Manchester United F.C. Reserves and Academy

Manchester United F.C. Under-21s

Full name	Manchester United Football Club Under-21s
Nickname(s)	The Red Devils, United
Founded	1878, as Newton Heath Reserves
Ground	Salford City Stadium Barton-upon-Irwell
Ground Capacity	12,000
Co-chairmen	Joel and Avram Glazer
Manager	Warren Joyce (Under-21s) Paul McGuinness (Under-18s)
League	Professional U21 Development League 1
2014–15	Professional U21 Development League 1, 1st
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Manchester United Football Club Under-21s is the most senior of Manchester United's youth teams and the club's former reserve team. They play in League 1 of the Professional Development League. The team is effectively Manchester United's second-string side, but is limited to three outfield players and one goalkeeper over the age of 21 per game following the introduction of new regulations from the 2012–13 season.

They were champions of the former Premier Reserve League five times (in 2002, 2005, 2006, 2010 and 2012) between its introduction in 1999 and its dissolution in 2012. The team also won the 2012–13 Professional U21 Development League 1 in its inaugural season. The team also participates in the Manchester Senior Cup and the Lancashire Senior Cup.

The team's manager is Warren Joyce, who took over from Ole Gunnar Solskjær as manager of the reserves in December 2010, after spending two years as Solskjær's assistant. Joyce was previously the manager of Royal Antwerp, Manchester United's feeder club in Belgium.

From November 2008 to August 2013, the team played its home matches at Moss Lane in Altrincham, the home of Altrincham F.C. Since the 2013–14 Under-21 Premier League season, the team has played the majority of its home matches at Salford City Stadium in Barton-upon-Irwell.^[1] In previous seasons, the team has played at the Victoria Stadium, the home of Northwich Victoria, and Ewen Fields, the home of Hyde.^[2]

Manchester United also has an Under-18s team, managed by Paul McGuinness, that plays in the Premier League Under-18s Group 2 and the FA Youth Cup. The under-18s play their home games at the club's Trafford Training Centre in Carrington.

Under-21s

Current squad

As of 13 February 2016.^[3][4][5]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 37 DF Donald Love 40 GK Joel Castro Pereira 41 DF Regan Poole 45 MF Sean Goss 47 MF James Weir — GK George Dorrington — DF Sadiq El Fitouri — MF Joshua Harrop

No. Position Player — MF Scott McTominay — MF Oliver Rathbone — MF Devonte Redmond — MF Joe Riley — MF Matthew Willock — MF Joe Rothwell — FW Josh Doughty — FW Demetri Mitchell

On loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player — GK Dean Henderson (at Stockport County until 11 March 2016)[6] — GK Kieran O'Hara (at Morecambe until 30 June 2016)[6]

No. Position Player — FW Ashley Fletcher (at Barnsley until 30 June 2016)[7]

Manager history

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

Honours

• Professional Development League 1: 2
  • 2013, 2015
• Premier Reserve League North Champions: 5
  • 2002, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2012
• Premier Reserve League National Playoff Winners: 4
  • 2005, 2006, 2010, 2012
• 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: 27
  • 1908, 1910, 1912, 1913, 1920, 1924, 1926, 1931, 1934, 1936, 1937, 1939, 1948, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1964, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
• Lancashire Senior Cup: 15
  • 1898, 1913, 1914, 1920 (shared), 1929, 1938, 1941, 1943, 1946, 1951, 1969, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013

Academy

The Manchester United Academy was established in 1998, following the reorganisation of youth football in England, but has roots stretching all the way back to the 1930s with the establishment of the Manchester United Junior Athletic Club (MUJAC). 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 Aon Training Complex, an 85-acre (340,000 m²) site in the Manchester suburb of Carrington.

The Manchester United youth team is statistically the most successful in English football, with nine players in the English football Hall of Fame (Duncan Edwards, Sir Bobby Charlton, George Best, Nobby Stiles, Mark Hughes, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, David Beckham and Johnny Giles). Manchester United also have the best FA Youth Cup record, winning on 10 occasions out of 14 final appearances.

The academy comprises age-group teams ranging from Under-9s up to the flagship Under-18s, who currently compete in Group C of the Premier Academy League and in the FA Youth Cup. The Under-16s and Under-18s typically play their academy league games at 11am on Saturday mornings at Carrington, while Youth Cup games are generally played at either Altrincham's Moss Lane ground (where the under-21s 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 in charge of the side that won the 2011 FA Youth Cup after beating Sheffield United 6–3 on aggregate.

