New season, new coach and a new outlook have Tom Cleverley excited to be a part of Manchester United

Smarting from all the criticism leveled at him last season, Tom Cleverley says he has learnt his lessons well.

Tom Cleverley is targeting a different season than what he experienced last year with Manchester United. John Peters / Getty Images

Asked to discuss the 2013/14 season, his worst in football, Tom Cleverley said: “I made mistakes, not just on the pitch, but off it.

“I don’t want to be back where I was last season. You let things affect you, but it gives you a thicker skin.”

He was talking about the unremitting abuse he got on social media that led to him closing his Twitter account and personal website.

"Personally and collectively it was a difficult year," the Manchester United midfielder said, but he has taken it on board as a learning experience.

“On the other side of things, I don’t think I’ll learn more in my whole career than I did last year. Hopefully I can take it as a positive, not a negative, and improve. It all starts here from pre-season.

“I’ve learnt to be able to switch off and spend time with my family.

“I’ve become a dad, and some people don’t realise that’s not always easy for a young lad.

“But I’m going to work harder to improve this year. I’m going to be positive. That’s all I can be.”

The storm swirling around Cleverley, 25, has passed over. Judgments are still to be passed about how it has affected his game, but he learnt about the roller-coaster of being famous when things do not go right, and that his life and decisions were open to public scrutiny.

It was not always so.

Soon after he had broken into United’s first team in 2011, Cleverley was playing snooker at a local club in south Manchester.

Few of the regulars recognised him, but one spotted his talent with a cue.

“He had no idea what I do for a living and said: ‘You’re pretty decent, you, do you fancy playing with the snooker team on a Tuesday night?’ I laughed, said thanks and told him that I had other commitments,” Cleverley said.

His adjustment to fame was a gradual one.

“I get recognised a lot more these days,” he said in 2011. “If you play in the Premier League and you’re on television then people get to know your face. I used to be recognised in Bradford and in the cities where I’ve played, like Leicester and Watford. But now it’s happening once or twice a day wherever I go.”

Cleverley usually felt happy out and about in Manchester. People were generally pleased to see him, the handsome up-and-coming Manchester United player, who had risen through and gone one step ahead of some of his closest mates by reaching the first team.

His former peers left Old Trafford and had to fend for themselves.

One, Febian Brandy, ended up sleeping on a sofa at a friend’s when the Greek club he was playing for did not pay him. Brandy’s fortunes improved, his talent shone through and he is now at Championship side Rotherham United.

Cleverley’s other United reserve contemporaries have largely established themselves in England’s top two tiers. A close friend, Danny Drinkwater, was Leicester City’s player of the year as they won promotion to the Premier League.

The others looked at Cleverley as the one who broke through the glass ceiling, but few envied what he went through last season.

Mediocre performances in a mediocre United side saw Cleverley derided as not good enough to play central midfield for the club. He looked short of confidence in David Moyes's struggling side.

Had he kept a low profile he would have escaped some of the flak, but he had set up a personal lifestyle website while not out of double figures in United appearances, leading to some fans to refer to him dismissively as “The Brand” with the acronym “TC23” – David Beckham’s number at Real Madrid.

His personal sponsorship deal with Nike was one of the biggest for a footballer under the age of 25.

Sponsors wanted some media profile, but Cleverley had already clashed with his manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, about just that.

After one trip away with England, Ferguson told him to rein in the number of interviews he was doing. Better to let his football do the talking, Ferguson suggested.

Cleverley's football under Moyes failed to impress, and he became a scapegoat for the failings of United's entire midfield. Like Darron Gibson before him, he was stripped of his confidence.

Cleverley was stung and the frustration built. On the rare occasion when his performances allowed him to vent it, such as when he scored against Aston Villa away last December, his release was cathartic. He celebrated passionately in front of the away end. He really wanted to succeed at United, but he was nowhere near that.

Issues about how he needed to score more goals or make better use of his head became secondary. His future at the club appeared in doubt.

Fame is a fickle mistress. The abuse was not confined to club football as 17,000 people calling themselves “England fans” signed a petition for Roy Hodgson not to select him for one England game.

Hodgson did not take him to Brazil, but he was the first manager to defend Cleverley when the pressure was building.

The worst seems to be over, for now. Cleverley’s fortunes have perked up under new United boss Louis van Gaal. “The new manager has been a breath of fresh air,” he said in Michigan after United had beaten Real Madrid 3-1 last Saturday.

“It’s clear what he wants from us midfielders, clear and precise where he wants you at certain times in the game. There can be no grey areas with him, and that is showing on the pitch.”

United have had a winning start under their new manager, and Van Gaal made Cleverley captain for the friendly victory against Roma at Denver.

“It was fantastic,” Cleverley said. “It is something that I can look back on and say that I was captain of Manchester United. I’ve been at the club a long time, since I was 12 and, hopefully, if I work hard enough it will happen again.” Cleverley played in five games on the tour, including Monday’s 3-1 victory over Liverpool, when he came on as a substitute at half-time with United trailing 1-0.

Three second-half goals followed, the third of which Cleverley played a major part in by releasing a rejuvenated Ashley Young on the wing to create the goal.

“It has been a successful tour,” he said before United’s first league game, against Swansea City at Old Trafford next Saturday. “We are learning to see things from a team point of view, not just as individuals.

“It has been brilliant. We are getting used to the system, we’re getting used to the training and that has showed during the games.”

Van Gaal has told staff that they are aiming to win the league in his first season – though he could hardly tell them he was aiming for fourth.

“As a team we want trophies,” Cleverley said, echoing his manager. “We just want to win things. We’ve been gaining confidence and beaten quality sides in America.”

Cleverley is aware that he will need a strong start to the season to earn a spot in the midfield and erase the memories of 2013/14. But he intends to do that and, for now, is enjoying focusing on football.

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