Carl Neil Fletcher (born 7 April 1980) is a former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

, who most recently was head coach at

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

. As a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Fletcher represented

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

at senior international level for five years, scoring one goal in 36 appearances. Having made his professional debut for

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth ( ) is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. ...

in 1998, Fletcher went on to play for

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

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

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

, making 414 appearances in league competition and scoring 34 goals. Born in

Camberley Camberley is a town in north-west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. It is in the Surrey Heath, Borough of Surrey Heath and is close to the county boundaries with Hampshire and Berkshire. Known originally as "Cambridge Tow ...

, Fletcher retired from playing in 2012 to focus on his role as manager of Plymouth Argyle, keeping the Pilgrims in League Two despite serious financial issues. His time as Plymouth Argyle manager has since seen Fletcher described as ''"a crucial figure in the club's history both now and years into the future."'' He resumed his playing career in October 2013 with Barnet.

Playing career

After playing football for Oakdale Middle School (1988–1992), Fletcher moved onto being Captain of his local football team in Poole, Dorset. Fletcher started his career at

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

club

, making his debut in February 1998 as a 17-year-old. He made 185 league starts for the south-coast club, including captaining the side to a 5–2 victory over Lincoln City in the 2003 Division 3

playoff The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

final and scoring two of the goals himself, before earning a move to

in 2004 for £275,000. Fletcher then played in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

after West Ham won promotion the season he signed for them. He also had a month-long loan spell at

. Upon his return from Watford in October 2005, he made 12 league appearances for West Ham. Fletcher's last league game was on 7 May 2006. In the last game of the season, with

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

needing a win to qualify for the Champions League, Fletcher scored the first goal in a 2–1 West Ham win with the Tottenham team affected by

food poisoning Foodborne illness (also known as foodborne disease and food poisoning) is any illness resulting from the contamination of food by pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites, as well as prions (the agents of mad cow disease), and toxins such ...

. It was his only Premier League goal. On 13 May 2006, Fletcher was drafted into the West Ham team to face

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

in the

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due to the suspension of

Hayden Mullins Hayden Ian Mullins (born 27 March 1979) is an English former professional footballer and current manager. He played primarily as a defensive midfielder, but he also played as a sweeper and at right-back. He is currently the U21 Head Coach at Fu ...

. The FA Cup final proved to be his last competitive match for the Hammers, however, as he signed for

in that summer, for £400,000. He was immediately appointed as captain by manager

Peter Taylor Peter Taylor may refer to: Arts * Peter Taylor (writer) (1917–1994), American author, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction * Peter Taylor (film editor) (1922–1997), English film editor, winner of an Academy Award for Film Editing Politic ...

. After

Neil Warnock Neil Warnock (born 1 December 1948) is an English football manager and former player who is currently football advisor at Torquay United. He is also a television and radio pundit. In a managerial career spanning five decades, Warnock has managed ...

took over, the captaincy went to Mark Hudson. Fletcher captained Wales for the first time on 28 May 2009 against

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. However, he was substituted after just 41 minutes after damaging his ankle

ligaments A ligament is a type of fibrous connective tissue in the body that connects bones to other bones. It also connects flight feathers to bones, in dinosaurs and birds. All 30,000 species of amniotes (land animals with internal bones) have ligam ...

. After Neil Warnock was appointed as Palace manager, Fletcher found first-team opportunities limited, starting many games on the substitutes bench, which eventually led to him and teammate

Paul Ifill Paul Everton Ifill (born 20 October 1979) is a former professional footballer and current manager who played as a forward. He is currently in charge of New Zealand Central League side Wellington Olympic. He spent most of his career playing as ...

being placed on the transfer list in August 2008. Fletcher was signed on loan by

in October of that year due to their ever-growing injury list. However, he only made five appearances in this period and due to a problematic back injury, was sent back to Palace. Fletcher signed a month-long emergency loan deal with

on 20 February 2009, scoring on his debut against

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

. A string of commanding performances led to the loan being extended a month later until the end of the 2008–09 campaign. Following his release by Crystal Palace in May 2009, Fletcher signed a two-year contract with Plymouth. Having been made captain by

Paul Sturrock Paul Whitehead Sturrock (born 10 October 1956) is a Scottish former football coach and former player. As a player, Sturrock spent his entire senior career with Dundee United, making more than five hundred appearances between 1974 and 1989. He w ...

