ARTICLE: Fletcher signs in with the Potters

[ClaretTony]

And another former Claret on the move - Steven Fletcher

See link
https://www.uptheclarets.com/fletcher-s ... he-potters

[BenWickes]

Interesting. Thought there was interest from Celtic. Though that could have just been rumours.

[ksrclaret]

Very good signing for Stoke on a free. I think they’ll have a much more solid season with their new manager O’Neill.

I too rated Steven Fletcher very highly in a Burnley shirt. Looking back now he did really well in that team.

[bobinho]

Yeah he did. Was really good for us I thought.

[tiger76]

Interesting. Thought there was interest from Celtic. Though that could have just been rumours.

No there was interest from Celtic, but apparently Lennon only offered him a 1 year deal, how long Stoke have offered isn't known, but he's clearly happy enough to accept their terms, so he'll link up with Sam Vokes all being well. I always thought of Fletch as injury prone, but he's played over 500 league games, so he can't be that prone to missing games, if Stoke can get him and Sam firing they could be an outside bet for the play-offs next season.

[CleggHall]

A fine, intelligent player with a good record despite playing in generally losing sides. Given this, his goalscoring stats are excellent.

[matttheclaret]

Made his debut for us at Stoke

[Red Fox Rocks Socks]

He was a strange one. I remember him being poor in the air and even missing a header at Portsmouth(?) that was easier to score in an important game the season we were relegated.

He later turned into some sort of Big Dunc scoring headers more than any other type of goals

[NottsClaret]

He was well thought of at an admittedly terrible Sheff Wednesday.

[tiger76]

Made his debut for us at Stoke

Not one to remember we were dire that day, and Stephen Jordan scored an OG in a 2-0 reverse. Amazing to recall Stephen Fletcher was our record signing at £3.5m, now you'd be lucky to get a decent league 1 player for that fee. Again someone we made a good profit on he was sold for about £9m I think, so further proof that we can spot a bargain, and turn a good profit when they depart, he showed glimpses of his quality, but sadly not quite enough to compensate for our porous defence that season.

[matttheclaret]

Not one to remember we were dire that day, and Stephen Jordan scored an OG in a 2-0 reverse. Amazing to recall Stephen Fletcher was our record signing at £3.5m, now you'd be lucky to get a decent league 1 player for that fee. Again someone we made a good profit on he was sold for about £9m I think, so further proof that we can spot a bargain, and turn a good profit when they depart, he showed glimpses of his quality, but sadly not quite enough to compensate for our porous defence that season.

Wasn't great was it? Four days later on the other hand was a bit better!

[BenWickes]

A fine, intelligent player with a good record despite playing in generally losing sides. Given this, his goalscoring stats are excellent.

Two players who stand out for me who, if they had better players around them with us; would have really flourished. Fletcher and Gareth Taylor. Both very clever off the ball.

[tiger76]

Wasn't great was it? Four days later on the other hand was a bit better!

The highs and lows of football summed up in a few days, that's why this game is loved the world over.

[ClaretTony]

He was a strange one. I remember him being poor in the air and even missing a header at Portsmouth(?) that was easier to score in an important game the season we were relegated.

He later turned into some sort of Big Dunc scoring headers more than any other type of goals

He missed a good number of chances in the air, looked a big weakness. Then he went to Wolves and McCarthy improved him in that respect beyond recognition.

He was a lot better than what we’d had previously but we’d have probably been better with a more experienced striker. I thought he’d have gone onto better things but never did. Every season he had in the Premier League he was in a team battling against relegation.

[superdimitri]

Another one with the ability but not the intelligence, off the pitch that is.

[JohnDearyMe]

He was a strange one. I remember him being poor in the air and even missing a header at Portsmouth(?) that was easier to score in an important game the season we were relegated.

He later turned into some sort of Big Dunc scoring headers more than any other type of goals

Didn't he miss a particularly bad sitter in the 1-1 home draw against Bolton as well?

[ClaretTony]

Didn't he miss a particularly bad sitter in the 1-1 home draw against Bolton as well?

And rarely scored important goals. Of his 8 league goals for us 6 of them came in defeats. The only goals he scored when we didn’t lose were those in the home game against Birmingham and the away game at Man City.

[matttheclaret]

And rarely scored important goals. Of his 8 league goals for us 6 of them came in defeats. The only goals he scored when we didn’t lose were those in the home game against Birmingham and the away game at Man City.

Whenever I hear "important goals", Andy Payton immediately springs to mind. How many winners did he seem to score for us?

[jdrobbo]

Fletcher and Vokesy up top!

[ClaretTony]

Whenever I hear "important goals", Andy Payton immediately springs to mind. How many winners did he seem to score for us?

As referred to in my Waddle article today. Not the final Saturday of March and the first three Saturdays of April our results were:

Grimsby (h) won 2-1 - Little, Payton
Northampton (a) won 1-0 - Payton
Bristol City (h) won 1-0 - Payton
Fulham (h) won 2-1 - Cooke Payton

Those four teams finished 3rd, 4th, 2nd & 6th. Four massive results with Payts scoring four winning goals.

That’s proper goal scoring to me.