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CARL FLETCHER
Born: 07 April 1980
Came from: Crystal Palace Went to: Appointed Manager
First game: 21 February 2009 Last game: 22 November 2011
Appearances: 107 (105/2) Goals: 9
Fletcher began his career at Bournemouth, rising through their youth set-up to make over 200 appearances for the club. He was sold to West Ham United in 2004 and helped the club win promotion to the Premier League in his first season. After a loan spell at Watford he returned to the Hammers and played in the 2006 FA Cup Final before moving on to Crystal Palace. A Welsh international midfielder, he was hampered by injury problems at Palace and had a brief loan spell at Nottingham Forest, having turned down a move to Argyle.
A successful loan spell at Home Park did follow however, which became a permanent transfer when his contract with Palace expired. Fletcher soon became an integral part of Argyle's midfield and he took over as team captain for the 2009-10 season, a campaign which saw him overwhelmingly voted as Player of the Season.
The following twelve months saw the club in turmoil but Fletcher again proved to be a superb leader, both on and off the pitch, and he won great admiration for the way he led the team despite the inevitable relegation. He was again, deservedly, named Player of the Season and at the end of the campaign chose to activate a clause in his contract to keep him at Home Park for a further twelve months.
When Peter Reid was sacked in September 2011, Fletcher was named caretaker-manager and this appointment was made permanent six weeks later. He made just four further appearances for the team, instead choosing to concentrate on his managerial duties, before retiring at the end of the season. As manager, he steered Argyle through the turmoil of exiting administration and the takeover of the club, successfully avoiding relegation with two games to spare. In May 2012 he agreed a rolling twelve-month contract to continue as manager.
A poorer-than-anticipated start to the 2012-13 season saw pressure increase on Fletcher as concern amongst the fan-base spread, and a second season's fight against relegation from the Football League became a worryingly real prospect. After an initial vote of confidence from chairman James Brent, including an agreement to appoint another Director of Football (following on from John Deehan's brief tenure in such a role at Home Park the previous season), results continued to be less than favourable. With a second successive FA Cup 1st Round defeat to a non-league team and a run of just one win from 15 games, 7 points from a possible 39 and one clean sheet in 24 games, Fletcher was relieved of his duties minutes after a 2-1 defeat to Bristol Rovers at the Memorial Stadium on New Year's Day 2013, revealing his own sacking to the press in a commendably dignified post-match interview. The club then abandoned plans to appoint a Director of Football before announcing the appointment of John Sheridan just five days after Fletcher's dismissal.
After occasional television work, Fletcher decided to resume his playing career. He trained with both Barnet and AFC Bournemouth before signing for Barnet in October 2013 to play in the Conference Premier. He made six appearances in all competitions, including being sent off along with player-manager Edgar Davids in a tempestuous match at Salisbury City in December 2013. He left The Hive a month later to take up a position as AFC Bournemouth's youth team manager, re-uniting with Cherries' manager, long-time friend and former teammate, Eddie Howe.
In July 2017 he was promoted to become manager of the Cherries' under-21 side, with former Argyle loanee Mark Molesley acting as his assistant manager.
YOUR CONTRIBUTION
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From Sam Kenward in Plymouth on 16/04/2014 ...
Fletcher left Barnet in January 2014, having made only 6 appearances over 2 months for Edgar Davids' men, many at centre half. On the 15th January he linked up with former teammate and personal friend Eddie Howe at Bournemouth, and is now the Cherries' youth team manager.
APPEARANCE DETAILS [reselect competitions]
The details below reflect appearances in all first-team competitions.
I'm very grateful to many who have helped write GoS-DB's player pen-pictures, and to Dave Rowntree, the PAFC Media Team and Colin Parsons for their help with photos. Thanks also to staff at the National Football Museum, the Scottish Football Museum and ScotlandsPeople for their valuable assistance.
The following publications have been particularly valuable in the research of pen-pictures: Plymouth Argyle, A Complete Record 1903-1989 (Brian Knight, ISBN 0-907969-40-2); Plymouth Argyle, 101 Golden Greats (Andy Riddle, ISBN 1-874287-47-3); Football League Players' Records 1888-1939 (Michael Joyce, ISBN 1-899468-67-6); Football League Players' Records 1946-1988 (Barry Hugman, ISBN 1-85443-020-3) and Plymouth Argyle Football Club Handbooks.
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