‘Fletcher once shot his foot with a nail gun’

JOHN Rankin has revealed that Scotland captain Darren Fletcher overcame a farm accident as a youngster to reach the top of the game.

The Dundee United midfielder, who came through the Manchester United youth ranks with Fletcher when the pair were teenagers, recalled the injury yesterday after it was confirmed that Scotland are without their inspirational captain because of tonsillitis for tomorrow’s Euro 2012 qualifying clash away to Liechtenstein.

Rankin revealed: “Early on in his Man United career, Darren shot himself in the foot while working on his father’s farm down in Dalkeith.

“He was doing something with a nail gun and put it through the bottom of his foot. It did his metatarsal so he had to get special boots made for himself. For two or three years, he was struggling with injuries as a result of that.

“Then, all of a sudden, he just came back and it was as though he’d never missed a game. Thankfully he’s naturally fit anyway which means he’s just got that energy which gets him about the park.

“He’s obviously a massive loss for the Liechtenstein game because the influence he has on everyone around the team is there for all to see.

“He made his debut young and has now got over 50 caps and he’s not even 28. His best years are still ahead of him. I think he’ll probably break the caps record for Scotland as well.”

Rankin has nothing but admiration for Fletcher and is praying he can return to full fitness in time to face the star-studded Spaniards next week.

He added: “Fletch has been brilliant. We used to travel down together in the car to training so we go back a long way.

“I’ll always remember how at 15 he basically came straight out of school and right into the Man United reserve team. You could see even then the potential he had. He’s got a great attitude. That has always shone through. Hopefully he can make himself available for the Spain game next Tuesday. He hasn’t ruled that out yet.

“Darren has already pit his wits against some of the Spanish players while playing for Man United in the Champions League. That won’t faze him because that’s the sort of standard of player he comes up against every week in the English Premiership.”

Meanwhile, Rankin reckons another former Old Trafford colleague, Phil Bardsley, is proving a smash-hit for Craig Levein’s Scotland. Rankin knows all about Sunderland full-back Bardsley having been his youth team-mate at Old Trafford and is chuffed to see him starring at the highest level.

Rankin said: “Phil has proved himself to be more than capable of playing at international level.

“He’s renowned for his tough-tackling and he’s from Salford in Manchester which is a hard kind of area. It’s funny because in training he used to tackle as though he played so the guys always wanted to be in his team!

“Phil’s a real competitor who just loves to win. But it’s important to stress he can also play football and has played on either side of the defence for Sunderland.”