Stuart Fleetwood

Football player infobox
playername = Stuart Fleetwood
fullname = Stuart Keith Fleetwood
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1986|4|23|df=y
cityofbirth = Gloucester
countryofbirth = England
height = height|ft=5|in=8
nickname = Fleets
currentclub = Cheltenham Town
(on loan from Charlton Athletic)
clubnumber = 25
position = Striker
youthyears = 1998–2003
youthclubs = Cardiff City
years = 2003–2006
2006–2007
2007
2007–2008
2008–
2008–
clubs = Cardiff City
Hereford United
→ Accrington Stanley (loan)
Forest Green Rovers
Charlton Athletic
→ Cheltenham Town (loan)
caps(goals) = 08 0(0)
44 0(8)
03 0(0)
41 (28)
00 0(0)
01 0(1)
nationalyears =
2004–2006
nationalteam = Wales U17
Wales U21
nationalcaps(goals) = 10 0(0)
05 0(0)
pcupdate = 18:28, 27 September 2008 (UTC)
ntupdate = 15:57, 17 November 2007 (UTC)

Stuart Keith Fleetwood (born 23 April 1986 in Gloucester) is an English-born Welsh footballer who is currently playing for Cheltenham Town on loan from Championship side Charlton Athletic. He has also played for Wales at U21 level. He plays as a striker.

Early life

As a youngster Fleetwood was a talented rugby union fly-half and was part of the Newent team that won the Gloucester Schools Cup. However he eventually decided that football was the better route after he scored 104 goals in one season for Newent youth. He qualifies to play for Wales due to his father Keith, who was born in St Mellons, Cardiff. [ [http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/footballnation/cardiff-city-fc/2006/02/04/bulls-offer-stuart-a-way-back-91466-16666658/ "Bulls offer Stuart a way back"] South Wales Echo. Retrieved on 27 November, 2007]

Club career

Fleetwood started his career at Cardiff City at the age of 12 when he joined the clubs youth programme, and eventually made just 12 first team appearances in two and a half seasons as a professional. On 3 October 2005 Fleetwood was involved in a car accident on his way back from a Cardiff reserve match against Hereford United along with fellow players Nicky Fish, Lloyd Jenkins and Anthony Taylor. The accident occurred on the A40 in Monmouth and all four players had to be cut out of the wreckage of their Vauxhall Corsa after being hit by an articulated lorry. He was later released with minor injuries. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/4308466.stm "Cardiff footballers hurt in crash"] BBC Sport Retrieved on 1 October, 2007] [ [http://www.towncrier.org.uk/community/415.tc "So we dont need a speed limit?"] Monmouth Town Crier Retrieved on 30 October, 2007] He fell out of favour with the club during the 2005–06 season and was placed on the transfer list by the club. However at the time Fleetwood was still suffering the psychological effects of his car crash earlier in the season and he was arrested near Ninian Park for drink-driving where he was found to be over by more than double the legal limit, he was banned from driving for twenty months and fined £455. [ [http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/footballnation/football-news/2006/01/20/city-striker-drink-drive-shame-91466-16606839/ "City striker drink drive shame"] South Wales Echo. Retrieved on 27 November, 2007] He signed for Hereford United in January 2006, who beat off competition from Hamilton Academical, [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/h/hereford_united/4663016.stm "Hereford sign Cardiff's Fleetwood"] BBC Sport Retrieved on 26 September, 2008] and made a good start, scoring four goals in five league games. He featured as a substitute in the Conference play-off final win over Halifax Town, and subsequently signed a new one year contract.

He made a promising start to the season by scoring Hereford's first league goal since 1997 and a further goal against Chester. In the League Cup he scored a hat-trick against Championship side Coventry City, [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/herefordandworcester/content/articles/2006/08/23/coventry_review_feature.shtml "Fleetwood is singing the blues"] BBC Sport Retrieved on 1 October, 2007] becoming the first Hereford player to score a hat-trick in a League Cup tie. [ [http://www.bolsa-hufc.com/mr060822.htm "Hereford vs Coventry match report"] Bolsa-HUFC Retrieved on 30 October, 2007] He was also called up to the Wales U21's. However his form escaped him after missing several matches due to contracting a virus, which caused him to lose nearly a stone in weight.fact|date=April 2008 On 31 January 2007 he was sent out on a month's loan to fellow League Two club Accrington Stanley. He made just three first team appearances after the turn of the year for the Bulls, and was released at the end of the season.

