Paul Fletcher's footballing tips....

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Polesworth
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Paul Fletcher's footballing tips....

Post by Polesworth » Fri Jun 05, 2020 7:17 pm

Another one from the scrapbook. This made me smile when I read it again but fair play to Paul Fletcher, he was one of the best headers of a ball (if not the best) I've seen play for us at centre forward.
Paul Fletcher.jpg
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Any advance on Paul Fletcher?

Cirrus_Minor
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Re: Paul Fletcher's footballing tips....

Post by Cirrus_Minor » Fri Jun 05, 2020 7:45 pm

The Kestrel

Claret Toni
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Re: Paul Fletcher's footballing tips....

Post by Claret Toni » Fri Jun 05, 2020 7:50 pm

The 1st time I saw Paul fletcher was a home game against Southampton. Initially he impressed me both with his manoeuvring for the ball and his timing.

From memory he was up against John McGrath a, shall we say, old fashioned centre half, who possibly wasn't so impressed as his actions suggested he played the man, not the ball.

Poor Fletch took a real battering, but didn't seem to complain, just got on with it, and that was what impressed me most.

warksclaret
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Re: Paul Fletcher's footballing tips....

Post by warksclaret » Fri Jun 05, 2020 8:24 pm

He was a phenomenal header-and from memory not particularly tall. Have only ever seen a few players do it (Denis Law was one) but he could stay in the air a fraction longer, so technically he would climb before the defender and as a result he would get the ball. From goal kicks he would win the majority of headers. Another quality of his and I have never seen it as intense , was his determination to close down a defender or a goal keeper. He was your model centre forward and a huge fan favourite, and played in a very exciting Burnley team-with a number of home grown players. One of my favourite time eras for watching the clarets
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bfcjg
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Re: Paul Fletcher's footballing tips....

Post by bfcjg » Fri Jun 05, 2020 8:37 pm

He genuinely appeared to defy gravity at times.

ashtonlongsider
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Re: Paul Fletcher's footballing tips....

Post by ashtonlongsider » Fri Jun 05, 2020 8:49 pm

I'd say alongside Andy Lochhead, Fletch is the best header of a football that i've seen.

warksclaret
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Re: Paul Fletcher's footballing tips....

Post by warksclaret » Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:32 pm

Lockhead peaked before I could get to games, but have heard from many that he was exceptionally brave with his head and generally a very aggressive striker. Sad I missed him.The pasrtnership with Irvine must have been a potent one. Wow we have had some "greats".

CleggHall
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Re: Paul Fletcher's footballing tips....

Post by CleggHall » Fri Jun 05, 2020 9:39 pm

Competed well and outjumped many bigger centre halfs, outplayed Larry Lloyd on many occasions who unsurprisingly resorted to the rough stuff.

keith1879
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Re: Paul Fletcher's footballing tips....

Post by keith1879 » Fri Jun 05, 2020 10:42 pm

warksclaret wrote:
Fri Jun 05, 2020 8:24 pm
He was a phenomenal header-and from memory not particularly tall. Have only ever seen a few players do it (Denis Law was one) but he could stay in the air a fraction longer, so technically he would climb before the defender and as a result he would get the ball. From goal kicks he would win the majority of headers. Another quality of his and I have never seen it as intense , was his determination to close down a defender or a goal keeper. He was your model centre forward and a huge fan favourite, and played in a very exciting Burnley team-with a number of home grown players. One of my favourite time eras for watching the clarets
I used to wonder about this ...because clearly it is impossible to hang in the air any longer than anyone else....the laws of physics apply to all of us. He must have had a superb sense of timing and a tremendous spring to leap very high in relation to his own height. Even at the time I remember discussing it with my Dad and we agreed that he seemed to hang in the air. Casper and Fletcher were a wonderful partnership.

beddie
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Re: Paul Fletcher's footballing tips....

Post by beddie » Fri Jun 05, 2020 10:44 pm

Yes a brilliant header of the ball and a nice guy to go with it.

warksclaret
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Re: Paul Fletcher's footballing tips....

Post by warksclaret » Fri Jun 05, 2020 10:51 pm

Yes-Casper and Fletcher complimented each other perfectly. Pure class-they always had a goal in them, and you always knew there was a chance of a win with these two. Casper was one of our best ever poachers ,(in my viewing time)alongside Andy Payton

tim_noone
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Re: Paul Fletcher's footballing tips....

