| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Steven Kenneth Fletcher | ||
| Date of birth | 26 March 1987 | ||
| Place of birth | Shrewsbury, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Wolverhampton Wanderers | ||
| Number | 10 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2000–2004 | Hibernian | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2004–2009 | Hibernian | 156 | (43) |
| 2009–2010 | Burnley | 35 | (8) |
| 2010– | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 43 | (18) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2007 | Scotland U20[1] | 6 | (1) |
| 2006–2008 | Scotland U21 | 7 | (5) |
| 2007 | Scotland B[2] | 1 | (0) |
| 2008–2010 | Scotland[3] | 8 | (1) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 31 December 2011. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Steven Kenneth Fletcher (born 26 March 1987) is a Scottish international professional footballer who plays as a striker. He is signed to English Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers.
He came to prominence with the Scotland under 19 squad that finished runners up to Spain in the 2006 under 19 European Championships. He began his club career with Hibernian, playing in 156 Scottish Premier League games and scoring 43 goals. English club Burnley paid a club record transfer fee of £3 million to sign Fletcher in June 2009; Fletcher was their top goalscorer in the 2009–10 season with eight league goals as the club were relegated from the Premier League. Fletcher was transferred soon afterwards to Wolves, who also paid a club record fee of £6.5m for his services. He has represented Scotland eight times at full international level, scoring one goal.
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Fletcher, who was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, spent much of his early years living on British Army bases in England and Germany where his Liverpudlian soldier father was based.[4] His father died from cancer when Fletcher was aged only 10, prompting his mother to relocate him and his younger sister Bree to Hamilton, South Lanarkshire to be closer to her family.[4] Hibernian youth coach John Park, also from Hamilton, spotted his footballing talent and the young Anglo-Scot joined the Leith club's youth network aged 13.[4]
Fletcher made his debut for Hibs towards the end of the 2003–04 season in a 3–0 win over Kilmarnock. He became a first team regular in the 2004–05 season, playing 26 times and scoring 5 goals. In the 2005–06 season, Fletcher scored 10 goals in just 1,966 minutes on the pitch, which approximated to a goal every other game. He took on a more prominent role in the 2006–07 season after Hibs had sold star strikers Garry O'Connor and Derek Riordan. Fletcher scored in Hibernian's 5–0 Intertoto Cup win over Dinaburg and played regularly during the league season. The highlight of the season for Fletcher and Hibs was when he scored two goals in the 5–1 win over Kilmarnock in the 2007 League Cup Final.
Fletcher became Hibs' main striker during the 2007–08 season. He scored his first professional hat-trick in a 4–2 win over Gretna and won the Scottish Football Writers' Young Player of the Year Award.[5] Fletcher was touted for a move to Real Madrid due to Madrid's scouts watching him after he performed well for Scotland's youth teams.[6] The Daily Mail reported in November 2008 that Manchester City and two other Premier League teams were interested in signing Fletcher[6] and the Daily Record reported on 1 January 2009 that Middlesbrough were "preparing" a £2.5 million offer.[7] Towards the end of the January transfer window, Hibs rejected an approach from Celtic.[8] Fletcher then publicly pleaded for Hibs to agree a deal with Celtic, arguing "for the development of my career it is time to move to a bigger club",[9] but Hibs refused to sell him.[10][11]
On 26 June 2009, Burnley offered £2.75 million for Fletcher.[12] A few days later, Hibs accepted an offer of £3 million plus incentives based on appearances for Burnley.[13] Fletcher completed the move when he agreed a four year contract with the Lancashire club, who paid a club record transfer fee to obtain his services.[14] After the move was completed, former Hibs striker Keith Wright questioned whether Fletcher was ready to play in the Premier League.[15] His first competitive goals for Burnley came when he scored a brace in a 2–1 League Cup win at Hartlepool on 25 August.[16] He scored his first goal in the Premier League on 3 October, against Birmingham City. Fletcher was Burnley's top goalscorer during the 2009–10 season,[17] but the club were relegated from the Premier League. He was named Burnley Players' Player of the year for the season.[17]
