Boss' pledge to Fletcher

Sir Alex has pledged to give Darren Fletcher all the time and support he needs in order to regain full fitness.

The club announced this week that the Scotland international is taking an extended break from football as he has been suffering from ulcerative colitis. Whilst accepting the absence of one of his loyal servants is a blow, the boss has been quick to stress that the player's health is his paramount concern.

"The medical people have made the right decision," stated the manager. "They regarded Darren's health as the more important issue and we as a club agree completely with that. He's not been in training – he was in hospital for a few days, and he'll rest now.

"Darren is a loss - he's such a great professional and it's not easy to replace that, but we'll have to think about that. Hopefully he'll make a full recovery. It's obviously going to take a bit of time and rest is the most important thing at the moment. It’ll be the medical people who make all the decisions and we’re quite happy with that. I can't put a timescale on it."

The boss revealed there was no question of persuading Fletcher to take a rest - it was a simply a decision that needed to be made for his long-term benefit.

"I don’t think persuasion comes into it at all," he said. "It’s an accurate assessment by the medical people and also Darren knowing his own situation and how he was feeling. There was no persuasion needed at all. He’s disappointed but you have to deal with these things, but he can do that because he has a strong character.