For Manchester United, Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur had a special significance deeper than that score line. Or the single point that the Red Devils tallied to their season total by getting that result. It’s about a tradition that now spans 88 years, and 4,333 consecutive matches. Manager Ruben Amorim made sure to keep the streak alive on Saturday: United have named at least one academy player to every single matchday squad since 1937.
Central midfielder Kobbie Mainoo, who has kept the streak in tact for the club over the past four matches, as the sole academy graduate in the first-team squad, did not make the trip due to a knock.
Therefore Amorim named midfielder Jack Fletcher, son of club legend Darren Fletcher, to the squad and thus preserved the record.
“It’s really important,” Amorim said to TNT Sports about keeping the academy record going. “We are in a moment where if we [cut] corners to have success right away, it’s the wrong thing.
“There is something special in our club which has to be bullet proof. The way we behave, the way we feel [about] the club.
“We are not going to stop with academy players. It doesn’t matter about the result. We will continue with these small details which are the foundations of our club.”
Fletcher, 18, did not feature and he is yet to make his senior team debut. The United academy record was popularized by Tony Park, a United supporter and historian (h/t Sporting News), who published a book entitled Sons of United in 2013.
Park unearthed this record, a sort of English football version of passing the Olympic torch, when he was researching the book. Amorim promised to maintain it.
“We have that record, we won’t break that record,” the United boss said.
“And Jack is ready to help us. We will show that our academy is our future. The players in our academy must be ready to help us.”
Traditions/records/streaks like this are what makes sports great. We need more of them.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN.