OVER a weekend of refereeing blunders, conspiracy theories and Joe Garner’s near death experience at Pittodrie, there was a good news Scottish football story in among the usual nonsense which may have escaped you.
It involved Sheffield United, one of the many big English clubs to fall on hard times in recent years, as they won promotion from League One to the Championship with plenty to spare thanks to a 2-1 win over Northampton Town.
The scorer of the winning goal was John Fleck, the former Ranger once tipped to be a world beater before he was old enough to leave school, and anyone who watched his progress found it difficult to calm the rising sense of optimism that at long last we had a right good un on our hands.
Read more: Arthur Numan: Rangers finishing second means f*** all
At the 2008 Scottish Cup Final, I watched Rangers beat Queen of the South from the press benches and sitting to my right was the suspended Nacho Novo.
When Walter Smith decided to put the 16-year-old Fleck on as a substitute, and at 3-2 the game was far from done which showed how much the teenager was trusted, the previously silent Novo elbowed me and said: “That lad is special.”
It would have been more than special had Barry Ferguson passed to his wean of a team-mate in the final minutes for a tap-in instead of trying to score by himself. I recall quite vividly the look on Ally McCoist’s face on the touchline, a genuine mixture disbelief and disgust.
Lionel Messi became a Barcelona regular at 17, Wayne Rooney got in the Everton first-team at that age, but these are rare examples. The teenage years, especially for attacking players, tend to be when they learn their trade in and out the team rather than lead the line.
Rangers supporters in particular thought their club had a gem. As the joke went back then, when John Fleck jumps in the ocean he doesn’t get wet, the ocean gets John Fleck.
The hype, and a lot of it came from the Press, was impossible for the kid to live up to. He played 58 games for Rangers, scoring three goals and when he eventually left at 21 had two league medals and that Scottish Cup win as a memory.
Fleck didn’t tear up any trees at Ibrox, he certainly wasn’t the new Ian Durrant as some dubbed him, but had his moments. There were strong enough hints to suggest he could still become a player.
Read more: Arthur Numan: Rangers finishing second means f*** all
But he was sent out to Blackpool on loan before signing for Coventry City and then Sheffield United last summer- he has never played above English football’s third tier - and the once would-be golden boy of Scotland disappeared without a trace.
Except that’s not what happened.
It is to the 25-year-old Fleck’s enormous credit that he has forged a really good career for himself. Before moving to Sheffield where his performances this season earned him place in the EPL team of the year, he was a real star with Coventry, a basket case of a club, who he helped perform well above expectations which won him a raft of individual awards.
“Flecky has been outstanding,” said Chris Wilder, his manager at United. “He’s one of those who can, without a shadow of a doubt, play up there in the Championship.”
Fleck just missed out to team-mate Billy Sharp in the division’s Player of the Year – has more assists than any other player – and a call to a journalist who covers the club confirmed that the “little Scottish lad” has been absolutely brilliant.
They say that about him at Coventry as well. Nobody questions his attitude or work rate; indeed, a long-suffering hack who reports on his local club told me that nobody had a bad word to say about him.
This is from an interview from three years ago.
“I get asked all the time if I couldn’t handle the weight of expectation on my shoulders at Ibrox. But I can honestly say it didn’t affect me at all. I’m a laidback person and tried not to take any notice of the hype. I just tried to do my best – if that was good enough, great, if not there wasn’t a lot I could do about it.”
Read more: Arthur Numan: Rangers finishing second means f*** all
And Fleck added: “I’m now starting to show if I’m played in the right position by a manager who has faith in me I can do well… even back then I felt people were talking me up so they could knock me back down.
“In a way that’s what happened. So I’m glad I didn’t let it influence me. I feel I’m playing well now. I’m doing what I’ve always done – trying to get on the ball, play passes and make things happen. I’m a lot fitter than I was at Rangers too and I’m feeling really good right now.”
First of all good on him and, secondly, it’s a touch depressing a young talent had to move away from Rangers to be played in is right position and to get fit.
By all accounts, Fleck is a good guy who has enjoyed the best season of his career. He might not have become a Messi, or the new Messiah, but his career is far from a mess. I have a feeling the best chapter in his story is yet to come.
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