Darren Fletcher will make an emotional first return to Old Trafford today with no regrets about leaving Manchester United
Fletcher could have stayed with the club he had been associated with from the age of 11 and helped win titles and cups galore in a first-team career spanning 12 years and 342 appearances.
With a testimonial looming, Louis van Gaal, who had installed him as one of his two vice-captains, was happy for him to remain a member of his squad but at the age of 31 and having missed the best part of two years with ulcerative colitis – a condition which could have ended his career – he wanted to make the best of the second chance he had been handed.
He wanted to play the regular first-team football he wasn't going to get at United – he made only five starts under Van Gaal – and wasn't prepared to pick up his wages by sitting on the bench every week.
So he didn't hesitate when Tony Pulis asked him to become his first signing after taking over as West Brom boss in January. And in recognition of his service United gave him a free transfer.
"It [leaving United] wasn't as difficult as I would have thought really," he said. "Obviously I've got great memories and great friends there, but it wasn't a wrench because I was prepared for it and I felt my time there was up.
"It was time for a new challenge and I wanted to play regular football. You make a decision at a certain stage of career of how much game time you are willing to accept.
"I am too young to be playing as little as I was so in that sense it was a really good challenge for me. "I have been through a lot to get back playing and want to show people what I am still capable of."
And in Pulis, he has found a manager from the same mould as his old mentor Sir Alex Ferguson.
"The manager is fantastic, very much in the Ferguson school. I see a lot of similarities in what he expects of players on and off the pitch," said Fletcher.
"He's a really intelligent man, someone you want to play for, you want to do well for and someone you don't want to let down.
"He's always looking for progression and I have really bought into that. The biggest part of me being here is the manager without a shadow of a doubt."
Pulis' faith in Fletcher was underlined by his decision to make him his captain and his leadership and experience have played a vital part in Albion's climb to safety.
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