Fergie’s fledglings now coming of age

ALEX FERGUSON treats football management as if it were a game of chess and with only a few days until the new season begins, he has already shown he is several moves ahead of the rest.

Manchester United’s performance at Wembley in the Community Shield on Sunday has sparked a flurry of excitement in England after pundits suddenly realised the victory was achieved with a second-half team packed full of young Englishmen who until now have been largely unappreciated.

Danny Welbeck (20), Tom Cleverley (21), Chris Smalling (21) and Phil Jones (19) all impressed in a 3-2 victory over Manchester City with the more experienced Wayne Rooney, Ashley Young, Michael Carrick and Rio Ferdinand also playing their part.

Considering Ferguson has Javier Hernandez (23), the Da Silva twins (21), Jonny Evans (24), David De Gea (20) and Anderson (23) to add to the mix, it is now clear the United manager has been slowly and meticulously building a shadow squad to ease its way into the void left by the retirement of Paul Scholes, Edwin van der Sar, Gary Neville and eventually Ryan Giggs.

Some of the new breed have been plucked at a young age from other clubs, others have been slowly groomed in the Old Trafford youth team, others taken from abroad and allowed to mature in their own time.

And some, like Welbeck and Cleverley, have been sent away on loan to learn their trade.

“I think the young players are going to have a chance this season and you can see they stepped up on Sunday,” said defender Smalling, whose own story is truly remarkable.

He was playing non-league football for Maidstone only three years ago but Ferguson spotted him at Fulham before he had barely kicked a ball in the Premier League and moved quickly to get his man — loaning him back to Craven Cottage to complete his schooling before easing him into the squad at Old Trafford last season.

“I think we can go from strength to strength this year,” the England U21 defender said. “Quite a few people feel like they have a fresh start — they have been out on loan and come back determined to do well. They are hungry to have the opportunity and want to take it.

“You could see from the way Tom Cleverley and Danny Welbeck played at Wembley how much they want to do well at Manchester United. And the manager is so good with the young players. He’s not afraid to put them in.’’

Ferguson’s faith in youth has been a key feature of his management style and even when Alan Hansen famously claimed ‘you win nothing with kids’ he proved the critics wrong as the likes of Scholes, Giggs, Nicky Butt, David Beckham and the Neville brothers went from FA Youth Cup stars to Treble winners between 1992 and 1999.

The current crop look set to continue that tradition because the performances of Welbeck and Cleverley on Sunday were a revelation.

Welbeck, who played for Sunderland on a season-long loan last year, showed excellent movement alongside Rooney while Cleverley, who spent last season at Wigan, was impressive in the Scholes role, setting up the goal of the match for Nani — who incidentally is only 24 years old himself.

“Cleverley reminds me a bit of Scholes,” said left-back Patrice Evra. “Not only in the way he plays but because of the way he is in training. He’s quiet and just gets on with business.

“The manager has shown again that he knows how to bring young players through and give them experience of what it means to be a Manchester United player.

“Now this season it looks good. We are a young team with no fear — and that’s why we were able to come back from 2-0 down against City and win the game. We believe we can go out there and win the title together.”

Who would have thought that two years ago when Nani was still firmly in the shadow of Ronaldo, Anderson was struggling to adapt to English football, Cleverley and Welbeck were out on loan and tipped to leave Old Trafford and all the focus was on the unbearable burden placed on Rooney as United’s great young hope?

But even then, as Chelsea lifted the Premier League trophy and United looked to be faltering, you now realise Ferguson knew what was he doing.

“He really is amazing,” said Young, who despite his surname and despite being just 26 was the oldest player on show when United walked off the pitch at Wembley.

“He has that aura about him. He makes you want to win. You see him at the training ground, at games and you want to do well for him.

“Look at Tom Cleverley and the way he imposes himself on the game, you can see how confident he is in himself, to go out and play. Nobody plays with any fear. On Sunday after Patrice went off I was the oldest player on the pitch at 26 so for us to get our first medal sets us up for the season.’’

It just shows you should never doubt Ferguson; because while the critics moaned and even the United faithful began to ask questions 24 months ago the grandmaster was simply moving his pieces around the board ready for another attack.

And in English football, if not in chess, everybody knows the knight is the real king of the board.