After Burnley was relegated to the Championship, Fletcher joined Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers on 3 June 2010. He signed a four-year contract, with the option of a fifth year, for £6.5m, a joint club record fee.[18] Fletcher scored on his debut for Wolves, winning 2–1 against Stoke City on the opening day of the season at Molineux.[19] Fletcher soon went on to get dropped from the first 11 as Mick McCarthy decided to go with his previous successful 4–5–1 formation, with Kevin Doyle playing the lone striker role. Fletcher was mainly used as a substitute in the first half of the season, but he still managed to pick up 4 goals. These goals came against Bolton, Wigan and two goals against Tottenham in each fixture. On 26 March 2011, Doyle tore a knee ligament while on international duty with Ireland, which kept him out of action for up to 6 weeks.[20] McCarthy was proved right by choosing Fletcher to play the forward role, as he went on to score five goals in five league games for the club. His first goal came against Fulham at Molineux, earning his side a 1–1 draw [21] and his next came against Birmingham, scoring from the penalty spot to earn his side a 1–1 draw at St Andrews.[22] His next two goals came against West Bromwich Albion at Molineux in the Black Country derby, earning his side a 3–1 win over their local rivals and getting them out of the bottom three.[23] Fletcher grabbed his fifth goal for Wolves against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, again helping his side to a 3–1 win.[24] This saw Fletcher reach 10 league goals by the end of the season, 12 in all competitions. Fletcher began the 2011–12 campaign in similar fashion, scoring a powerful header in Wolves opening day victory against Blackburn. It was the second season running that Fletcher had scored on the opening fixture of the season. Fletcher scored his second of the season against Liverpool, scoring after coming on as a substitute at half time. He then scored both goals in a 2-1 win over Sunderland coming back from 1-0.
Despite his English birthplace, Fletcher chose to represent Scotland, his mother's home country and where he had lived since his father's death when Fletcher was a boy.
He was the top scorer in the Scotland under–19 team which reached the final of the 2006 European Championship, losing to Spain in the final. Following the achievements of the under–19 side, Fletcher was named by The Scotsman as one of the "ten to watch" in Scottish sport during 2007.[25]
Fletcher made his debut for Scotland under–21s in the 2004–05 season.
Fletcher was named in the full squad for the friendly match against Croatia in March 2008. Fletcher started the game, providing the assist for Kenny Miller's equaliser in a 1–1 draw, before he was substituted at half-time due to injury.[26] He was dropped back to the under–21 team in September 2008, but was immediately recalled to the full squad after scoring twice against Slovenia under–21s.[27] Fletcher scored his first full international goal in a 2–1 win against Iceland on 1 April 2009.[28]
After being left out of Euro 2012 qualification matches against Czech Republic and Spain, Fletcher publicly criticised head coach Craig Levein.[29] Fletcher then refused to join the next Scotland squad.[29] Levein did not contact Fletcher to discuss these comments.[30] When Levein attempted to select him for the squad in February 2011, Fletcher sent a text message stating that he did not want to join the squad.[30] The dispute continued through the remainder of 2011, as Levein insisted that Fletcher would have to contact him first if he wanted to return to the squad.[31] His club manager, Mick McCarthy, said in November 2011 that Fletcher wanted to play for Scotland and that the situation should be resolved.[32]
| Goal | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 April 2009 | Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland | Iceland | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2010 World Cup qualification |
| Club | Season | League | Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Hibernian | 2003–04 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 2004–05 | 20 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 5 | |
| 2005–06 | 34 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 41 | 10 | |
| 2006–07 | 31 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 44 | 12 | |
| 2007–08 | 32 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 14 | |
| 2008–09 | 34 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 38 | 11 | |
| Total | 156 | 43 | 16 | 3 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 189 | 52 | |
| Burnley | 2009–10 | 35 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 12 |
| Total | 35 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 12 | |
| Wolves | 2010–11 | 29 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 12 |
| 2011–12 | 14 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 8 | |
| Total | 43 | 18 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 48 | 20 | |
| Career total | 234 | 69 | 20 | 5 | 15 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 275 | 84 | |
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