National Premier Reserve League titles, and going one better in the Manchester Senior Cup.

Reserves

Current squad

• As of 4 November 2009, according to official site^[2][3]

No. Position Player 30 DF Ritchie De Laet 31 MF Corry Evans 33 MF Sam Hewson 38 GK Ron-Robert Zieler 39 DF James Chester 40 GK Ben Amos 41 FW Joshua King 42 MF Magnus Wolff Eikrem 43 MF Matthew James 44 DF Joe Dudgeon

No. Position Player — GK Conor Devlin — GK Tom Heaton — DF Reece Brown — DF Oliver Gill — DF Scott Moffatt — DF Scott Wootton — MF Robert Brady — MF Oliver Norwood — MF Davide Petrucci — MF Cameron Stewart — FW Nicholas Ajose

On loan

No. Position Player 35 MF Tom Cleverley (at Watford until 30 June 2010)[4][5] 36 MF David Gray (at Plymouth Argyle until 18 December 2009)[6] 37 DF Craig Cathcart (at Watford until 4 January 2010)[7] — DF Danny Simpson (at Newcastle United until 18 January 2010)[4]

No. Position Player — MF Danny Drinkwater (at Huddersfield Town until 30 June 2010)[4] — MF Rodrigo Possebon (at Braga until 30 June 2010)[8] — FW Febian Brandy (at Gillingham until 4 February 2010)[9]

Manager history

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

• Brian Kidd (1988–1991)
• Jimmy Ryan (1991–1999)
• Mike Phelan (1999–2000)
• Brian McClair (2001)
• Ricky Sbragia (2001–2005)
• René Meulensteen (2005–2006)
• Brian McClair (2006–2008)
• Ole Gunnar Solskjær (2008–)

Honours

• Premier Reserve League North Champions: 3
  • 2002, 2005, 2006

• Premier Reserve League National Playoff Winners: 2
  • 2005, 2006

• Central League North: 9
  • 1913, 1921, 1939, 1947, 1956, 1960, 1994, 1996, 1997

• Central League Division 1 West: 1
  • 2005

• Central League Cup: 1
  • 2005

• Manchester Senior Cup: 24
  • 1908, 1910, 1912, 1913, 1920, 1924, 1926, 1931, 1934, 1936, 1937, 1939, 1948, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1964, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009

• Lancashire Senior Cup: 13
  • 1898, 1913, 1914, 1920 (shared), 1929, 1938, 1941, 1943, 1946, 1951, 1969, 2008, 2009

The Academy

The academy is the core of the youth setup at Manchester United, and has been responsible for producing some of Manchester United's greatest ever players, including the club's top five all-time appearance makers, Ryan Giggs, Bobby Charlton, Bill Foulkes, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville, and the new wave of home-grown talents known as Fergie's Fledglings. The current academy is based at the club's state-of-the-art Trafford Training Centre, a 70 acre site in the Manchester suburb of Carrington.

The academy comprises age-group teams ranging from Under-9's up to the flagship Under-18's, who currently compete in Group C of the Premier Academy League and in the FA Youth Cup (a tournament which they have won a record nine times). The Under-16's and Under-18's typically play their academy league games at 11am on Saturday mornings at Carrington, while Youth Cup games are generally played at either Hyde United's Ewen Fields ground (where Manchester United's reserve teams play their home games) or the club's 76,000-capacity Old Trafford home, in order to cater for the greater number of supporters these fixtures attract.

Paul McGuinness is the head coach of the under 18s academy side. He was also in charge of the side that lost to Liverpool in the 2007 FA Youth Cup final.

In 2007 the Academy were the inaugural winners of the Champions Youth Cup, intended to be a Club World Championship for youth sides, beating Juventus 1–0 in the final in Malaysia.

