Stuart Fleetwood

Stuart Keith Wakley Fleetwood (born 23 April 1986) is an English football manager and former professional footballer who is currently head coach at club Swindon Supermarine.

Fleetwood was born in Gloucester, Gloucestershire.

As a youngster Fleetwood was a talented rugby union fly-half and was part of the Newent team that won the Gloucester Schools Cup.

However he eventually decided that football was the better route after he scored 104 goals in one season for Newent youth.

He qualifies to play for Wales due to his father Keith, who was born in St Mellons, Cardiff.

Fleetwood started his career at Cardiff City at the age of 12 when he joined the club's youth programme, and eventually made one first team appearance in two and a half seasons as a professional.

He made his Brighton debut against the 4–1 win over Millwall on 1 November where he came on as a substitute in the 89th minute.

He made a promising start to the season by scoring Hereford's first Football League goal since 1997 and a further goal against Chester.

In the League Cup he scored a hat-trick against Championship side Coventry City, becoming the first Hereford player to score a hat-trick in a League Cup tie.

He was also called up to the Wales U21s.

However his form escaped him after missing several matches due to contracting a virus, which caused him to lose nearly a stone in weight.

On 3 October 2005 Fleetwood was involved in a car accident on his way back from a Cardiff reserve match against Hereford United along with fellow players Nicky Fish, Lloyd Jenkins and Anthony Taylor.

The accident occurred on the A40 in Monmouth and all four players had to be cut out of the wreckage of their Vauxhall Corsa after being hit by an articulated lorry.

He was later released with minor injuries.

He fell out of favour with the club during the 2005–06 season and was placed on the transfer list by the club.

Fleetwood was still suffering the psychological effects of his car crash earlier in the season and he was arrested near Ninian Park for drink-driving where he was found to have more than double the legal limit of alcohol in his blood; he was banned from driving for twenty months and fined £455.

He signed for Hereford United in January 2006, who beat off competition from Hamilton Academical, and made a good start, scoring four goals in five league games.

He featured as a substitute in the Conference play-off final win over Halifax Town, and subsequently signed a new one-year contract.

On 31 January 2007 he was sent out on a month's loan to fellow League Two club Accrington Stanley.

He made just three first team appearances after the turn of the year for the Bulls, and was released at the end of the season.

In June 2007 Fleetwood signed a one-year deal at Conference side Forest Green Rovers.

He started the season in good form for Forest Green and started to attract interest from league scouts after just three months but he quickly moved to quash speculation by saying that he would be happy to see out his contract at the Gloucestershire club.

His good form continued to be recognised when he was named as Conference Player of the month for September.

In November and December he was a major factor in Forest Green causing an FA Cup upset when they knocked out Football League Two side Rotherham United.

The first tie finished 2–2 with Fleetwood scoring both goals before the club won the replay 3–0 with Fleetwood again on the score sheet with one goal.

He then found the net once in the following round in a 3–2 defeat at the hands of Football League One side Swindon Town.

Fleetwood's form saw him linked with, among others, Championship sides Charlton Athletic and Crystal Palace.

League One clubs Cheltenham Town and Gillingham tabled bids for him in December.

This was soon followed up with a reported £200,000 offer from Charlton Athletic On 20 January Forest Green Rovers announced that they had reached a financial agreement with Crewe Alexandra and had allowed Fleetwood to enter into talks with the League One side.

However, Fleetwood rejected the chance of a move and stated "I can honestly state that even if any other clubs come in with a late bid before the transfer window closes, I am not interested."

He ultimately scored 28 goals in 41 league appearances in the 2007–08 season as the club finished in their highest ever league placing.

He was offered a new contract at the end of the season, but decided to leave.

He joined Charlton Athletic on a three-year deal in June 2008.

On 26 September 2008 he joined Football League One side Cheltenham Town on a one-month loan deal.

He joined Cheltenham despite confessing to being a lifelong Gloucester City AFC supporter, Cheltenham's biggest rivals.

He managed two league goals in his spell at Cheltenham, one coming in a 4–3 victory over Colchester and the other in a 2–2 draw with Stockport.

On 30 October 2008 Fleetwood agreed to join League One side Brighton & Hove Albion on loan, initially for one-month.

He returned to Charlton on 30 January 2009 having scored 2 goals in 11 league appearances.

On 18 March 2009, Fleetwood signed on loan to Football League Two side Exeter City until the end of the 2008–09 season, where he impressed, scoring three goals in eight appearances.

Following promotion to League one, Exeter City made an undisclosed offer to Charlton Athletic for Stuart Fleetwood.