 welcome to the official AFC Bournemouth podcast coming to you as ever from Vitality Stadium. We're here once again to bring you closer to some of the personalities connected to the club and we might just have one of the biggest in the hot seat today. For those who are new to the podcast, my name's Zoe Rundle and I'm part of the media team here at AFC Bournemouth. Today I'm once again in the company of Neil Perrett, my colleague who's an absolute encyclopedia of AFC Bournemouth knowledge. Now Neil, we're gearing up to the Premier League again, it's going to be really exciting with less than a month to go now. Definitely getting very exciting fixtures out, pre-season started, everybody really looking forward to that first game, going to be a cracking first game, going to be a cracking season, going to be an odd one as well with such a big break in the middle for the for the World Cup but yeah can't wait for it to start Zoe. Well before we get cracking it's just a quick note to say that Vitality Stadium is very busy today, there's lots of people moving around the place, lots of noises so apologies if you do hear a little bit of background noise we will do our best to talk through it but yes apologies in advance if you do hear a couple of noises along the way. Anyway moving on we are spoiling you with today's guest and you're in for an absolute treat on our podcast. We sat with a man whose association with the football club goes back 30 years and he is undoubtedly a true club legend. Not only did he help us up the football pyramid his goal saved the club during the great escape season of 2008-09. We've got plenty to go through so without further ado we're delighted to welcome Steve Fletcher onto the official AFC Bournemouth podcast. Fletcher thanks for coming in how are you and how's your summer going? Yes it's been very good actually got away with a wife for the first time in about four years we have four dogs four sharpies who we adore as my daughters have got older and the dogs have replaced the children so it was nice to get away we had five or six days in Dubai went away with with my friends like you usually do to New Yorker it's usually my beer but I changed it up this year and just little little trips away here and there the family's got a lodge down in Devon so we went there for a week with family and friends it was lovely it was just nice to relax spend some time in my garden that's my hobby but as you know those six seven weeks we have off just fly past but it looks fabulous right at the beginning after the last game but in the blink of an eye it's all over and then you've got ten and a half months where you don't really get much more time off I know we have the World Cup as Neil has alluded to but apart from that you can't really plan too much so you've got to pack everything into them six seven weeks that you actually have often you know it's the first time we've had a huge break like this because with the pandemic we had two weeks then the playoff semifinal we had two weeks less and first time we've really had a big chunk of time so it's been fabulous well that's fantastic to hear now we've got plenty to get through today so we're going to get straight to it we're going to go right back to the start July 1992 you became Tony Pulis's first signing as a manager when you joined from Hartlepool just talk us through that move yeah I actually like that actually because Tony Pulis went on to be a fabulous manager I mean you know renowned throughout of England Europe even to be his first ever signing as a manager it's very nice I just went into pre-season at Hartlepool into training it was I think it was the 22nd of July I was 19 went into training got called by the manager into the room had a bit of a panic up thinking I've done something wrong and he just said to me look Bournemouth have come in with an interest for you would you would you like to go down and see what they're about actually God's honest truth being 19 and you know a little bit naive I didn't know where Bournemouth was exactly in the country and then realized it was 340 miles away so I formed my parents I didn't fancy driving that distance by myself so there was no mobile phones everything was on a road map so he looked at the route we were going to take and I set off midday with my dad and got down here about six o'clock uh phone Tony just outside of Ringwood on my way here and he guided me in through the west cliff I think strategically because he knew how picturesque it was and obviously the opposite of what Hartlepool's like um the sun was blaring down and I remember looking at my dad thinking oh wow this is this is a different world um put us up in the in the royal bath hotel which at the time was five star overlooking the beach and he'd appear it was amazing and sent us to a lovely restaurant and I've never been looked after like that in football so he definitely said he set the um he set the tone for for what would be an amazing time I've had here in 30 years and the day after I met Tony and we took us to the train aground came to the stadium and I literally signed on the 23rd of July uh if if my must be right um 30 years later here we are and you never see past one season never mind 30 but a lot happened personally and and on the football field and off the football field really um but that's how that's how it came about and yeah I'd had two years as a prentice apprentice at Hartlepool uh two years as a pro so this was my third year as a professional and instead of sat starting it in the northeast of England I started it on the south coast here in Bournemouth Steve you scored on your home debut against Port Vale but you only managed four goals in your first season like you said you're only 20 very young you took a little bit of stick in those early days it's fair to say what was that like trying to deal with that yeah at the time it was tough because I come in and I know you had a striker called Jimmy Quinn obviously he came and managed the club and I've got to meet Jimmy a lot over the years and he was a prolific goal scorer and he was sold um I think the fans thought Tony had bought myself to come in and replace him but the two seasons I had at Hartlepool I was predominantly a substitute anyway it was only towards the end of my second season where Tony saw me play ironically the last game of the season when it was Harry's last game away away at Hartlepool I played I think Paul Morell and Kevin Bond were the centre half so I had a really good game and I think that's when Tony looked at me and thought I'll have a bit of that um so yeah it was tough I got a bad injury with my knee and it's plagued me ever since and it's the knee I've had 11 ops on over my career um I injured part of my ACL only 10% and no disrespect to anyone at the time but back it then the treatment wasn't very good I'm not making any excuses but I never got back fit I never felt I was a hundred percent fit I always went out in the field thinking something was wrong inside of my knee um as it was later on in my career it did plague me uh in my late 20s early 30s but so it was a stop start like you say I got off to a great start at home first home game scored against Popville we won 2-1 um got another goal away maybe it man's field I don't know and then then I hit the injury I was playing with F and a cuckoo at the time came back way too quick looking back now you know it was it it was terrible to come back as early as I did I just never felt right till the end of the season and like you say only got four goals the fans are on my case a little bit I was lowing confidence being away from home and I know a lot of young lads travel around now but it wasn't really a thing that many people did back in the day there was no mobile phones couldn't phone my parents when I had a bad day I was getting steak or you know you're feeling low I was in digs I had to ask to use the the telephone um from my landlady um it was a lonely place it was a I was um in an hour and whether I'd done the right thing and uh it wasn't till the next season or two seasons later that actually was thinking about maybe it's time for me to leave and that was when Tony left and Melmachin came in we'll get to that but yeah it was a tough first season um when you were 19 when you signed just before my 20th birthday to come in and the expectations were really high and like you say I hadn't really started that many games from Hartlepool I think I maybe started maybe 10 or 12 and was substitute maybe 25 times came on but that was my only experience before I came here we will get to that we'll get to that now that is the next question you quickly won over the fans and you were crowned player of the season in 94 95 and for those of us old enough to remember that was the original great escape season before the greatest escape season now certainly an eventful season give us your recollections of that one yeah well Tony had left um we didn't really have a well we didn't have a manager so I think it was it was a mixture of um Mark Morris the captain Shauna Driscoll and and John Williams um they took a few games um I was playing centre half because we had so many injuries um we were bottom of the league rock bottom we were getting thumped at home three and four every week and we had a young team um and it was a tough and then Mel came in Mel match in and I stayed at centre half for a couple of games and then I got injured and on Boxing Day I believe or I think it was round about Christmas I think it was Boxing Day I came back from injury and he put me up front he said I don't want to play centre half anymore I want you up front and we had 10 points I think a Christmas way drift of anywhere and nine points Neil's pointing to me nine points okay nine points of Christmas I mean we were miles away from we were everyone's favourite to go down you would