Gary Fleming (born 17 February 1967) is a retired footballer from

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

, Northern Ireland. He played for Nottingham Forest, Manchester City and Barnsley before retiring aged 30 due to injury. Following his retirement, he became a physiotherapist for Forest and later opened his own private practice.

Career

He started his career as a youth at Tristar Boys F.C. and later signed for Derry Athletic under the tutelage of coach Jim O'Hea with whom he went to Limavady United. There, he caught the eye of

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

and in 1983 he signed a contract with them. His début was against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

on 13 April 1985. He was sold to

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

in 1989 for a fee of £150,000, but spent only one year there before he was sold to

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

for £85,000. He played 31 times for

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

between 1986 and 1994, with his last game coming against

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. His career ended at the age of 30 due to an injury to his

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...

Physiotherapist

Following his retirement, he became a

physiotherapist Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through patient education, physical intervention, disease preventio ...

and worked as Forest's physio for ten years until 2007. During his spell at Forest, he studied at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

and graduated with a

BSc (Hons) A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

. Currently, he runs his own private practice, called ''The Gary Fleming Practice'', which opened in 2009 with centres in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

and

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and civil parish in the North Yorkshire District, district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist de ...

. Fleming is one of 15 specialists in the UK to practice the Intramuscular Stimulation method.

Honours

Individual *

Player of the Year: 1992–93

References

External links

*
Nottingham Forest page on sporting-heroes.netManchester City page on sporting-heroes.netInternational page on sporting-heroes.net
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fleming, Gary 1967 births Living people Alumni of the University of Nottingham Association footballers from Derry (city) Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Men's association football defenders Nottingham Forest F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players English Football League players Northern Ireland men's international footballers British physiotherapists Irish physiotherapists