793 Gary Taylor-Fletcher

Biography

Versatile forward Gary Taylor-Fletcher was plain old Gary Fletcher when he joined Hull City on loan in March 2001 with a view to a permanent switch at the end of the season, should City be impressed and should his parent club Northwich Victoria receive £150,000. After a few substitute appearances in Brian Little’s play-offs challenging side it was apparent that the first part of the deal was not fulfilled and the cash element was therefore rendered irrelevant. Fletcher started the final game of the regular season at Carlisle United but was not involved in either of the resulting play-off semi-final ties against Leyton Orient and returned to Cheshire.

Gary Taylor-Fletcher came into professional football via the non-league scene in the late 1990s – the teenage Fletcher was working as a roofer in the family business and scoring goals in the Conference National League for Northwich Victoria. His extended trial at Hull City in 2001 was not a success but in June 2001 he signed for League Division 3 side Leyton Orient for a £50,000 fee. After making his O’s debut in August 2001 against Carlisle United, Gary spent much of the next two seasons enjoying fitness-building loan spells at Grays Athletic and Dagenham & Redbridge while also supporting the O’s first team squad, mostly as a substitute. He scored his first senior goal in September 2002 when Orient beat Queens Park Rangers in the League Cup, by the end of the 2002/03 season he had scored two goals in 24 appearances for the Brisbane Road side.

In August 2003 Taylor-Fletcher joined League Division 3 side Lincoln City, a move that reunited him with Keith Alexander, his former manager at Northwich, and kickstarted his senior career. In his first season, Taylor-Fletcher scored nineteen goals as the Imps finished in the top seven before being eliminated from the League Division 3 play-offs at the semi-final stage by Huddersfield Town. In his second season at Sincil Bank Gary netted twelve times as Lincoln finished the regular season in 6th place and went one step further, reaching the Wembley play-off final before losing out to Southend United. By the end of his two years at Lincoln Taylor-Fletcher had scored 31 goals in 93 appearances.

In June 2005 Taylor-Fletcher moved to League One side Huddersfield Town and after netting 15 times in the regular season and assisting the Terriers into the top six, he suffered play-off disappointment for a third season running as Huddersfield lost the semi-final to Barnsley. He remained a first team regular during the 2006/07 season, netting his first career hattrick in an August 2005 League Cup tie against Chesterfield and taking his Terriers tally to 26 goals in 92 appearances.

In July 2007 Taylor-Fletcher was signed by Championship side Blackpool, who under manager Simon Grayson had just been promoted to the second tier. He was a first team regular for six seasons at Bloomfield Road under the tenure of both Grayson and his successor Ian Holloway, who in the 2009/10 season piloted the Tangerines to the Championship top six – after three previous failures in the end-of-season play-offs, Taylor-Fletcher contributed a goal in a play-off final victory over Cardiff City and became a Premier League footballer. Gary scored six times in 31 Premier League appearances during 2010/11 season – including goals against both Manchester sides, Liverpool and Arsenal – as Blackpool impressed with their all-action style before being relegated in May 2011. Gary stayed with Blackpool for two more years as they returned to the Championship, when he left in May 2013 he had scored 38 goals in 234 appearances.

Taylor-Fletcher signed for Championship rivals Leicester City in September 2013 and in his first season he was used almost exclusively as impact substitute as the Foxes won the Championship title. With Leicester back in the Premier League Taylor-Fletcher made just one further top flight appearance in 2014/15 season, against Chelsea in August 2014, which took his Foxes tally to three goals in 25 appearances. During the 2014/15 season Gary had loan spells at Championship sides Sheffield Wednesday (4 appearances in November 2014) and Millwall (10 appearances in February, March and April 2015).

Released by Leicester in the 2015 close season, Taylor-Fletcher joined Conference National side Tranmere Rovers in October 2015 and made 21 appearances before spending 2016/17 season at League Two side Accrington Stanley, where he made only six senior appearances and scored his final senior goal in an October 2016 Football League Trophy tie against Chesterfield. Between March 2017 and May 2019 Gary spent time playing for Welsh Premier League sides Bangor City and Llandudno – between March and May 2017, then again between November 2018 and May 2019, he was Bangor’s player-manager. Taylor-Fletcher hung up his boots in 2019 – between leaving Northwich Victoria for Hull City in March 2001 and signing for Bangor City exactly 16 years later he made 493 senior appearances and scored an impressive 101 senior goals.

In August 2020 Taylor-Fletcher took up a coaching role at the USMNT Centre of Excellence in New York. After two years stateside Gary returned to North West England in September 2022 when he was appointed joint manager of Northern Premier League side Nantwich Town. He left the club five months later in February 2023, a month later in March 2023 he was appointed manager of supporter-owned Crewe and District League side AFC Crewe.

Details

Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 4 June 1981, Liverpool
Hull City First Game: 17 March 2001, Exeter City H (League Division 3), 19 years, 286 days old
Hull City Final Game: 5 May 2001, Carlisle United A (League Division 3), 19 years, 335 days old

Clubs

Northwich Victoria (1999-2001), Hull City (2001, loan), Leyton Orient (2001-2003), Grays Athletic (2001-2002, loan), Dagenham & Redbridge (2002, loan), Dagenham & Redbridge (2002-2003, loan), Lincoln City (2003-2005), Huddersfield Town (2005-2007), Blackpool (2007-2013), Leicester City (2013-2015), Sheffield Wednesday (2014, loan), Millwall (2015, loan), Tranmere Rovers (2015-2016), Accrington Stanley (2016-2017), Bangor City (2017-2018), Llandudno (2018), Bangor City (2018-2019)

Hull City Record

Career: 5 apps, 0 goals

Gary Taylor-Fletcher
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2000/011 (4)0

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