be nine points halfway through the season and I went up front I scored two goals on Boxing Day I believe against Swansea at home we won three two and from then till the end of the season it was just a whirlwind I think we signed people like well Mattie Holland although Mattie didn't play a lot in that in that first six months obviously went on to be fabulous after that but we had Steve Jones I played up top with him Jason Brissett Steve Robinson Neil Young John Bailey we signed all these players and had such a young team and I think we would just feel us and we went on a run and I believe if we'd have started the started the campaign at Christmas we'd have we'd have got promoted we had that many panic we were we were second only behind Birmingham on the amount of points we accumulated from Christmas up until the end of the season and we stayed up on the on the last game it was fabulous at home we beat Brentford away who were pushing for promotion they were in the top two we beat them away 2-1 on the Saturday Scott Mean and Steve Jones got the goal got the goals and now I think we played um Shoesby at home on a Monday or Tuesday night strange I think the game was played because of the trouble that had been here a couple of years previous with Leeds I know I think the last game was on a bank holiday so they pushed our game four or five days early and we 3-0 up in about 20 minutes the game was done and just did and it was an amazing feeling and I got supporters player of the season that season it was incredible to think the previous two years I thought about leaving well when Mel Machen came in almost was going to go to his office and say look Mel I don't think it's happening for me here for whatever reason and and they just changed and I put it down to that one game at home against Swansea scored two goals and it gave me confidence the team was flowing and it's funny how things can turn around in the blink of an eye and in in one game people say your season can change in one game I think my career did Steve the club's parlous financial state came home to roost when the receivers were called in during the 96 97 season the begging bowls came out of the winter gardens a really uncertain time was your recollection of that time well no exactly what was happening my wife was pregnant and we were trying to get a mortgage to get a little house together and nobody would give me a mortgage and it wasn't just me there was another couple of lads I remember Rob Murray he was in the same situation his his missus was pregnant but none of us could get a mortgage because the club wasn't secure so nobody could sign the deeds it was horrible I was we were sat here didn't know whether we could train whether we could play I know everybody knows we didn't we didn't get paid and we get we get a lot of plaudits for playing through that period where we went paid for a couple of months I don't think that really entered the players minds I never I can't recollect a meeting where all the players got together and said right if they don't pay us we're not going to play I don't think that that was the be all and end all of course we needed it and we're all pushing our when we did get little bits and bobs of wages we were sometimes it was coming in in cash in your hand and a quarter of your wages here and there and then you'd pay a few bills off but you'd have to phone your mortgage company would have to phone your mobile phone company you'd have to phone all your bills you were paying and say can you can you put my direct debits back nobody could afford to pay them because you know we went on a lot of money back then it was literally you pay your bills you might have a little bit extra for a night out and maybe a holiday at the end of the season but that was it so there were tough times and we stuck together I think that was the most important thing I think that's why the fans loved us the way they did because we never down tools in fact if anything it galvanized the team and I remember the winter gardens and the speeches and walking in and the supporters and I think we were all overwhelmed I've seen the videos and I still see them to this day they're always put out on social media the club put a lot out and how that how that team responded from what we saw at the winter gardens will always stick with me because I think without that you don't feel part of a football club it needs something like that to bring you together and I was like I remember just feeling you know I want to be part of this it's amazing I don't want to leave this club look at these supporters it means everything to them you see people there who haven't got a penny to scratch together putting every last drop they've got into a bucket it's almost you and tears thinking about it now and at the time you just overwhelmed but it's only when I look back now it's just incredible and the club got saved at the last minute got my little house signed the mortgage actually on the same day I took the papers into Trevor Watkins who was obviously the senior member of the committee who was keeping the club alive made him sign the papers so I could literally I was like I was two or three days away from not getting this little house in through where we had for two years and it all worked out fantastic in the end but yeah it was tough times for everyone and to think that we could have lost the football club we weren't far away I know it's happened a lot and we've seen it with some clubs over over the years but we were literally minutes away from you know going into liquidation and God knows what would happen whether we would have capitulated or we'd have had to start again from so many leagues below I don't know now the following season you had a trip to Wembley in the final of the auto windscreen shield just tell us about that the build up the game perhaps a little bit about your solo and staying alive well I know we got a free trip to Chicago out of it which is brilliant at the end of it I think the club made a lot of money and they rewarded the players with a trip to Milwaukee in Chicago at the end of the season and that was fabulous yeah we got through the early rounds and it was one of them cup competitions that doesn't really grip you until you get to maybe the quarterfinals and then we got the quarterfinals I think we we got through against I can't remember Neil's going to tell me in a minute no okay we played Walsall in the in this semi-final we always played Bristol City in Cups in those days I think we might have played there but we got to this we got to the semi-final and my mind has me right I think we won 2-0 away Walsall Russell Beardsmore got a goal from a corner I flicked on Russell Beardsmore got two I'm being told okay so we went into the second leg 2-0 up and it's a precarious position to be in because you think and we just hold on to what we've got there's a trip to Wembley probably majority of us had never played there and I hadn't it was the old Wembley it was something he dreamed of walking out the Wembley the Wembley tunnel onto the pitch as a child and I remember coming in the game and we went 1-0 down 2-0 down yeah oh my god here we go and then out of nowhere up pops Frank Rowling sent a half I remember the cross came in I think it was John Bailey put a cross in I was going to hit it and I saw Frank and it was on my right foot but it was behind me and I thought well I'd have to take a touch and and Frank shouted Franks or something whatever and I jumped over the ball I dummied it so like lifted myself over the ball and Frank just hit this shot in and we went in and we ended up getting through and it was amazing I remember going at the change and we'd lost the game but we'd won an aggregate and to think we were going to go to Wembley but you know what nearly never happened for me and I haven't really spoke about this I got injured two weeks before I pulled my hamstring I hadn't done it too bad and I pulled my hamstring I just couldn't believe it and ironically we had to we were playing Walsall in the league the team we would beat in the semi-final the week before and I went down to Melmachan's office and I said to him and I tell you I also went down when he was injured as well Frank Rowling because I always wind Eddie up about this Eddie how because he came in and played in the final ahead of Frank so we went down to see Melmachan me and Frank with the physio and he said look Fletcher's struggling with his hamstring he doesn't want to play against Walsall in the league because he wants to save himself for the final and Frank was the same so both our injuries went too bad but we didn't want to risk it and Mel was like I need you to play son you know I want you to play I need to know your fit and I was like oh I'm good enough to play you to strap it up and I got through the game I actually scored and we won 1-0 so I played Frank didn't want to risk his injury he took a gamble on Mel choosing him Eddie came in for that game against Walsall in the league done really well Mel kept the same team in the final and Frank never played and there was quite a bit of controversy about it with the supporters because he'd scored about three or four goals in the competition and obviously the goal that got us to the final and when I wind Eddie up about it he said well he should have played against Walsall in the league shouldn't he said it's not my fault I had a great game and then mommy Mel loved Eddie anyway but Eddie played instead I know we lost the final it was devastating but to walk out and the Wembley tunnel in a 67,000 supporters there I think we took 33,000 it was just incredible and it was one of the biggest highlights of my career I know we lost on golden goal but we did take the lead I had a little bit of a part in it I flicked it on and Max Dean I think tried to take around the keeper and keep a scooped