Ex-Scotland international Steven Fletcher celebrates his 38th Birthday on this day. A former winner of the Scottish League Cup and runner up in the English equivalent, he has had a long and varied career in the world of football.
As a youngster, Fletcher started his career at Hibs, playing an impressive 189 games in green, scoring 52 times along the way. Hibernian won the Scottish League Cup in 2007, they defeated Kilmarnock in the final and Steven Fletcher scored twice and played the full 90 minutes. Then, in the summer of 2009, he signed for a record fee, at the time, for top flight side Burnley of £3 million. He scored 12 goals as their top scorer from 38 games (eight goals in the league), but this wasn’t enough to see the side stay up. Avoiding Championship football, he moved to Wolverhampton Wanderers. Fletcher spent a prolific 2 seasons at Molyneux, scoring 24 times in 68 before finally signing for the Black Cats, managed by Martin O'Neill. It was a large fee, costing the Lads an initial £12 million.
After his move in the summer of 2012, arriving alongside Louis Saha up front to replace the outgoing Asamoah Gyan, he went on to play a mighty 108 games, but sadly he only scored 23 times in this era. On his Premier League debut with us, the Scotsman netted a brace in a 2-2 draw with Swansea City. Other highlights included, scoring a goal against Newcastle in a 2-1 win, scoring against the same opponents in a 3-0 victory, scoring twice and assisting once in the same game versus Stoke City and finding the net twice in a game at Selhurst Park. He spent the second half of his final season on Wearside, the 2015-16 campaign, out on loan in France with Marseille. Fletcher played 18 games in total for them and scored three, whilst also reaching the final of the Coupe de France which his team lost to rivals PSG. In the summer of 2016 he departed the club for Championship Sheffield Wednesday, finding the net 38 times in 136 games during his four year stay there, the most he's featured for any one club since leaving Hibs.
He then ended up at Stoke City where he played from the summer of 2020 to the summer of 2022. For the Potters he made 82 appearances and scored on 12 occassions. Fletcher moved north across the border after leaving Staffordshire, going to Dundee United. In his one season at Tannadice Park, the Tangerines finished last in the Scottish top flight and sufferred relegation. His 10 goals in 39 matches weren't enough clearly.
Former Sunderland manager Phil Parkinson brought him to Wrexham in September 2023 and he helped them to automatic promotion to the third tier via the runner's up spot in League Two in his debut season. This season, at the time of writing, Wrexham are locked in a battle for automatic promotion yet again, this time to the Championship. Their main opponents are Wycome Wanderers, managed by former Sunderland interim head coach Mike Dodds.
As Sunderland fans, I think it’s fair to say he will be remembered for his glorious derby day goals, as well as his contributions as the lads reached the Capital One Cup final. He was always consistent but sadly never quite lived up to his potential he showed during his days at Hibs. Wishing him a happy birthday.
