Paul John Fletcher
MBE (born 13 January 1951) is an English retired professional
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...
who played as a striker. He was the
chief executive
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
of
Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Br ...
. In February 2018 he published with
Alastair Campbell
Alastair John Campbell (born 25 May 1957) is a British journalist, author, strategist, broadcaster and activist known for his roles during Tony Blair's leadership of the Labour Party. Campbell worked as Blair's spokesman and campaign director ...
a co-written novel on football and terrorism in the 1970s, ''Saturday Bloody Saturday''. which within the first week after publication was in ''
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
'' Top Ten Bestsellers.
Early years
Paul Fletcher attended Smithills Technical School in Bolton
[Bolton Wanderers v Fulham football programme, 15 March 1969, p5] and in 1967 joined his home town club
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pik ...
. In 1970, he became one of the country's most expensive transfers when he joined Burnley Football Club for a club record fee. During the next ten years he made over 400 appearances, mostly in the old
First Division – now named the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
. After gaining four England
U23 International caps he was selected in
Don Revie
Donald George Revie OBE (10 July 1927 – 26 May 1989) was an England international footballer and manager, best known for his successful spell with Leeds United from 1961 until 1974, which immediately preceded his appointment as England mana ...
's England squad, but a serious knee injury put paid to a full England call up. A second serious leg injury forced his early retirement at the age of 32.
After playing
Following a sixteen-year career as a professional footballer he has now become one of Europe's leading stadium experts, joining a rare breed of former professional footballers who have successfully made the transition from 'teamsheet to balancesheet'. His commercial career in football began at
Colne Dynamoes F.C. in the late 1980s. Since then he has served as Chief Executive at
Huddersfield Town
Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...
where, over a six-year period, he masterminded the award-winning
Alfred McAlpine Stadium, voted the RIBA 'Building of the Year 'in 1995.
In 1996, he then returned to his old club
Bolton Wanderers F.C. as Chief Executive at the new £40 million
Reebok Stadium
The University of Bolton Stadium is the home ground of Bolton Wanderers F.C. in Horwich, Greater Manchester, England.
Opening in 1997, it was named the Reebok Stadium, after club sponsors Reebok. In 2014, Bolton Wanderers signed a naming ri ...
, the
BCI Building of the Year in 1998. In 1999, after two years at the Reebok, he was invited by the
FA to become Commercial Director of the new £500 million
Wembley National Stadium. After eighteen months, as costs escalated, he walked away from the project commenting that he 'needed to spend more time with his wife and family in the Lancashire sunshine'.
Arena construction
Within weeks he took up the position as Chief Executive of Arena Coventry Limited to head-up the construction and delivery of the proposed £64 million
Ricoh Arena
The Coventry Building Society Arena (often shortened to the CBS Arena or just simply Coventry Arena, and formerly known as the Ricoh Arena) is a complex in Coventry, England. It includes a 32,609-seater stadium which is currently home to footb ...
in
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...
, which is destined to become one of the country's largest sports and leisure venues. This includes a 32,000 seat stadium for
Coventry City
Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...
, the largest casino in the UK, two hotels, an exhibition centre, health and fitness club and a wide range of community facilities.
Club director
On 1 January 2006 he was invited to join the Board of Coventry City Football Club as Managing Director. In October 2007, following a 9-month period of negotiations with various parties, Paul resigned in protest of the stadium's owners, Arena Coventry Limited, for their refusal to accept a purchase proposal from an American consortium for both the Ricoh Arena and Coventry City FC.
Two months later he was invited to take up a position as Chief Executive at Burnley Football Club. In May 2009 whilst under Paul's stewardship as CEO, Burnley was promoted into the Barclays Premier League for the first time in 34 years. In late 2011 he resigned this position to take up a new role as Managing Director (and co-founder, with Burnley Director
Brendan Flood
Brendan Flood is an English businessman and entrepreneur.
From 2007 until January 2013 and from March 2014 until December 2020, Flood was a major investor and operational director of Burnley Football Club. In 2009, he published "''Big Club, Smal ...
) of
UCFB (University & College of Football Business) located at
Turf Moor
Turf Moor is an association football stadium in Burnley, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Burnley F.C. since 1883. This unbroken service makes Turf Moor the second-longest continuously used ground in English professional footba ...
Stadium. In 2011 UCFB won a FA Football Award for "Most innovative use of a football stadium on non-matchdays". In February 2013 UCFB announced its second campus in partnership with Wembley Stadium. In 2014 UCFB relocated from Turf Moor Burnley to
The Etihad Stadium Manchester. Both campuses now (in February 2018) have attracted about 2,000 students (combined).
He lives with his wife and family in the
Rossendale Valley
The Rossendale Valley is in the Rossendale area of Lancashire, England, between the West Pennine Moors and the main range of the Pennines. The area includes the steep-sided valleys of the River Irwell and its tributaries (between Rawtenstall ...
in the heart of Lancashire close to Turf Moor, Burnley and is an active member of the
George Formby Society
The George Formby Society was created after the death of British vaudeville entertainer George Formby in 1961. A small group of his fans, brought together by an ad in '' The Stage'' placed by Londoner George Wilson,The George Formby Society met to ...
.
Awards
In the
2007 New Year Honours
The New Year Honours 2007 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...
, Fletcher was appointed
Member of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(MBE) "for services to sport and to charity."
[United Kingdom: ]
References
External links
*
Paul Fletcher's websitePaul Fletcher profileat clarets-mad.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, Paul
1951 births
Living people
English footballers
England under-23 international footballers
Association football forwards
Bolton Wanderers F.C. players
Burnley F.C. players
Blackpool F.C. players
English Football League players
Members of the Order of the British Empire