it out and John Bailey knocked it in so yeah it was that was a great moment because we took the lead and we lost the game but you know when you're playing a final if you lose and it's a cup competition it's very very disappointing of course it is but I've played in a final obviously later on my career where the whole season depends on it and I think that's a different ball game. Now the playoffs they continued to lead the cherries and I'm more so in 2000 to 2001 obviously Jermaine Defoe season were you ever tempted to seek past and new and perhaps seek a move to the championship or I had I had a lot of offers yes it was it was publicly known that Queen's Park Rangers wanted me they were in the championship obviously I think it was an off it was league one or league two at the time and it kept changing names every of the year and Jerry Francis was the manager I did I did have a chat with Jerry so the clubs came in Preston Burnley they were in the they were in the championship but Luton was another one they were in the championship but we were flying high in league one and scene players leave and the grass isn't always greener but the most important thing that I wanted to steer was because I was happy and of course you always think what if what if I mean looking back now I'd never changed it for the world and I wouldn't have experienced anything that I've experienced since then and some amazing amazing moments in my life not just not just in my football career but I was happy and my wife was happy and I sported a male match and he said look I'd like you to stay club want you to stay and I made a decision practically on the spot I said well I'm not interested I don't want to leave I have no reason to leave listen if I was unhappy and maybe if it had come after them two first two years when I was here then maybe that would have been a different story but I was loving life I was loving my football we were flying high a great team around us and it's a travesty we didn't go up because that team deserved to go up we started off bottom of the league and we worked our way all the way up and then 10 minutes from the end we were sucker punched and drew the game 3-3 after being 3-1 up I just um we were devastated and then in the last minute I remember Stephen Purchase hit a shot and looped over the keeper and it was going in and the lad cleared it off the line we still to this day thought it was over the line and that was in there like the 94th minute after Reading the equalised to make it 3-3 but yeah I remember after the game I was cuddling Richard Hughes he was crying we're all in tears and the change and we believed we were going to go to Reading beat them and um getting the playoffs and hopefully progressing to the second tier of English football but like you said it alluded us on so many occasions and we were always the Neely and I felt like I was the Neely man and Neely and Neely got promotion and Neely got a hat trick and Neely did this and Neely did that and was another disappointment at the end of the day yeah well you were injured for most of the 2001 two relegation season but you did score in the playoff final against Lincoln in 2002 2003 season just sum up those two those two years from your point of view um horrendous turning into euphoria really because I'd got injured in pre-season literally jumped for a header in training went down my knee collapsed I was like that doesn't feel right obviously I'd had knee problems before like I said to to you earlier earlier on in my first season with my cruciate not being right etc etc and it was just giving way on me and Sean Idriska was the manager and we went to see a specialist up in Leeds said oh I'll just give you a little clean out trim the cartilage like you do back in the day he wouldn't dream of doing it now but came out it's like okay I think I played a cup game here at home against maybe walking scored played the next game away at Chesterfield in the league half time I had to come off I felt my knee again so I went up to see the specialist again had a look in did another cleanup came back training wasn't right went to see another specialist this time in Sheffield so this is the third specialist he found the area that was actually the problem was I had a I had a conjural defect it's what Alan Shearer, Jimmy Redden, and a few other players have had problems with ended their career it's basically a hole in your bone and it was at the bottom of my femur it just creates like a crevice in your bone and he found it or his person who reads the scans he found it straight away so they went in and did the operation because obviously the two operations that had before that with the person in Leeds he didn't see it for some bizarre reason so this was like January now so I'd waited like five months I'd wasted did the operation give me the rehab I got better rehab there's a person in America who all the bigger players used to go and see called Steadman he was very famous he did a lot of the American players as well and he was renowned for getting players back from this type of injury so I got the rehab from him from a friend did a lot of it by myself it was very lonely got to about May and I didn't feel right and I said this is it doesn't feel right it's been three months now my knees it's still not right obviously I hadn't played so I went and seen a different specialist somebody said well there's somebody else in North Wales so I went to Oswestry in North Wales seeing this specialist called Diaries who had this type of injury before and had got apparently got people back playing went to see him showed in the scans looked at it he said right I'll do the op we pencil it in for June so a month later or a couple of weeks later I was like here we go again because I said I didn't feel right went back in June came out of the anaesthetic after he'd done the op and he said to me I'd be like in a splint and I couldn't feel anything and I didn't do anything from when I went to see him in the middle of May until I don't know was in middle of June the three or four weeks and it started to heal he said I don't want to touch it it's actually healing really nice and I was like that's bizarre because I've actually I haven't done any rehab I thought well if I'm coming to see you in three four weeks what's the point to be doing the rehab and aggravating it I'm just going to do nothing and he said I don't know what's happened Fletch he said buying them three four weeks since I last seen you it start to heal and I don't want to touch it he said I've done nothing to it he gave he said carry on we you rehab slowly do it and I came back and I was back playing in October I mean it's bizarre isn't it because that injury back in the day was in nine months to a year out and I'd had a long time but from having the op in January to not feeling right to then him looking at it saying yeah we'll do with the op again but it'll be your last chance alone I mean it was literally I told like this this is your last chance so I was 29 30 I think and then bizarre I came back I mean my game changed a lot I could I still had to be careful my knee had a lot swelling he said to me look you ain't going to be able to do what you did he said you might get another couple of years playing I ended up having another 10 or 11 so I did change my game I went in the gym I got bigger and stronger I couldn't twist and turn a lot because my knee would lock and I was worried about aggravating it again I was taking too many painkillers and all that I took a lot of vulture all to hide the pain I got told off later in life from a specialist that had been on it too long and had to stop but yes it was it was a terrifying time and then to come back in the October we played away at Lincoln ironically the team we beat in the in the playoff final I came on a sub we won the game 2-1 or 1-0 I know we won the game Stephen Perchard scored a cracking volley from 25 yards from a corner might be in 1-0 and I slowly got myself back in the team and played a massive part and then we got to Wembley and I was just sick of being the Neely man like I said earlier I was sick of Neely doing this Neely doing that and I just remember before the game I was so pumped up I remember I've got seen the video and I'm shaking hands with it with the royalty or the people who come out before and then I nearly broke his hand I think in the handshake I thought there's no way I'm getting beat in this game I'm just sick of not being not being successful not not achieving what I want to achieve and scored the first go it was an incredible feeling I flicked on from Marcus Brown and I just gambled and hit a cracking volley pass the keeper ran off to my family and friends who were all in the second tier I knew where they were and blew them a kiss and all the players jumped on me and it was an amazing feeling and we won the game 5-2 Carl Fletcher getting 2 Carl Thore Connor and Perchie it was it was fabulous and to actually feel that euphoria of winning and achieving something and not being second best again was was magnificent and I would say it's probably my second most favorite moment in the history of my footballing career a couple of near misses after that 0304 0405 the cherries just couldn't quite make that leap into the championship you've named some of those players already Carl Fletcher Richard Hughes Wade Elliott Gareth O'Connor all went on to play championship and Premier League do you think that squad underachieved at the time 100% 100% and it wasn't just that squad we had a couple of squads where we missed out on the last day um but yeah you look at them players and where they went on and where they went and what they went on to achieve was incredible um you couldn't foresee it at the time but looking back now you go yeah of course Carl Fletcher had so much quality he was a leader went on