Fletcher Moss Rangers – The ‘forgettable’ grassroots academy
Thursday, 25 February 2016: Manchester United five, Midtjylland one.
An 18-year-old Marcus Rashford scored a brace on his debut as the Red Devils came from behind to progress through to the Europa League Round of 16, winning 6-3 on aggregate.
Just three days later, the teenager rose to the occasion against Premier League rivals Arsenal.
Rashford scored a first half double and set up Ander Herrera to seal a 3-2 victory over the Gunners, despite resistance from Danny Welbeck and Mesut Ozil.
It was a proud few days for his grassroots outfit Fletcher Moss Rangers.
The club have seen players progress up the football pyramid and frequently to the likes of Manchester United.
There were two other Rangers graduates on show against Arsenal, those being Jesse Lingard – who provided the assist for Rashford’s second goal – and goal scorer Danny Welbeck, a former Manchester United player.
It was a heartwarming moment for 69-year-old Dave Horrocks, who has been involved with Fletcher Moss Rangers for almost 32 years.
He played a key part in the development of the international stars. However, he feels the players underappreciate their time at the club.
“To be honest it’s sort of a bittersweet feeling if truth be told,” says Horrocks.
“We’ve had quite a number of players that have come from our club and gone on to be England and Republic of Ireland internationals as well as other countries. That’s the sweet side of it.
“The bitter side of it is that when they have left us between the ages of 13 and eight.
“The amount of water that has gone under the bridge between them leaving us and actually making it on that stage is many years.
“These young men and women forget about us – they don’t remember us.
“We’re sort of inconsequential to them…it’s not something they consider as part of their development whereas it’s been a massive part because of how social the grassroots scene is for boys and girls.”
In recent years, Fletcher Moss Rangers have had great success, and this has shown with the amount of interest they’ve received from football clubs.
Over the last two seasons five players have signed for Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool.
Moves have also been made to the likes of Accrington, Blackpool, Bolton, Crewe and Port Vale lower down the league ladder.
With women’s football forever growing, Rangers are looking to replicate this promise with their girls’ teams.
Horrocks says that they’re already off to a good start, but they have encountered a problem.
“This particular girls’ team is a very high standard,” he says.
“They won a competition at the weekend undefeated throughout the competition with some of the best girls’ teams around and they won it handsomely with lots of accolades for the way they played football.
“Our problem is trying to find coaches to run girls’ teams.
“We’ve got a situation where at the moment in the soccer school we’ve got five or six girls of various ages, but we can’t find coaches to run boys’ teams, let alone girls teams – some men are not comfortable with coaching girls.
“I’ve no idea (how to change this). It’s beyond me to be honest. Personally, I’m comfortable whether they’re boys, girls or aliens. I’ve got no problem whatsoever.”
After being with Fletcher Moss Rangers for over three decades, it goes to show that there are still things out of Horrocks’ control.
However, he can hold his head high with the talent he has helped to produce.
