Interview with Stuart Fleetwood

By Paul McNamara

During a summer in which Eastleigh’s manager, Richard Hill, made a clutch of elite acquisitions to his squad, the arrival of Stuart Fleetwood at the Silverlake Stadium perhaps spoke loudest about the Spitfires’ determination to secure Conference Premier football in time for next season.

Here was a striker with considerable pedigree, in the peak years of his career, and who five years ago was putting his name to a three-year contract at Championship outfit Charlton Athletic, pledging the next stage of his career to a club playing in the Conference South.

Fleetwood is quick to dismiss any theory that his latest move is the first phase in a winding down process on a football adventure that began when, as a schoolboy, his rich potential was spotted by Cardiff City.

‘It was a big decision (signing for Eastleigh). I had a few clubs interested and went and spoke to a few people. I went away for six days with Burton Albion which is a great club, but some of the things that were being offered weren’t what I was expecting. For me to up and move again, it wouldn’t have been worth that hassle. I’ve got a little girl, who was three last week, and she lives in Hereford. I wanted to try and be a bit closer to her if I could, so family did play a big part in it. 

‘I don’t think I would have signed for any club other than Eastleigh in this league, owing to the fact that I knew a lot of the lads here. I did my homework on the club and the team, and it’s a club that wants to go into the Conference Premier. That’s what I want to do. I, eventually, want to get into the Football League again. I’m only 27. I’ve still got a lot of football to play’.

At the outset of Fleetwood’s career, it was widely anticipated that he would be playing all of his football in the country’s top divisions. Buoyed by a typically youthful air of invincibility, it was a judgement with which the player confesses he was all too ready to agree. Nevertheless, by the time the then 19 year-old was informed, midway through the 2005/2006 campaign, that he was being placed on the Bluebirds’ transfer list the news came as little surprise.

‘It was a tough time. I probably saw it coming. I think if I had my time again I’d have probably tried to settle down a little bit more when I was younger. I probably thought I’d made it too early. I wasn’t quite off the rails but I liked to go out and have a couple of drinks with team-mates, and I was too young to do it. I was doing that with players who were established in the first-team, and so could get away with it. I was 18 or 19, the next big thing coming through and I didn’t really fulfil that potential.

‘I really saw it (his release from Cardiff) coming when Dave Jones got the manager’s job. He told me straight, that I thought I was better than I was. That hit home. It was a bit of a hard truth which settled me down a bit’.

A life changing incident, three months before he left Cardiff for Hereford United, helped Fleetwood to grow up quickly, and altered his attitude towards both life and his profession. 

Travelling home from a reserve team match – ironically, played at Hereford – the car which was carrying Fleetwood and three of his Cardiff team-mates collided with a lorry. Fleetwood sustained only minor injuries, but one his fellow passengers, Nicky Fish, was hurt to the extent that his promising football career was finished.

‘Definitely (the accident had a defining impact) - especially because one of the lads in the car with me, Nicky Fish, was a young up and coming player like myself, played for Wales under-21 side, and he couldn’t play football after that. It was eight years ago last week (3rd October) so time’s gone quickly, but it definitely gave me a different outlook on the football side of things. 

‘Obviously, I moved to Charlton Athletic a couple of years after that, and was lucky enough to be involved in Nicky’s court case when he received his compensation. (Fleetwood’s career was used as a gauge to calculate the sum that Fish was awarded for his insurance pay-out). It was good to be involved in that side of it, and help him get the compensation he deserved. 

‘The whole incident did give me a different mind-set towards how I approach things, and I feel lucky to still be playing’. 

During his 18 months at Hereford (a club that he later re-joined in July 2010), Fleetwood was part of a team which won its way into the Football League. He also enjoyed what he recalls as one of his finest nights.

‘My club career highlight was scoring a hat-trick for Hereford against Coventry City in the first round of the League Cup (in August 2006). They were a Championship side at the time and we were newly promoted to League Two. It was my first time in the competition, I managed to score a hat-trick, and we won 3-1’.

Fleetwood’s renaissance, however, would be frustratingly short-lived.

‘We started off really well (in League Two), but I contracted a virus. At first they thought it was glandular fever, but it turned out not to be. It was just a bad virus which knocked me for six and set me back quite a bit. I ended up being released by Hereford the next season’.

Forest Green Rovers were the only club prepared to offer Fleetwood a new home. He may have had his hand forced in terms of where to play his football but, for the razor sharp attacker, the move transpired to be a blessing.

‘I had no other club to go to until Forest Green came in for me. It was local, back home, and the only option I had really. I was almost starting back at the bottom rung again. But, I think the manager there at the time, Jim Harvey, was great with me and we had some really good players there. A lot of them went on to play in the Football League. It was one of those things. I couldn’t go any further down, and had to build my career back up again. I was enjoying my football, back home and local, and everything just clicked’.

It clicked to the degree that when the January transfer window opened a throng of Football League suitors emerged in pursuit of Fleetwood. Happy and thriving, though, the Welshman didn’t believe that the time was right to leave the club which had placed their faith in him when others had been rather more reluctant.

‘I felt that I owed the club a bit of loyalty because they took me when I had no other options. They accepted an offer from Crewe Alexandra, and I went up there to speak to Dario Gradi (Alex’s then technical director), saw all the facilities, and was hugely impressed. I just felt that I wanted to finish the season at Forest Green. We were in the play-off spots at the time, and ended up 8th, which was the highest finish in the club’s history. I owed them that loyalty to stay and score as many goals as I could’.

