Man Utd stars to cancel end of season awards for third year in a row | Football | Sport

Manchester United’s beleaguered squad are likely to call off their end-of-season awards night if they fail to secure a spot in the Champions League. The club is currently enduring one of its worst seasons, with Sunday’s shocking FA Cup defeat to Brighton marking the earliest point in a season that United have been out of contention for silverware since World War II.

Adding insult to injury, United were also knocked out of the Carabao Cup by League Two underdogs Grimsby, marking the first time since 1982 that they’ve crashed out of both domestic cup competitions at the first hurdle. With no European football and trailing Premier League leaders Arsenal by 17 points, securing a top-four finish seems to be the only way to salvage something from this dismal campaign.

However, even if they do manage to claw their way back into the Champions League, it’s still expected that the end-of-season dinner will not go ahead. This would mark the third consecutive year that the event has been cancelled.

Despite winning the FA Cup, the players opted not to hold the 2024 awards night after finishing eighth in the league, and the same decision was made last season when United ended up a disappointing 15th in the table. The awards night typically includes prizes for players from the men’s, women’s and youth teams.

However, if the men’s team chooses not to host the event, it will not occur.

Caretaker boss Darren Fletcher called on the squad to rise to the challenge and stake claims for places for the remainder of the season, which is expected to be under the care of Michael Carrick.

“I think you can see the players are fragile and they need to build themselves up well because it’s up to them now, they’ve got to respond,” Fletcher told MUTV after defeat to Brighton.

“Without a doubt [the squad is devoid of confidence] and then you concede a goal and the confidence hits them as well. Confidence is one of the most powerful things in football so when you don’t have confidence, you have [to] dig deep, battle, grind, fight, work, win games and then the confidence comes back.

“But they are experienced players, they are talented players and, as I said, I challenge them to regroup and it’s over to them. Someone is going to come in and lead them and they need to make sure that they’ve got a lot to play for this season. This team’s still good enough to achieve success this season but they’ve got to dig deep and find a way within themselves.”