to play for Wales went to West Ham fabulous career Wade Elliott these players you talk about Richard Hughes it was you could see you could see it afterwards but maybe not the time when you're in among it because they're just part of your gang really the the group of lads you're going out with every day you're training with every day you're playing with every Saturday and Tuesday um massively underachieved but like I said that that was probably the case in maybe two or three teams but especially that team when I look at that team now on paper you think we should have easily been promoted and my self-experience and championship football which is obviously one of the things that really haunts me and plays on my mind I never actually got to play at the second level of English football and really that that is it a travesty really I mean Eddie used to say to me afterwards the manager Eddie how when I'd retired he said Fletcher how the hell did you not play second second level he said he said I blame you actually and he's right I should I blame myself a lot um don't really want to go into that but I blame myself a lot he said that there's no way that you should not have played at that level um I just said to him well I didn't have you as manager back when did I so you couldn't coach me but yeah it's something that does play on my mind and everyone said oh you got promoted to the championship I said yeah and then I retired so I never actually got to do it one man you did have as a manager was Kevin Bond he came into replace Sean O'Driscoll and that coincided eventually with you leaving the club and and joining Chesterfield that must have been a tough one for you it was yes um I've been at the club 15 years so it was 2007 I thought I was going in for Kevin to say yeah we'll obviously give you another year we've got Sam Vaux coming through you can nurture him help him guide him which I had done for about six months and Sam what do you know what's nice about it when you hear ex players like Sam and other players have said you know what Fletcher taught me how to head the ball blah blah blah and it's nice because he went on to have a fabulous career as well and every time I see him in town or he puts his arm around me and goes I would never have been able to head the ball unless you took me on them sessions and that was just me as a player and you know I hoped I was going to get into the air as it was I walked out of Kevin Bond's office after about five minutes and went home and said to my wife I'm I ain't got a club I'm they're not taking me on and she just looked at me disillusioned and shed a few tears within about an hour news had filtered through and the fans set up a website in honour of myself with testimonials and thank yous and I think I got over 750 messages from people and majority of them I would say were not even football related and you forget what you you've done in 15 years and I was just sat reading them with the wife and I phoned my parents up I said have you seen this site and people were saying how I'd gone to a hospital to see their child and who had an accident and I was her inspiration from I mean you can't compare it but you don't realise how many lives and people you've touched and the little things you just do because I am a good person I want to do good things I like to represent the club I always had time for people if a lad come up to me and say can you come and see my grandma she's not very well in hospital I'd go down I'd do it because that's the way I've been brought up in my life from my parents and that's the way I was as a human being but you don't understand the impact you've made until people tell you what you've done and it might have been just going to a school it might have been just doing a speech at a ceremony it might have been going to someone's wedding it might have been doing a video for someone and then everything I'd done on the pitch for the club and I just was in tears for about three or four hours and the messages kept rolling in so I printed every single one off because I want to show my children when I'm older my children were only like 10 and seven then and I printed every one of the 700 odd messages off just to show them later in life your dad didn't do too bad I mean as it was I was going to come back I didn't know that at the time I thought that was the end of my you know association with the cherries but yeah it was a sad time and then I was very very proud when I read them messages of what I'd achieved and within a day I had manager Chesterfield formed me up Lee Richardson and said look I'd like you come up I was thinking I don't want to travel to Chesterfield my wife said I'm not leaving Bournemouth she's a Bournemouth girl and I said to her my it's a long way you know it's I think it was about 230 miles I had a couple of other clubs sniffing I was 34 at the time coming up 35 so it would have been yeah my birthday's in July so I think it was May so it was May 2007 yeah I was coming up 35 and I was thinking well I'll wait and I'll wait and then people were saying to me if you wait too long you know the ship might sail and my wife said to me she said why don't you just go up and see Lee Richardson see what he has to say and I went up and he said look flat she said I understand your situation blah blah blah you don't have to come in every day I'll let you have a couple of days at home coming on a Thursday ready for a game on a Saturday and then you know if we've got a midweek game still and then go back and he was he was amazing with me and it worked and I had a year at Chesterfield it was a fabulous year I got on really well with the supporters they love me because I spent time with them again and talked to them and I remember a couple of supporters come up to me and said we spoke more to you for like two and one year than we have some of the some of the players in four or five and I left after one season I still have the supporters when I every time I played up at Chesterfield it sang my name it was incredible we even played Chesterfield on the last ever game at Saltergate and this is a memory that sticks with me and it's actually on it's on YouTube and right at the end of the game I ran up the stairs to the Bournemouth supporters because I promised to get a lady in my shirt and all the Chesterfield supporters ran on the pitch they just got a last minute winner to beat us to one on the last ever game at Saltergate and they saw me in the stand and thousands started singing my name my parents were there my dad was nearly in tears and you know he was writing emotional things only a little thing but it means so much to me and they could have sang anyone's name they could have sang a song about Chesterfield and they saw me in the stand and they had thousands of people on the pitch singing my name Chesterfield supporters so I must have touched the heart a little bit and that's quite endearing it's nice to think I'd done that and then I went to Crawley after that for six months under Steve Evans and then certain Mr. Howe got the job at Bournemouth and the next thing I'm on the phone to women we're discussing about myself coming back which at the time I just laughed off but it was a very strange moment as it happened. Steve Evans is obviously quite an interesting character we've all seen him on the touch line and stuff like that and I think you owe him a real debt of gratitude I believe for that Crawley moved back to Bournemouth. I do and you know what every time I see Eddie and we speak about it he says to me I still I still need to buy Steve Evans a drink he said because I never thanked him because I was six months into my contract and I'd signed a two-year contract with Crawley and we were flying high in the the blue square premises wherever it was back then first time Crawley had been up near the top end was a chance we could get promoted and then I was on the phone to Eddie a day after he got the job and I was congratulating him blah blah blah and then we talked about me coming back and we just laughed it off and then Eddie just changed his tone on the on the phone and he went no I'm being serious and I was like no don't do that to me Ed no no no no mate you don't need me coming back I'm 36 and a half years of age you don't want me coming back no mate come on so this was like January after he'd just got the job I think he got the job on like January the might be the first or New Year's Eve yeah January the first and I spoke to him on the second and um it's funny because my wife said to me I bet Eddie phoned you and you speak to Ed about and I was like no no no I'm a crawler you won't want doesn't want nothing to do with me and then we spoke and and a couple of days later we spoke again and he said I'm being truthful I want you back I want you to come back I want you to run the changing room I don't expect you to play every game I understand your situation I want you back and I said well me I'm come on I'm six months into a contract I got 18 months you said well go and see Steve Evans I was like have you ever met Steve Evans you know what he's like and he was great with me because I was older but he can be brutal and you know and he's brilliant and I love him a bit and I've spoke to a lot of players who played under him and he's definitely my mate you are the loving way I hate him and he's quite a character which we've seen over the years and it was getting towards deadline in January and Ed's me early years and all the time he's going I need to know Fletcher I need to know because I can't get you I'm gonna have to go and get someone else and this is like I'm keeping it a secret and I can't go and see Steve and I kept bottling it and then one day Ed just went me I need to know yes or no basically I went to see Steve Evans in the in the manager's room at Crawley because we trained at the stadium and