Fleetwood completed his term in Gloucestershire having hit the net on 28 occasions. It was a record which attracted Charlton, and the lure of Championship football was, understandably, irresistible.

‘I went and met Alan Pardew (Charlton’s manager at the time) in the summer when I was mulling over my decision. They had just come down from the Premier League the year before. It was a massive club. I had a lot of respect for Alan Pardew, and when I met him he told me he wanted me. The size of the club and the offer was just too good to turn down. They were trying to bring in a few youngsters to add to the experience they had, and get back into the Premier League. It was a perfect deal for me – a three year contract and a dream come true’.

The reality, however, didn’t match Fleetwood’s hopes – but if there is any sense of personal anguish regarding his time at The Valley it is not apparent. Rather, the philosophical 27 year-old attributes his inability to play any more than eight minutes of football during his Charlton career down to the simple matter of circumstance.

‘It was just bad timing. When I first went there I was in the squad. It was actually me and Jonjo Shelvey (now with Swansea City) always travelling with the first-team squad, being 17th man then getting on the bench now and again. Then I went on loan - to Cheltenham Town first of all. I did quite well there, and then went to Brighton & Hove Albion for three months. 

‘Alan Pardew actually got sacked when I was at Brighton, so I wasn’t in the frame when he lost his job. Phil Parkinson came in (to manage Charlton) and I wasn’t around the club at the time to get the chance I was hoping for. I ended up being out on loan at Exeter City at the end of that season and was promoted with them. At the same time Charlton were relegated from the Championship. 

‘The following year I spent a full season on loan at Exeter, and we were playing in the same division as Charlton. So, it wasn’t too great a difference. We were playing in the same league, and I was getting a lot of starts and scoring some goals. It was just one of those things. When I eventually went back to Charlton for my third year I was told that they’d had a lot of offers for me and were happy to let me go.

‘I just think it was bad timing not being in and around the club when the changes were being made. It’s just one of those things. They always thanked me for my efforts. I always trained hard when I was there’.

That last trait has continued until this day. When we speak, Fleetwood is fresh from completing a full training session less than 48 hours after being on the receiving end of an ugly tackle during a game at Ebbsfleet United – an evening on which the Spitfires suffered only their second loss of the season. When he lifts his trouser leg, the consequent bruising and assorted cuts to his lower leg are distinctly evident. Fleetwood highlights the toughness that is present throughout the Eastleigh ranks as being a prominent factor in their racing to the head of the nascent Conference South table.

‘I think it’s been a great start. The pressure on us was massive. It was massive before I signed, and after I signed that was added to a bit. I think we’ve coped with it brilliantly. A lot of people might have thought we’d be a bit soft this year but we’ve got a bit of steel about us. We’re a hard team. We couldn’t have made a much better start. We’ve played a lot of the better sides in our league.

‘I think we’ve performed brilliantly. Even in the two games we’ve lost, at Basingstoke and Ebbsfleet United, we equipped ourselves really well, and on another day we’d have scored four or five in those matches. We’re top of the league and we’ve got the F.A. Cup on Saturday (at home against Oxford City) to look forward to. I don’t think it could have gone much better’.

The manner in which his team began to accrue positive results from day one also lifted the pressure off the shoulders of their marquee capture – if he felt any pressure that is?

‘It’s something I’ve learned to manage at the clubs I’ve been with. At Hereford there wasn’t a lot of pressure on us and I played well and could score a lot of goals. But, playing for Luton Town (where Fleetwood’s contract ended at the conclusion of the last campaign) helped me cope with any pressure coming here. I’ve never played for a club that has the pressure attached to it that Luton does. Even playing in the Conference you’re expected to win by three or four goals every week and storm the league - and it hasn’t happened.

‘I signed at Luton on deadline day (in August 2011) from Hereford, for money, and dropped down a league having done well previously in the Conference so there were high expectations of me there. I scored goals, but we didn’t get promoted. I’ll never play under that level of pressure again’.

Furthermore, in his new colleagues, Fleetwood detected a group that would shield him from any undue scrutiny.

‘I knew coming here there were good players in place already. I’ve played at higher levels, but that’s true of over 50% of the squad. I knew the players here were good enough to ensure that I wouldn’t be the main focal point. If I score goals then great but, I knew that if I wasn’t on my game, there’d be other players helping us out as well’.

In common with those team-mates, Fleetwood has thus far displayed complete commitment to the Eastleigh cause every time he has pulled on the blue jersey. There has certainly been no indication of a man who considers that his talent offers a free ticket to leave the hard graft to others.

‘I think even if I wasn’t getting paid for it, I’d still be playing football on a Saturday or Sunday for a local team. I’ll play football for as long as my body lets me. I’ve played at every non-league ground going. It’s not as if I’m too big to come and play in non-league, because I’ve done it. I did it with Forest Green and Hereford in the Conference. I used to follow Gloucester City home and away, so I’ve been to all the tinpot grounds and I’ve seen everything and done it all in non-league. It’s not a problem for me to go to all the places that some people might not fancy’.

If all goes to plan, the ‘tinpot grounds’ won’t be an issue for much longer.