Post by tim_noone » Fri Jun 05, 2020 11:20 pm

Lochhead.....

Darnhill Claret
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Re: Paul Fletcher's footballing tips....

Post by Darnhill Claret » Fri Jun 05, 2020 11:24 pm

I think Frank Casper’s debut game, home to Coventry I think, is probably the best debut game I’ve ever seen from a Burnley player.

RalphCoatesComb
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Re: Paul Fletcher's footballing tips....

Post by RalphCoatesComb » Fri Jun 05, 2020 11:54 pm

For his height, Fletch was the best header of a football that I have seen in Claret & Blue.

As mentioned above, a nice guy to boot !

cricketfieldclarets
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Re: Paul Fletcher's footballing tips....

Post by cricketfieldclarets » Sat Jun 06, 2020 8:34 am

keith1879 wrote:
Fri Jun 05, 2020 10:42 pm
I used to wonder about this ...because clearly it is impossible to hang in the air any longer than anyone else....the laws of physics apply to all of us. He must have had a superb sense of timing and a tremendous spring to leap very high in relation to his own height. Even at the time I remember discussing it with my Dad and we agreed that he seemed to hang in the air. Casper and Fletcher were a wonderful partnership.
After his career I played with Andy Payton. Who had retired a good few years ago. He is about three inches shorter than me. But I couldn’t believe how high he could jump and seemingly stay there. Honestly it was truly unbelievable.

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Re: Paul Fletcher's footballing tips....

Post by ClaretTony » Sat Jun 06, 2020 9:26 am

When Fletcher signed Adamson told him he hadn’t signed him to score goals because he had better players than him to do that. His job was to head it down towards the penalty spot for those better players.

In terms of heading the ball he was incredible, the best I’ve seen at Burnley. Probably no taller than 5’9” but got the better of far taller defenders because of his brilliant technique.

I know it’s not possible to hang in the hair but Fletch seemed to do that.

Kestrel.

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Re: Paul Fletcher's footballing tips....

Post by Rowls » Sat Jun 06, 2020 9:32 am

I watched this video a few months ago and seeing Paul Fletcher's garden training reminded me of it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEyXas0dzMs

It's a young lad who trains to try and jump as high as Ronaldo. One of the techniques he learns is lifting his calves after the jump to help give a little extra lift. I'm not sure of the physics of it all (or even the practicalities as I don't do a lot of jumping) but you can see the similarities between Ronaldo's technique and Fletcher's from all those years ago.

Just goes to prove the old proverb about practice.

Rowls
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Re: Paul Fletcher's footballing tips....

Post by Rowls » Sat Jun 06, 2020 9:35 am

A little shout-out to Keiran Trippier.

Heading the ball was never his strength but he too had a great technique. It's never going to be headline grabbing to be winning headers in a right-back berth but his technique was second to none.

Keiran's ana verage height guy but playing international football, that often makes him one of the smallest players on the pitch. But he nearly always outjumped his opposite.

TVC15
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Re: Paul Fletcher's footballing tips....

Post by TVC15 » Sat Jun 06, 2020 9:42 am

Players like Fletcher looked like they were hanging in the air because they were jumping so high - so effectively they are in the air for longer. They had a technique also that made it look majestic because their timing was so good.
Ronaldo is incredible at it and I also used to think Les Ferdinand was very good at it too.

daveyclaret
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Re: Paul Fletcher's footballing tips....

Post by daveyclaret » Sat Jun 06, 2020 11:09 am

Couple of pictures of Paul's headed goals.

First picture shows his headed goal at Oldham in the FA Cup 4th Round in January 1974. Clarets won 4-1.

Second picture shows his headed goal at Coventry in the 1st Division in March 1975. Clarets won 3-0 and were sitting 2nd in the First Division on 39 points, one point behind Everton, after 32 games.

Paul was very good in the air though his first league goal for the Clarets was with his feet. If I recall correctly, it was scored against Blackpool at the Turf in April 1971. It Paul took a lot of games to find the net after he had signed for the Clarets. The match against Blackpool was a relegation tussle with the Clarets winning 1-0 though both teams were relegated at the end of the season. His goal required him running with the ball from just inside the Blackpool half and then slotting the ball past the Blackpool keeper. After he had scored, he sank to his knees in relief that he had finally scored for the Clarets. The game was televised and featured on Match of the Day.
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