, he led the team in this role throughout his time as a player with the club. Fletcher extended his contract by 12 months during the summer of 2011. He retired from playing at the end of the 2011–12 season in order to focus on management. Fletcher resumed his playing career in October 2013 when he joined

Conference Premier The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National Leagues and step 1 of the National Le ...

side

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) *Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; anc ...

. Prior to signing a contract he trained with the club during pre-season and also spent time back at Bournemouth. He made six appearances, three in the league, before being released in January 2014.

Coaching and managerial career

Fletcher was appointed

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...

of Plymouth Argyle on 19 September 2011, a day after

Peter Reid Peter Reid (born 20 June 1956) is an English football manager, pundit and former player. A defensive midfielder in his playing days, Reid enjoyed a long and successful career. He built his reputation as one of England's brightest midfield tale ...

was sacked by acting chairman

Peter Ridsdale Peter Ridsdale (born 11 March 1952) is an English businessman who is a director at Preston North End. He was until December 2011 the Chairman of Football Operations at Plymouth Argyle. Ridsdale was previously the chairman of Leeds United, Barns ...

. Plymouth Argyle were recovering from a tulmultous 2010/11 campaign that had seen the Club docked 10 points and being served its third winding-up petition in three years. They had failed to win a game when Fletcher took charge. He led the club to their first win of the season, beating Macclesfield Town 2–0. The club was taken over by Akkeron Group at the end of October and Fletcher immediately became the club's full-time manager, having won two and drawn one of his seven games as caretaker. Fletcher managed to guide Plymouth Argyle to League Two safety, a run of six games unbeaten between 17 March and 11 April proving critical. Beren Cross, journalist at Plymouth Live, said, ''"Many fans will look back on Fletcher as a crucial figure in the club's history both now and years into the future. That campaign will forever be marked as a point of resistance in the club's history, a season in which the rot, the slump was stopped."'' He signed a one-year rolling contract at the end of the 2011–12 season and retired as a player. "I have enjoyed playing. There have been highs and lows, and tough days and good days, but it's on to a new era in my life," he said to '' The Herald''. "I'm starting again and trying to build my reputation up as a manager now." Fletcher was sacked on 1 January 2013 after a run of eight defeats in 13 league games left the club 21st in the League Two table. In a tearful post-match interview with

BBC Radio Devon BBC Radio Devon is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Devon. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios in the Mannamead area of Plymouth. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of ...

, he said that "since I've been down here we've been through a lot, that's football really. I might be a young manager but I know if you don't win games you don't keep your job." Fletcher was appointed youth team manager at Bournemouth on 15 January 2014 after leaving

. In October 2019, Fletcher was appointed as head coach with

EFL League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English ...

club

. He was sacked on 14 November after 29 days and five games in charge, without a win.

Personal life

In September 2010, Fletcher was unsuccessful in an attempt to get out of jury duty at Plymouth Crown Court by saying that he was too well known in the local area.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Wales' goal tally first.''

Managerial statistics

Honours

AFC Bournemouth *

Football League Third Division play-offs The EFL League Two play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from fourth to seventh in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are part of the annual Engli ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

West Ham United *

Football League Championship play-offs The English Football League (EFL) Championship play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL Championship table and are part of the English Football League play-of ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

runner-up: 2005–06 Individual * Plymouth Argyle Player of the Year: 2009–10,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, Carl 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Camberley English men's footballers Welsh men's footballers Wales men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders AFC Bournemouth players West Ham United F.C. players Watford F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Barnet F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players English football managers Welsh football managers Plymouth Argyle F.C. managers English Football League managers AFC Bournemouth non-playing staff Leyton Orient F.C. managers Men's association football player-managers 21st-century English sportsmen