I got a bit of confidence I thought I'm gonna go and see him I have to Ed needs to know today so I went to the office and he's in his office by himself and he's on the computer blah blah blah and I put my head around the corner and my heart sank and I walked away couldn't do it and I sat around the corner of the manager's office for about two minutes thinking can't do it can I do it can't do it I've got to do it and I was talking to myself I was like and then it just come over me and I walked in the office and he put his laptop down he went yes Fletcher what's the matter mate and I went Steve I need a chat with you and honestly it's like he knew and he went you want to go back to Bournemouth and I went as Eddie for an jet he went no should he have and I went no no I panicked I went no and he went is it you want to go back to Bournemouth I went well the thing is Steve I says if it was any other club but Bournemouth I wouldn't be in your office right now you know that he said Fletcher it was any club apart from Bournemouth I wouldn't have you in my office he said do you really want to go back I said if it wasn't Eddie Howard's manager I said probably wouldn't have even dreamed of it I said but Eddie has obviously spoke to me asked me if I was interested and I said I keep waking up at night thinking about it everyone's telling me to maybe go for it and then other people saying don't go for it because he had 15 years don't go and spoil what you had he said you know the situation they're at the club don't you the 10 points are draped you know that you know that 21 point deducted minus 17 21 minus 17 I was like yeah I understand the situation you said well look give me to the end of the day if I can find a striker to replace you I'll let you go and he phoned me late that evening said I've got a lad from Salzby big lad called Matthews he said because I know how much Bournemouth means to you I'll let you go phoned Eddie he said right come in the next day came in signed the forms with Neil Vecher it was obviously because of the situation the club was in there was no one around we had about three people working Neil Vecher doing the job of about 10 men or women JT and Eddie and remember I had a bit of a thigh strain because I said to Ed at the time I said I've got a bit of a thigh strain I've been I've been on the bench for Crawley the last couple of games he said well can you train because we got Wickham tomorrow and Wickham atop of the league I said I want to yeah I said I'll see how it is so I went to see the physio after I'd signed the forms here to sign it signing in for Bournemouth and I was getting me thigh strapped up and Eddie was grabbing me off the bench come on we got a train we got a train we were training on the pitch when I got out there he got the players to do a guard of honour for me which was a lovely touch and I joked around I come out and I pretended to clap the fans and I've got it on video it's a lovely little moment and then the next day we played Wickham full house 6000 I think I think the previous crowd was about three it was Eddie's first game as manager back at home I think the two games he had before that was rather them away Darlington away lost them both so it was Eddie's first game I'd come back we went 1-0 down after about three minutes I think the goalkeeper had tried to take it around the striker lost it and he bundled it in I think it was Matt Harreld for Wickham and I walked back to the halfway line thinking oh my god what is going on here and then Brett struck a 30 yard free kick into the top corner and we equalised and the whole place just erupted and then we PSC got ahead of from a corner we went 2-1 and then I think Jake Thompson got a deflected goal to make it 3-1 in the second half and I remember afterwards the whole place just was bouncing Eddie for me on the night he said big and I can't believe just what went on there he said it's been unbelievable and we just went on this run I mean there was a lot of blips along the way and we all know obviously what happened right at the end against Grimsby but it was just an amazing time I think I signed on the 23rd of something like 21st, 23rd of January there was 19 games to go and I played in every one by one which I did come on a sub anyway it was Barnett away I think it was the Bankolida where there was a game on the Saturday in the Monday and I couldn't play two two games in the space of three days and that was the only game I missed as a starter it was incredible but it all went down to the Grimsby game every time we got ahead above water we'd sink back down below it and we looked at Grimsby and they were down in the same position as us and everybody thought we'd be safe by then but as it was we went and it all went down to the Grimsby game. The next season we just literally had the same team and we went on this great start we kept the good feel factor the team spirit and we got promoted on basically the adrenaline from the season before and just that togetherness that I've probably haven't experienced ever since in any team so before or since that that togetherness because if we had got beat off Grimsby and went down the majority of them players wouldn't have had another club because a lot of them were unknown I wouldn't have had another club because I was six going on 37 and the club would have went into liquidation probably started all over again because there was nobody running the club we had no owner there was a lot riding on it and I don't think everybody realized at the time what catastrophic a catastrophic situation could have elapsed had we not stayed up I think the club would have just I'd say gone into liquidation gone out of existence and maybe started again so many leagues below like we've seen over the years with some clubs and it would have been absolute travesty for this town and that team that went up that stayed up that year gets applauded and absolutely because what it was probably ironically the catalyst for what's happened since because we got promoted the next season you know two seasons after that we get promoted again and if we hadn't stayed up what what if we probably wouldn't be having this conversation now how did you feel personally having that stand named after you in 2010 yeah it was it was it was strange because we were we were ready to travel to an away game my mind as me right it was a way at I think it's Grimsby or something yeah I think it was Grimsby away and it was about half an hour before we were supposed to get on the coach because obviously we didn't get a flight in those days we coached everywhere whether it was Carl Isle Grimsby or London it didn't matter and Eddie come to me and said oh Eddie Mitchell wants to go and see you in his office on the top floor I was like oh no what's going on no I can't believe this Eddie really Eddie Mitchell very rarely wants to see a player and Ed went to me he looked at me and that's fine I was like okay that gives me a sigh of relief went all the way at the top floor came in his office and put me at ease straight away he said I want to name the north stand after you and I just looked at him like yeah you are joking and he I think he knew what I was thinking he went I'm being serious and he pulled out these plans for it and showed me on on this big piece of paper and and I looked at him I was like I don't know what to say you know you're honoured humbled proud um welled up with tears um he'd obviously spoke to Eddie about it before so Ed kept it from me spoke to Eddie he said would you would you be interested or word to that effect and I was like I don't know what to say I mean it's it's incredible I got back on the coach and Eddie said to me happy I mean happy I mean what what word is better than happy I mean ecstatic I mean I didn't I couldn't say anything to anyone I didn't know what to say I felt a little bit not embarrassed but I felt a little bit like I shouldn't I don't deserve it I don't why are you doing this type thing and Eddie looked at me and he went big and he said you deserve this this is this is amazing and um it took me a while to sink in and I for my parents for my wife and we were all in tears about it and it's probably one of the most honorable things that has ever happened to me and to cut the ribbon when they when they opened the stands and I'm seeing my my big head and my name above it was incredible I took a lot of stick from it obviously you can imagine from my own players and obviously the opposition players I played against for years because I had about seven or eight foot ahead of mine stuck on the top of the stand to start with and used to wind me up soon to have to keep looking up at that for 45 minutes but um it's something that you never dream about when you're growing up as a footballer you want to be a professional and you want to play at Wembley and you want to get promoted and you want to score a lot of goals you never think of an accolade like that coming your way and remember Chris Temple on the radio found out that I was actually the only player in what we thought in English football history but it could be in Europe that's ever had a stand named after them while they were still playing usually it's when you retire or you pass away um I always joke that maybe they're trying to tell me something trying to make me retire but I played for another three years after that so that was 2010 and I didn't retire till 2013 but it's something I can't describe in words um and every time even now when I'm in the stadium and I look up and I see my name I just feel an immense amount of pride runs through my blood and I still get people looking want to be now and do you know what is brilliant because when we play in the Premier League had people like Marino and Pep Guardiola looking up at the stand and going is that you is that you how come why why why you and they