In June 2007 Fleetwood signed a one year deal at Conference side Forest Green Rovers. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/f/forest_green_rovers/6253390.stm "Fleetwood moves to Forest Green"] BBC Sport] He started the season in good form for Forest Green and started to attract interest from league scouts after just three months but he quickly moved to quash speculation by saying that he would be happy to see out his contract at the Gloucestershire club. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/f/forest_green_rovers/7013891.stm "Fleetwood not interested in move"] BBC Sport Retrieved on 1 October, 2007] His good form continued to be recognised when he was named as Conference Player of the month for September. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/f/forest_green_rovers/7033746.stm "Fleetwood lands September award"] BBC Sport Retrieved on 8 October, 2007] In November and December he was a major factor in Forest Green causing an FA Cup upset when they knocked out Football League Two side Rotherham United. The first tie finished 2–2 with Fleetwood scoring both goals before the club won the replay 3–0 with Fleetwood again on the score sheet with one goal. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/7102408.stm "Rotherham 0-3 Forest Green"] BBC Sport Retrieved on 27 November, 2007] He then found the net once in the following round in a 3–2 defeat at the hands of Football League One side Swindon Town.

Fleetwood's form saw him linked with, among others, Championship sides Charlton Athletic and Crystal Palace. [Cite web
title = Addicks eye Stu
accessdate = 2007-11-27
url = http://icsouthlondon.icnetwork.co.uk/0300charlton/0100news/tm_headline=addicks-eye-stu%26method=full%26objectid=20167032%26siteid=50100-name_page.html] League One clubs Cheltenham Town and Gillingham tabled bids for him in December.cite news
title = Cheltenham up bid for Fleetwood
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/cheltenham_town/7171555.stm
publisher = BBC Sport
date = 2007-01-04
accessdate = 2007-01-04] cite news
title = Gillingham make Fleetwood offer
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/f/forest_green_rovers/7165783.stm
publisher = BBC Sport
date = 2007-12-31
accessdate = 2007-12-31] This was soon followed up with a reported £200,000 offer from Charlton Athletic [ [http://addickted.net/newsitem.php?id=645 "New striker bid made"] Addickted.net Retrieved on 9 January, 2008] On 20 January Forest Green Rovers announced that they had reached a financial agreement with Crewe Alexandra and had allowed Fleetwood to enter into talks with the League One side. [ [http://www.forest-green.brewersnet.com/news2.html "Press Release"] Forestgreen.com 20 January, 2008] However, Fleetwood rejected the chance of a move and stated "I can honestly state that even if any other clubs come in with a late bid before the transfer window closes, I am not interested." [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/f/forest_green_rovers/7204338.stm "Fleetwood turns down Crewe move"] BBC Sport Retrieved on 23 January, 2008] He ultimately scored 28 goals in 41 league appearances in the 2007–08 season as the club finished in their highest ever league placing. He was offered a new contract at the end of the season, but decided to leave. [cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/f/forest_green_rovers/7377888.stm|title= Forest Green allow six to leave|work=BBC|accessdate=May 1|accessyear=2008]

He joined Charlton Athletic on a three-year deal in June 2008. [cite news |first=Gary|last=Haines|url=http://www.cafc.co.uk/newsview.ink?nid=32494&newstype=p|title= Fleetwood sails in|publisher=Charlton Athletic FC|date=2008-06-16|accessdate=2008-06-16] On 26 September, 2008 he joined Football League One side Cheltenham Town on a one-month loan deal. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/cheltenham_town/7637607.stm "Cheltenham sign Fleetwood on loan deal"] BBC Sport Retrieved on 26 September, 2008]

International career

Fleetwood has won several caps for the Wales under-21 side, making his debut in 2004 against Latvia U21. His last call up was at Hereford although manager Graham Turner criticised the Welsh FA over the handling of the call up as Hereford did not find out he would be playing for the under-21 side until Fleetwood was already travelling to join the squad and was therefore unavailable for their clash with Rochdale. [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/herefordandworcester/content/articles/2006/08/31/fleetwood_callup_feature.shtml "Turner angry over Fleetwood call up"] BBC Sport Retrieved on 1 October, 2007] He has also played for Wales at various other youth levels.

On 30 October 2007 he was called up to the Wales semi-professional under-23 squad to face Italy in the European challenge trophy. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_conf/7069575.stm "Forest Green pair in Wales squad"] BBC Sport Retrieved on 30 October, 2007]

Club stats

As of 5 May 2008

References

External links

*soccerbase|id=35972|name=Stuart Fleetwood
* [http://www.football.co.uk/hereford/players/stuart_fleetwood_102919.shtml Stuart Fleetwood player profile] at football.co.uk
* [http://www.4thegame.com/club/hereford-united-fc/player-profile/5408/stuartfleetwood.html Stuart Fleetwood player profile] at 4thegame.com