Fletcher Harry Image 2 Grimsby Town 1907

Description

Birmingham born inside left Harry Fletcher started his career with Albion Swifts in 1887 and joined Second Division club Grimsby Town in the summer of 1892 ahead of their inaugural Football League season, with Fletcher making his debut at Doncaster Rovers that October in an FA Cup tie, scoring 5 goals in 19 games during their inaugural campaign. He soon became a regular member of the Grimsby team, ever present between 1894 and 1897, being a regular scorer and indeed the club’s top scorer in 1896-97 ahead of Tommy McCairns, their leading scorer, the previous three seasons, Fletcher having spent three seasons immediately behind him. In December 1897 he scored four goals in a 7-0 thrashing of Loughborough, and in March 1898 he was signed by First Division club Notts County after 80 goals in 177 appearances for The Mariners, and he represented The Football League against The Irish League in Belfast in November 1898 having been an international trialist in 1896, but he re-joined Grimsby in September 1900 after 18 goals in 62 appearances for The Magpies.

His second spell at Grimsby lasted three seasons, and included winning the Second Division Championship in 1900-01, after which he played two seasons in the First Division for The Mariners, adding a further 13 goals in 84 appearances before joining Southern League club Fulham in the summer of 1903. Described as “a resourceful player, very fast and difficult to tackle, also shines in defence, his tackling being quick and effective”, he scored 19 goals in 47 appearances for Fulham before joining Brentford in 1904, where he scored 3 goals in 21 appearances, but in October 1905 he returned to (by now Second Division) Grimsby Town once again, becoming club captain, and although never a regular in his third spell he played his last match for them in January 1910 adding 7 goals in 46 appearances, scoring in total 100 goals in 307 appearances for The Mariners across some 17 years of service.