were like and I just probably tell them in 10 seconds oh yeah I spent a lot of time here in the club blah blah blah and I'd speak on the phone to my parents saying Josie Marino and Pep Guardiola's just asked me about my stand and crazy because they probably come to these little stadiums and are interested in the history of the club um and I've had a few moments like that and and players as well like big players top international players have said to me oh is that your stand and can imagine the the the pride and the the love I have got close to your body when something like that happens is amazing now the cherry's finally got back into the second tier promotion in 2012 2013 and then that June 2013 as you've said a month before your 41st birthday you decided to hang up your boots give us your emotions from that decision I decided or Ed decided I I hoped that Ed might just give me one more year and we had a discussion and because we'd gone into the championship he's just like Fletcher I know you want to play I know how much the club means to you I know how much football means to you I can't guarantee you being in in the squad of like 18 17 18 on the bench every week I can't guarantee you that the club is now in the second tier of English football for the second time in its history I've got to be looking through other avenues and he said to me I'm not telling you to retire he said because I know how much you still want to play but I turn around to him straight away and I said Ed I do not want to go to another club I've done it once and looking back it was probably the best thing that ever happened to me leaving and coming back because I had an amazing five years and probably played every game in them last five years like it was my last I wish I'd done it in my first 15 it might have been a better player but I said I don't want to go to another club I said unless I was on 999 games I said then maybe I'm going to play one game I said but I don't want I don't want to leave you said well look thought about it and I'd love you to join the recruitment department we're a very small department it needs building would you like to be part of that I'd like you to like to help run it and I said well let me think about it and after a couple of days I've got my head around retiring because obviously I went into his office hoping he was going to give me a year and I understand the totally the reasons why he couldn't and it was only because he loves me so much and he didn't want to see me disappointed every week that I couldn't be in the squad he said and I just don't want to see your career fizzle out to nothing and not play a game or not be part of it he said but you'll still be part of it he said because when you're not off scouting you can come to the games you can be around the team you can come out to training and I spoke to Eddie Mitchell he said and I want you to take an ambassador role on and look after the players and take them to events and represent the club and after a couple of days I said yeah I'd love to remember going to the first game when I was scouting and I went to Birmingham away and I sat in the stand and when they kicked off obviously I'm for the last 24 years of my career on my life I'd been part of that first game of the season and that's when he hit me sat in Birmingham away and stand with the rest of the scouts I sat away from them and shed a few tears because the realism of me not being a professional footballer kicked in on that day but I slowly got my head around it and I think it helped being part of the setup here and being around the players and Edward get me into training and in the sessions once a week he'd shout me over my office was over here in the main building and he'd shout me over and text me and say come on big and get out in the training field I loved it I was at games I was going to games he was phoning me up I was liaison with him every day and I think being around it helped me get over the fact that I wasn't a professional footballer anymore because when you play for that long you just think it's never going to end I thought I was Peter Pan I live my life on and off the field like I was Peter Pan at times and you think it's never going to end the longer you play the longer you think you can play it's bizarre you don't think it's ever going to come to an end and I think it helped helped me a lot going staying at the club and do what I did now despite hanging up your boots I understand that you've been playing fiver side still three times a week but you've got this vow that when you hit 50 which is this month you're going to retire from fiver side as well is that still the plan yes I will play your charity game and you know I don't mind playing a veterans league but I'm playing with young lads who are 18 19 and when I retired I still wanted to play so I went with my neighbour down a little down played in a fiver side with some young lads and they materialized from that and then another group of lads said oh would you come and play with those and we play an hour after that so I ended up playing two hours on the Thursday an hour on a Monday but my knees are starting to take it's toll now I never trained on 3g when I was a player because of my knees I used to skip that day and have to go in the gym and now I'm playing three hours a week on the 3g surface for nine years since 2013 probably 40 weeks of the 52 a year now I know my job isn't as as important as a player but I still got to be out on that field I've still joined in in training I'm setting up training I'm doing whatever the manager wants me to do I'm out on the training field every day I can't jeopardize my job and I said to my friends I said look I'm going to retire I said my knees are starting to hurt now um and it's like anything you know you've got to prioritize and this is my second retirement I now know why I didn't want you to talk about that Grimsby goal because Zoe's going to ask you the next question nearly to it that ultimate highlight of your playing career yeah the Grimsby game I think the goal but the game that I'll pumped up we were the crowd going one behind equalizing straight after half time through Feeney and then to get the goal and and I did I have mentioned it since but I didn't mention it for many many years I actually thought I was going to score on the day and I never felt that really through my career I wish I had probably scored more goals but I had a feeling come over me when we equalized that this is my chance this is my moment this is why I've come back to Bournemouth this is why I've put everything at risk for the last couple years of my career coming here 10 points a drift no one given us a prayer club probably going to go out of existence and then got my opportunity in the 80th minute um my very good friend Mark Molesley always reminds me that he lost the header from the cross on purpose so the ball could drop to me and it didn't I chested it down and just hit it as hard as I could and to see it fly in the roof of the net was the most incredible feeling I've ever had in my life and I'll never compare it to the birth of your children because you can't it's it's two totally different things but taking away the birth of my two daughters Danny and Emily it is all right my wedding day as well I better say that just in case the wife's listening but apart from that is the most incredible moment and like I said Wembley was brilliant walking out and that buzz scoring at the Millennium Stadium but this was on another level because of how much it meant to the club and and what we've been through and what I'd sacrificed and just that everything that had led up to the game and then to score the goal I took my shirt off and run down the line and you know and and to believe that minutes before that I kept thinking I'm going to get a goal I'm going to get a goal I'm going to get a goal um and then to get it um it's just the most like I say amazing feeling um unless you've played football or a sport and you get that buzz I've scored goals in the last minute to win games and it it's a great feeling but it's hard to describe to people unless you've really played like being in that environment and I'm sure we all get buzz from whatever we do in life whatever job you have but to score that goal and see the fans reaction and what it meant to the club and saving us from getting relegated and probably going that big you know everything it was just like it was just spine tingling and all the players jumped on me and the photographs and the memories I've got from it it was people have said to me it was meant to be it was written in the stars I do believe so um my granddad was a professional footballer won the FA cup played for England and then he passed away just before I turned professional I always say to this day he was looking down on me for that moment Fletch give us a fiver side team of players you played with not including yourself right so fiver side's totally different to 11 aside so sometimes the best 11 side players are not great at fiver side so might not be what everybody thinks god it's hard to remember it's nine years since I've played 30 years 32 years since I started playing um in goal believe it or not that's disrespectful I shouldn't say believe it or not garros stewart and the reason is he's so good with his feet he plays fiver side now sometimes in the staff games he's just like a cent and a half in goal now no mossy's gonna be gutted and god rest his soul mark oven deal and people like that and jimmy glass although jimmy never and not in a million years so garros stewart for the main reason he's so good with his feet he'd just like he'd be like a sweeper in goal that's so he's gonna be my goalie I have to put your main before him because he can just score a goal if we're getting beat just give the ball to your main that's all I