Current Academy players

	Player	DOB	Position	International caps	Previous club	Joined United
3rd Year Scholars (players born between 1 September 1990 and 31 August 1991)
	Joe Dudgeon	26 November 1990 (1990-11-26) (age 19)	DF	Capped at Under-21 level	–	–
	Oliver Gill	15 September 1990 (1990-09-15) (age 19)	DF	–	–	–
	Matthew James	22 July 1991 (1991-07-22) (age 18)	MF	Capped at Under-20 level	–	–
	Federico Macheda	22 August 1991 (1991-08-22) (age 18)	FW	Capped at Under-21 level	Lazio	September 2007
	Scott Moffatt	7 December 1990 (1990-12-07) (age 18)	DF	–	–	–
	Oliver Norwood	12 April 1991 (1991-04-12) (age 18)	MF	Capped at B team level	–	–
	Cameron Stewart	8 April 1991 (1991-04-08) (age 18)	MF	Capped at Under-19 level	–	–
	Danny Welbeck	26 November 1990 (1990-11-26) (age 19)	FW	Capped at Under-21 level	–	–
2nd Year Scholars (players born between 1 September 1991 and 31 August 1992)
	Nicholas Ajose	7 October 1991 (1991-10-07) (age 18)	FW	Capped at Under-16 level	–	–
	Robert Brady	14 January 1992 (1992-01-14) (age 17)	MF	Capped at Under-19 level	St Kevin's Boys	–
	Reece Brown	1 November 1991 (1991-11-01) (age 18)	DF	Capped at Under-19 level	–	–
	Conor Devlin	23 September 1991 (1991-09-23) (age 18)	GK	Capped at Under-19 level	–	–
	Joshua King	15 January 1992 (1992-01-15) (age 17)	FW	Capped at Under-16 level	Vålerenga	–
	Davide Petrucci	5 October 1991 (1991-10-05) (age 18)	MF	Capped at Under-19 level	Roma	–
	Scott Wootton	12 September 1991 (1991-09-12) (age 18)	DF	Capped at Under-17 level	Liverpool	–
1st Year Scholars (players born between 1 September 1992 and 31 August 1993)
	John Cofie	21 January 1993 (1993-01-21) (age 16)	FW	Capped at Under-16 level	Burnley[10]	–
	Larnell Cole	9 March 1993 (1993-03-09) (age 16)	MF	–	–	–
	Ezekiel Fryers	9 September 1992 (1992-09-09) (age 17)	DF	Capped at Under-17 level	–	–
	Etzaz Hussain	27 January 1993 (1993-01-27) (age 16)	MF	Capped at Under-17 level	Langhus IL	–
	Sam Johnstone	25 March 1993 (1993-03-25) (age 16)	GK	Capped at Under-17 level	–	–
	Will Keane	11 January 1993 (1993-01-11) (age 16)	FW	Capped at Under-17 level	–	–
	Jesse Lingard	15 December 1992 (1992-12-15) (age 16)	FW	Capped at Under-17 level	–	–
	Ra'vel Morrison	2 February 1993 (1993-02-02) (age 16)	MF	Capped at Under-17 level	–	–
	Tom Thorpe	13 January 1993 (1993-01-13) (age 16)	DF	Capped at Under-17 level	–	–
	Ryan Tunnicliffe	30 December 1992 (1992-12-30) (age 16)	MF/DF	Capped at Under-17 level	–	–
Academy Students
	Luke Giverin	4 February 1993 (1993-02-04) (age 16)	DF	–	–	–
	Michael Keane	11 January 1993 (1993-01-11) (age 16)	DF	–	–	–
Unknown status
	Michele Fornasier	3 September 1993 (1993-09-03) (age 16)	DF	Capped at Under-16 level	Fiorentina[11]	July 2009
	Alberto Massacci	27 May 1993 (1993-05-27) (age 16)	DF	–	Empoli	July 2009
	Sean McGinty	11 August 1993 (1993-08-11) (age 16)	DF	Capped at Under-17 level	Charlton Athletic	July 2009
	Jack Dean	28 November 1992 (1992-11-28) (age 17)	MF	–	–	–
	Paul Pogba	15 March 1993 (1993-03-15) (age 16)	MF	Capped at Under-16 level	Le Havre[12]	July 2009
	Manuel Pucciarelli	17 June 1991 (1991-06-17) (age 18)	FW	–	Empoli	July 2009

Honours

• Blue Stars/FIFA Youth Cup (18): 1954, 1957, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 2004, 2005^[13]
• Champions Youth Cup (1): 2007
• FA Youth Cup (9): 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1964, 1992, 1995, 2003^[14]
• Milk Cup (4): 1991, 2003, 2008, 2009^[15]
• Premier Academy League U17 (2): 1998-99, 2000-01
• Lancashire League Division One (12): 1954–55, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1992–93, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98^[16]
• Lancashire League Division Two (5): 1964–65, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1988–89, 1996–97^[17]
• Lancashire League Division One Supplementary Cup (4): 1954–55, 1955–56, 1959–60, 1963–64^[18]
• Lancashire League Division Two Supplementary Cup (10): 1955–56, 1956–57, 1959–60, 1961–62, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1976–77^[19]

Staff

• Director of Academy Football: Brian McClair
• Director of Youth Football: Jimmy Ryan
• Reserve Team Manager: Ole Gunnar Solskjær
• Reserve Team Assistant Manager: Warren Joyce
• Reserve Goalkeeping Coach: Richard Hartis
• Assistant Academy Director for 17–21 year olds & Under-18s Head Coach: Paul McGuinness
• Assistant Academy Director for 9–16 year olds & Under-11/12s Head Coach: Tony Whelan
• Under 13–16s Head Coach: Mark Dempsey
• Under 11–12s Coach: Tony Whelan
• Under 9–10s Head Coach: Eamon Mulvey
• Technical Skills Development Coach: René Meulensteen
• Youth Coach: Andy Welsh
• Director of Goalkeeping Training: Richard Hartis
• Academy Doctor: Dr. Tony Gill
• Senior Academy Physiotherapist: Mandy Johnson
• Academy Physiotherapists: John Davin & Richard Merron

Notable former Academy and Youth Team players

Many players from the Manchester United Academy go on to have careers in professional football, whether at Manchester United or at other clubs. The following is a list of players who have represented their country at full international level and/or have played regularly at a high level of club football.

Players of the Year

Prior to 1990, a single award was presented to the best young player of that season. After 1990, two separate awards were presented. The Young Player of the Year award is named after Jimmy Murphy, Sir Matt Busby's long-time assistant manager, who died in 1989. Denzil Haroun was a former club director and the brother-in-law of former club chairman Louis Edwards.

References

External links

• Man Utd Reserves (Official Site)
• Man Utd Academy (Official Site)
• Premier Reserve League North
• Manchester United Reserves Website
• RedStat - Manchester United Statistics 1970-2007