Steven Fletcher (footballer)

Steven Fletcher (footballer)

Football player infobox
playername = Steven Fletcher


fullname = Steven Kenneth Fletcher
height = height|meters=1.85
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1987|3|26
cityofbirth = Shrewsbury
countryofbirth = England
currentclub = fc|Hibernian
clubnumber = 9
position = Striker
youthyears = 2000–2004
youthclubs = fc|Hibernian
years = 2004–
clubs = fc|Hibernian
caps(goals) = 130 (34)
nationalyears = 2005–2008
2007
2008–
nationalteam = Scotland U21
Scotland B
Scotland
nationalcaps(goals) =
001 0(0)
002 0(0)
pcupdate = 4 October 2008
ntupdate = 16:43, 11 October 2008 (UTC)

Steven Kenneth Fletcher (born March 26 1987) is a Scottish professional association football player who plays for fc|Hibernian in the Scottish Premier League. He has represented the Scotland national football team once.

Career

Early career

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. His father died from cancer when Fletcher was aged only 10, prompting his mother to relocate to Hamilton, South Lanarkshire to be closer to her family. fc|Hibernian youth coach John Park, also from Hamilton, spotted his footballing talent and the young Anglo-Scot joined the Leith side's youth network aged 13. [Coates, Jonathan. [http://sport.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=169&id=1748102006 Easter Road call-up spared Fletcher a soldier's life] , "The Scotsman", 25 November 2006.]

Hibernian

Fletcher made his debut for Hibs towards the end of the 2003–04 season in a 3–0 win over fc|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.

Fletcher took on a more prominent role in the 2006–07 season after Hibs had sold star strikers Garry O'Connor and Derek Riordan. He 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 fc|Kilmarnock in the 2007 Scottish 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 fc|Gretna and he won the Scottish Football Writers' Young Player of the Year Award. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/h/hibernian/7388123.stm Fletcher is writers' young pick] , BBC Sport, 7 May 2008.] Fletcher was touted for a £4.5M move to Real Madrid C.F. due to Madrid's scouts watching his performances for both Hibs and Scotland. FC Barcelona defender Gerard Pique backed this by telling BBC Sport that he could one day be a star striker for Real Madrid. [ [http://msn.football365.com/story/0,17033,13852_3424449,00.html Football365.com] ]

International career

Fletcher made his debut for Scotland under–21s in the 2004–05 season. He was the top scorer in the Scotland under–19 side which reached the final of the 2006 European Championship, losing to Spain in the final. Following the well acknowledged achievements of the under–19 side, Fletcher was named by "The Scotsman" as one of the "ten to watch" in Scottish sport during 2007. [Coates, Jonathan. [http://sport.scotsman.com/other.cfm?id=5292007 Young, gifted and Scots: ten to watch in 2007] , "The Scotsman", 1 January 2007.]

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.cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/7310062.stm|title=Scotland 1–1 Croatia|author=Moffat, Colin|date=26 March 2008|publisher=BBC Sport website] He was dropped back to the under–21 side in September 2008, but was immediately recalled to the full squad after scoring twice against Slovenia under–21s. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/7604013.stm Scotland call up striker Fletcher] , BBC Sport, 8 September 2008.] Fletcher then won his second Scotland cap in a goalless draw against Norway, replacing James Morrison in the second half. [Lindsay, Clive. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/7654327.stm Scotland 0–0 Norway] , BBC Sport, 11 October 2008.]

References

External links

*soccerbase|id=38103|name=Steven Fletcher
*SFA Profile|id=32648|name=Steven Fletcher
* [http://www.londonhearts.com/scotland/players/stevenfletcher.html London Hearts profile]


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