used to do when my player just flick it on and he'd beat three people chip the goalkeeper from 25 yards and I'd claim an assist so I could do that in a fiver side game yeah your main before would have to be in there see I could throw people like Rio Ferdinand in because I played with him for it for a month but I think that's a bit harsh jimmy was with us for a season so I ain't gonna put people like John O'Shea and Rio Ferdinand in there because they weren't here long enough so I can't do that it wouldn't be fair to some of the players I played with for longer periods I'll put weird Elliot in there it's tricky with his feet so they're my two attacking players I need someone to link the play really and that's Richard Hughes even now he can't get the ball off him yeah I played fiver side with him for a few years after he retired and it's incredible just just links the player sees the pass and at the back you don't really need someone big and strong to hit it I know he's going to be devastated if he ever listens to this which he probably won't but I can't put Eddie in there I know he wants me to I need a gun men's so if he listens to this I'll probably will tell him in the in the next couple of days that I haven't put him in but I'm going to put in Carl Fletcher because he's so creative on the ball for a for a centre half and he's brave he's a leader he would captain the team um play listen I could put I could put hundreds of players and I'm missing out some incredible players Jung E my best mate in football Neil Young's going to be devastated when he hears this why am I not in there uh F and a cuckoo girl will probably tell me on his travels when I see him that why am I not in there and there's some players like you we spoke about earlier who went on to play at the top level but I'm thinking of a fiver side team don't need big strong lads you need quick mobile intelligent players and players who can score goals so Carl Fletcher Richard Hughes Wade Elliott Jermaine Defoe and garrus stewing go right you can get some brownie points back with Eddie now he appointed you as first team coach what was he like to work under I know you had the scouting role first and then first team coach what was he like to work under I'll have the scouting rule for two and a half two and a half seasons we went to an event to open up a doctors surgery I turned up out the blue because I've been ambassador that's what I did Eddie didn't know I was coming and although I seen him released every other day at the football club he turned around to me and we're having a picture taken and honestly put his arm around me he said big and why don't you come over tomorrow and start doing more with us on the training field would you like that I said I'd love it he said you can still do your scouting you just a little bit but just don't travel as much he said and come over and it was amazing that's and I just turned up every day and just listened learned watched written lots of things down did a few of my coaching badges and that's six months at the end of the season had a meeting with Ed and he said you enjoy it I said I loved it he said well I loved Avenue Round we showed loads of enthusiasm I want you to stay on in this department and would you be happy I said absolutely it's the thing I always wanted to do but but you know looking back but when I did the scouting for two and a half yeah I did not open my eyes to a lot of things and you see players in a different way but the coaching was amazing and I've been now in that department for seven years since I think it was obviously the January of our first season in the Premier League so seven years and I've learnt a lot of things and I always say to players now I'm actually technically better with the ball at my feet than what I was as a player because when you're a coach you have to be with your passing balls in or you're organising your career and your whatever you're doing I always say to players now if you can do a bit of coaching in your career while you're playing do it because you'll become a better player you'll look at things differently and I wish I'd done it at a younger age and I've loved every minute working under Ed he is relentless in every way but 99% of it in a good way and the days he did have a goat me he'd always come to me at the end of the day and say I'm sorry I didn't mean it you know I love you and I only say it because I want to get the best out of you um he was he's intense he's relentless he's very methodical there's nothing left unturned for him to fathom out and and make sure that it's right I remember him saying it was you know these little half a percent smack because at the end of the day if everybody is half percent half a percent off it it soon mounts up and we always had two relationships the professional relationship and the relationship outside of the stadium so if we went out for a drink or now for a meal or did whatever that was my mate Eddie under this roof and in this environment he was boss and you know that that was something I had to understand very quickly and especially around the players because I couldn't call him Ed I was calling him boss mountain gaffer whatever um we had two relationships we did um he taught me so much um not only about football but about life in general um just his his way his demeanor the way he thought about things um I could spend an hour just talking about how good he was but I don't want to do that um the proofs in the pudding look at what he did the way he did for this club obviously with max and the people behind him he built the club and he had a vision everything we see at this football club was Ed's vision along with max and the help that he had but it's um it's an incredible journey that I had in my career but an incredible journey that I've had since I retired and that's down to Eddie Howe really you had a brief spell as assistant manager to Lee Bradbury have you ever fancied a crack at management yourself I thought about it I've never I've never said I wouldn't um it's not something that's on you know at the top of my agenda um I always think you're very silly if you turn around and say I'll never do it because you just never know in life never mind football football can change in a heartbeat in an instant um so I wouldn't say I would never but I've no intentions and I'm not looking and I've had a few inquiries over the years people have asked me would I be interested in going for an interview and I've just turned them down straight away because if you're like once again like in my playing career if you're happy I don't want to change something if things change and you never know in football then you have to look at something but at the moment not not on my on my heart of hearts no I'm not interested at the moment but I would never say never because like I say you just don't know in football now you were one of the few people that have been here this season and one of the few people that were here in the 2014-15 promotion winning season how would you compare the two so many people have been given so many different opinions on the two squads the two teams the two seasons how from your point of view they're two totally different they're two totally different seasons um the scott has been brilliant I remember the first year scott came in I sat down with him and I said look I know you spoke to Neil Blake Richard Hughes about myself um now you're happy for me to be here I said I'll do exactly for you what I did for Ed I'll give you everything I'll be the same person I'll do what you want me to do I'll be around the players I'll look after things I can organize blah blah blah he was great straight away he said Fletch I'm buzzing that's what I want um I suppose that little link link between the staff and the players etc um but the two teams are totally different that team came through league one you know I started off in the relegations when Ed took him over in the October um we worked our way all the way up to the Premier League this team is a totally different team you can't really compare inability you can't compare in character I think it'd be wrong to compare I think they're both very hungry that's all I would say um I think scott's done an amazing job to galvanize the players after the seasons before the season before his disappointment losing out against Brentford in the playoff semifinal um obviously the previous to that disappointed from going out the Premier League and I still talk about it now you know the goal that never was it should never have been out the Premier League but wait it's happened it's bizarre as it was and probably never happened again in football um so two very disappointing seasons our endings to seasons um and scott gripped the lads from the first day he came in told them why we were doing extra run and why we were going to do extra fitness why we're doing certain things because at the end of it you'll you'll get the success and you'll get what you deserve out of this season which is promotion and he said it from day one um in front of all the boys remember the speech because it was taking me back a little bit actually I was like wow yeah he's been around you know 500 Premier League games played for England he knows what he's talking about and um I have to take my heart off to him and his staff they've been incredible since they come in it's different for me obviously because obviously I'm part of the old regime but for me I'm still part of the football club so old regime new regime still Steve Fletcher who's been here for nearly 30 years um nothing changes for me for my love for the football club and and scott he knows that um ed will ed will always be my boy of course he will because he he roomed with me I watch him come through the through the youth team you know I roomed with him he's one of my best mates that's never going