In 2007, Manchester United Under-18s 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

Nat.	Player	Date of birth	Position	International caps	Previous club	Joined United
2nd Year Scholars (players born between 1 September 1997 and 31 August 1998)
	Ollie Byrne	(1997-12-31) 31 December 1997	GK	–	–	July 2014
	Jimmy Dunne	(1997-10-19) 19 October 1997	DF	–	–	July 2014
	Timothy Fosu-Mensah	(1998-01-02) 2 January 1998	DF	Capped at Under-17 level[11]	Ajax	September 2014[12]
	Travis Johnson	(1998-03-04) 4 March 1998	MF	–	–	July 2014
	Tosin Kehinde	(1998-06-18) 18 June 1998	MF	–	–	July 2014
	Marcus Rashford	(1997-10-31) 31 October 1997	FW	Capped at Under-18 level[13]	–	July 2014
	Tyler Reid	(1997-09-02) 2 September 1997	DF	–	Arsenal	July 2014
	Charlie Scott	(1997-09-02) 2 September 1997	DF	–	–	July 2014
	Axel Tuanzebe	(1997-11-14) 14 November 1997	DF	–	–	July 2014
1st Year Scholars (players born between 1 September 1998 and 31 August 1999)
	Indy Boonen	(1999-01-04) 4 January 1999	MF	–	Genk	September 2015
	Zachary Dearnley	(1998-09-28) 28 September 1998	MF	Capped at Under-18 level[14]	–	July 2015
	Kayne Diedrick-Roberts	(1998-11-04) 4 November 1998	FW	–	Fulham	July 2015
	Callum Gribbin	(1998-12-18) 18 December 1998	MF	Capped at Under-17 level[15]	–	July 2015
	Ethan Hamilton	(1998-10-18) 18 October 1998	MF	Capped at Under-16 level[16]	Hutchison Vale	October 2014
	Jake Kenyon	(1999-01-02) 2 January 1999	MF	Capped at Under-15 level	–	July 2015
	Faustin Makela	(1999-06-01) 1 June 1999	MF	–	–	July 2015
	Tyrell Warren	(1998-10-05) 5 October 1998	DF	–	–	July 2015
	Callum Whelan	(1998-09-24) 24 September 1998	MF	–	–	July 2015
	Ro-Shaun Williams	(1998-09-03) 3 September 1998	DF	Capped at Under-16 level[17]	–	July 2015
Unknown status
	DJ Buffonge	(1998-11-07) 7 November 1998	MF	–	Fulham	November 2015[18]
	Ilias Moutha-Sebtaoui	(1999-04-01) 1 April 1999	GK	–	Standard Liège	September 2015[19]
	Regan Poole	(1998-06-18) 18 June 1998	DF	Capped at Under-17 level[20]	Newport County	September 2015[20]
	Thomas Sang	(1999-06-29) 29 June 1999	DF	–	–	September 2015[21]
Source:[22]

Honours

• Blue Stars/FIFA Youth Cup: 18^[23]
  • 1954, 1957, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 2004, 2005
• Champions Youth Cup: 1
  • 2007
• FA Youth Cup: 10^[24]
  • 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1964, 1992, 1995, 2003, 2011
• Milk Cup: 5^[25]
  • 1991, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2014
• Premier Academy League U18 Group: 3
  • 1998–99, 2000–01, 2009–10
• 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
• Lancashire League Division Two: 5
  • 1964–65, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1988–89, 1996–97
• Lancashire League Division One Supplementary Cup: 4
  • 1954–55, 1955–56, 1959–60, 1963–64
• 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

Staff

• Under-21 Team Manager: Warren Joyce
• Assistant Under-21 Team Manager & Under-19s Head Coach: Nicky Butt^[26]
• Academy Goalkeeping Coach: Alan Fettis
• Academy Goalkeeping Coach (U9s-U16s): Jack Robinson
• Assistant Academy Director for 17–21-year-olds & Under-18s Head Coach: Vacant
• Assistant Academy Director for 9–16-year-olds & Under-11–12s Head Coach: Tony Whelan
• Under-13–16s Head Coach: Chris Casper
• Under-9–10s Head Coach: Eamon Mulvey
• Academy Doctor: Dr Tony Gill
• Senior Academy Physiotherapist: Mandy Johnson
• Academy Physiotherapists: John Davin and Richard Merron

Notable former youth team players

The following is a list of players who have represented a country (not necessarily their country of birth) at full international level.^[27]

Players of the Year

Prior to 1990, a single award was presented to the best young player of that season. Between 1982 and 1985 this was the entitled "Young Player of the Year"; the award then became known as the "Denzil Haroun Young Player of the Year" between 1986 and 1989 in honour of Denzil Haroun, a former club director and brother-in-law of former club chairman Louis Edwards.

Since 1990, individual awards are made to the best player of the Academy and the Reserves. The "Young Player of the Year" is named in honour of Jimmy Murphy, Sir Matt Busby's long-time assistant manager, who died in 1989, and the best reserve is awarded the "Denzil Haroun Reserve Player of the Year".

References

External links

• Man Utd Under-21s (official site)
• Man Utd Academy (official site)
• Premier Reserve League North