Carl Fletcher

Personal information
Full name	Carl Neil Fletcher
Date of birth	April 7, 1980 (1980-04-07) (age 29)
Place of birth	Surrey Heath, England
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Plymouth Argyle
Number	4
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1997–2004	Bournemouth	192	(19)
2004–2006	West Ham United	44	(3)
2005	→ Watford (loan)	3	(0)
2006–2009	Crystal Palace	68	(4)
2008	→ Nottingham Forest (loan)	5	(0)
2009	→ Plymouth Argyle (loan)	13	(1)
2009–	Plymouth Argyle	17	(1)
National team‡
2004–2009	Wales	36	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21:00, 5 December 2009 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 18:00, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

Carl Neil Fletcher (born 7 April 1980 in Surrey Heath, England) is a Wales former international footballer who plays in midfield for Plymouth Argyle.

[edit] Club Career

After playing football for Oakdale Middle School (1988- 1992), Fletcher moved onto being Captain of his local football team in Poole, Dorset, UK. Fletcher started his career at English club Bournemouth, 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 final and scoring 2 of the goals himself, before earning a move to West Ham United in 2004 for £275,000.

Fletcher then played in the Premier League after West Ham won promotion the season he signed for them. He also had a month-long loan spell at Watford. Upon his return from Watford in October 2005, he made 12 league appearances for West Ham. On 13 May 2006, Fletcher was drafted into the West Ham team to face Liverpool in the FA Cup Final due to the suspension of Hayden Mullins.

The FA Cup final proved to be his last competitive match for the Hammers, however, as he signed for Crystal Palace in that summer, for £400,000. He was immediately appointed as captain by then-manager Peter Taylor. After Neil Warnock took over, the captaincy went to Mark Hudson.

Fletcher captained Wales for the first time on 28 May 2009 against Iceland. However, he was substituted after just 41 minutes after damaging his ankle ligaments.

After Neil Warnock was appointed as manager Fletcher found first-team opportunities limited, starting many games on the substitutes bench, which eventually led to Fletcher and team mate Paul Ifill being placed on the transfer list in August 2008. Fletcher was signed on loan by Nottingham Forest 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 Plymouth Argyle^[1] on 20 February, 2009, scoring on his debut against Sheffield United. 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.^[2]

[edit] Club Career Statistics

Updated to games played as of 5th December, 2009.^[3]

[edit] Honours

• Bournemouth
  • Football League Two Play-Off Final Winner (2002-03)

• West Ham United
  • Football League Championship Play-Off Final Winner (2004-05)
  • FA Cup Runner-Up (2005-06)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Carl Fletcher player profile at pafc.co.uk
• Carl Fletcher player profile at cpfc.co.uk
• Carl Fletcher player profile at afcb.co.uk
• Carl Fletcher career stats at Soccerbase