to be taken away ed's gone on to new pastures and done amazing and scott's done incredible with this group of team here and I'm here and you know that that's my part and like say Scott and his staff have been fantastic with me and I've loved every minute um both teams like I say are different and it's going to be very interesting to see how how we um or how we achieve in the in this Premier League I think the team before there wasn't many players maybe perhaps from Artiborah the keeper who played in the Premier League um this team has a few who've been there some who haven't so we've got a bit more of a mixture um but I know they're hungry I know they're desperate to succeed I'm sure and it's going to be a very interesting campaign um the teams will always get compared you know this uh Zoe the teams will always get compared from the first ever time we're in the Premier League with that team to the second time ever in the club's history in the Premier League they'll always be compared teams always do I think it's unfair but that's what supporters love to do you know it's it's a talking point in a pub or a restaurant or a sat at home with your friends whatever um I won't compare because I don't think it's fair and I think it's it's very difficult to do that anyway just quickly you touched upon it there Scott Parker what's he like working under him working alongside him a lot of people use the word intensity certainly players when they're training under him he is well listen it's not the elephant in the room but people are always going to compare him to head one because of what he's done he's got us up two because people see similarities that we have to be around them to realise yes there there's similarities as in they're both there was very intense they both make sure and like I said not stone is unturned every bit of detail is important but then the details different I mean straight away we play different system majority of the time and just got them what we did with that the way the way we play is different a little bit um yeah we both like to keep the ball and blah blah blah but the ways we the way we set up the not just the formation just the way the way we the way we go out and start the games etc etc you can look at detail and go well they're totally different so I don't think it would be fair to compare them people will and but Scott has been magnificent with the players he speaks to them he's a good speaker he talks really well players listen he's been there done it seen it drank it it slept with it for so many years and they know when he says something this man has been at the very top and straight away he commands respect the players look at Scott and go yeah I understand why you're saying it because you've been in around teams who've been at the top end of of English football um and with him and his team they're very tight in it they're a group we've come from talk them and fool them and they've known each other for a while but they came straight in and they're very open with everything and you know Scott's door's always open like Eddie's was if you want to walk in and have a chat with him and there's a lot of comparisons between the two um but there's a lot that is very different Fletch we were all treated to some great footage of the gaffer at the end of the season in the changing room and stuff like that and you said earlier about how he he addressed everybody at the start of the season in the same vein almost I mean that must be a side of him that you've seen a lot more than everyone else has yes and before every game home and away we always have a meeting that we talk about our set players which we've obviously done throughout the week and how we're going to play and then Scott does his meeting after that with the players and he talks about the opposition and then he usually gives a speech on what he thinks about the game and how he sees it and he's very passionate he's a very good speaker um and sometimes it's not all about the game when he's speaking just before we come across to the stadium over in the players pavilion it's about things that happen in life and how he sees things um and and a very much like ed is a deep thinker um and he comes across really well like I say when he talks you are in the room and you you do get a buzz sometimes I walk out that room where the players feel and I want to put on my boots and go out and and play for him and fight for him um he gives you that you know that the hair is tingling on the back of your neck he's a very good speaker um and I think the players have bought into that in their performances this season especially towards the end when we were desperate and we needed them to perform we all know what they were capable of um and I think when when push comes to shove the players produced hopes for the season Fletch champions league would be nice um although I'm not really being picky I mean Europa League would be okay as well listen remember the first year in the Premier League we were just thinking survival I'm not saying we're thinking that now it's a totally different situation we've been there before um but it has to be in some respects it has to be one of the things we have to think about survival of course we do um we will be once again the smallest team in the in the Premier League um but that sometimes works in our favor and I think it did for the five years we were there um the hopes are we achieve what we're capable of achieving um you've got to work hard we have a big motto across the floor in the changing room work to win without work you don't win and um we go and show all that this season and who knows where we can go you know once again staying in the league is is paramount I'd like to think we're better than that now we're coming to the end of our podcast we always end with some supporter questions just some spin-off questions short and sweet they've been getting in touch via social media um we're going to start with AFCB in Germany they always submit a question they're brilliant um they have asked presuming your favorite cherry's goal is the one against Grimsby which we've talked about what's your second favorite I'll tell you what I want I want talk about the one I won't mention the one at Millennium Stadium because I've already talked about it that that was great but if it was just a league goal I would probably say the goal when I was a system manager when we played Bristol Rovers at home and got us into the playoffs on the last game Danny Ings took it around the keeper squared it back I side-footed it home and once again it was another because we'd gone out the playoffs and we were back in the playoffs and I remember the crowd all run the pitch run away I was 30 I think I was 39 years of age or something like that and I never thought I'd have another moment like that again I think I'd come off the bench that season and scored a few goals I was actually scoring more off the bench than when I was starting and I remember scoring that goal and that is my favorite moment because your favorite moment when you score goals is that the feeling and that spine tingling feeling and it's usually a last-minute goal or a winner or in a big game and that was a big game to get us back in the playoffs and I remember that and ran down the line and once again with my shirt off and which I shouldn't do with 39 years of age but fans all on the pitch it was it was a great moment so that that sticks in my mind Julian on Facebook wants to know you're a northerner by birth but does the south coast feel like home after all these years it does and you know why because every time I'm away with my parents on holiday people always say to me oh where you from and I got off from Bournemouth my mum clips me around the head and says no son you were born in Hartlepool so straight away I just say Bournemouth's my home and that's where I was born but obviously it wasn't I spent 20 years in Hartlepool but I always I always think of Bournemouth's home now I've got a tricky one from Linda on Facebook she's asking should chips have gravy on them 100% because northern lads love gravy Alex on Twitter do you have a favorite tattoo and are you going to get any more I am going to get some more probably more from memories because one of my dogs passed away one of my sharp-haired dogs back in October and I mean the wife would devastate it again and I had a paw print from my sharp-haired from before with some nice words around it I'm going to get the same done again from a dog missy my favorite tattoo is I've got a fallen angel and my daughter's initials and dates of birth around it and I really like it I always get commented on it on my arm so that's about my favorite my my tattoo is my left arm I did my full left arm and it's all to do with my family my right arm I have I've filled about half of it and it's to do with myself so football I've actually got the the date I scored the Grimsby goal on it I'm a Leo so I've got a lion encrusted into the football um Fletcher arrow because Fletcher was an arrow maker back in the day so I've made my right arm personal to me and my left arm all to do with my family well Fletcher you've heard some hilarious stories we've really enjoyed your company here on the official AFC Bournemouth podcast so thank you so much for coming in and spending an hour or two with us my pleasure thank you very much and let's look forward to the next 30 years if you've enjoyed listening to our podcast we would absolutely love it if you could like and subscribe on whatever platform you're listening on we'd also be very grateful for any shares on social media so that other fans be at AFC Bournemouth related or the general football fan that can enjoy it too our thanks again to Steve Fletcher and from Neil Perrett and myself Zoe Rundle thank you for tuning in to the official AFC Bournemouth podcast