Fleck, John
From RangersPedia
| John Fleck
|
According to the press, Scotland has found its answer to the mercurial Wayne Rooney. It comes in the form of a rugged 16 year old from Glasgow. Youngest player to play in a British Cup Final? Check. One of the top 10 rising stars within Europe? Check. First 15 year old to pull on the light blue jersey since Derek Ferguson? Check. They call him Fleck. John Fleck.
Nephew of former Ger Robert Fleck, the youngster seemed destined for stardom at a young age; Adidas saw enough of him to sign him up to a boot deal when he was just 16 years old, having not yet played in a competitive first team fixture. This was most likely down to impressive form at youth level for both club and country. In 2006, he not only played for, but captained the Scottish under-16s to an 11-0 thrashing of Jersey under-17s, scoring not once, not twice, but three times in a convincing victory for the Scots.
Fast forward a year and he's playing for his boyhood heroes at the tender age of 15; the age where most teens are worried about spots and girls, never mind the prospect of representing the biggest club side in Scotland. He even scored in a 3-1 friendly win over Sportfreunde Lotto. 2007 also saw the youngster contribute to a 5-0 Youth Cup victory over Old Firm rivals Celtic. However, top team action would have to wait. For now, at least.
2008/2009 Season
2008 was a big year for the young Glaswegian. By late January, he had made his first competitive start for the Light Blues in a Scottish Cup fixture against East Stirlingshire. It was around about this time that Rangers fans sat up and took notice of this young prodigy. With spacial awareness rare for his age, and a sublime first touch, this boy's card was marked. After pulling the strings in yet another Youth Cup victory over Celtic, Fleck was thrown into the Pittodrie cauldron for Gers' final league game. Not content with this, John Fleck became the youngest player to ever take part in a British Cup Final, in Rangers' 3-2 victory over Queen of the South, almost scoring near the end.
After that, things went a wee bit quiet for a while. Almost half a year passed, and people started to wonder what had happened to this youngster they had all been raving about. Was he injured? Was he going through something in his personal life? Or had he merely fallen off the radar? Most likely Smith had just plumped for experienced hands to get through a troubled time. Whatever the case, Fleck came into the New Year with a bang. Late January, he was handed a start against on form Dundee United. Deep into the 2nd half, with the score tied at 0-0, a packed Ibrox is getting restless. Rangers huffed and puffed, but just couldn't break down a tangerine wall. The seconds turned into minutes and game dragged on. Would this be the second time that we would fail to take all three points of Dundee United at home that season, losing crucial ground to Celtic in the championship race?
With around 70 minutes on the clock, the young Fleck surged into the box. "Shoot! Shoot!" screamed the fans! United's Croat defender Mikhael Kovacevic was bearing down on him quickly. Fleck had to make a decision. And fast. The homewtown hero pushed the ball past his opponent, only to be brought down by a large Croatian leg. "PEANLTY!" Ibrox roared in unison. You don't have to be a genius to figure out who stepped up. Score, you're a hero; miss you're the scapegoat. On you go son. Ibrox held its breath. Fleck placed the ball down on the spot, turned and began his run up, whipping it past Celtic bound Lukasz Zaluska with all the confidence in the world. 20 minutes later, and Fleck has just put in a man of the match performance to secure a massive moral victory.
2009/2010 Season
Fleck started the first few games as a starter but as the season's progressed he's found appearances hard to come by. He's more accustomed to coming off the bench now.
It has emerged that Fleck has rejected a lucrative contract to stay at Rangers after being advised by his agent to look to England when his contract expires in the summer of 2011. Poor advice if you ask me and you've got to wonder why a Rangers fan would reject the chance to stay at the club he supported as a boy. It turned out his agent was negotiating a contract without Fleck knowing about it. He hasn't been happy with the negative press and is in talks himself to extend his contract. He recently scored his first league goal of the season against Falkirk.
Rangers Career Statistics
| Season | League | Cup | League Cup | European | Friendlies | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |
| 2007/08 | 1 | - | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | 4 | 0 |
| 2008/09 | 8 | 1 | 1 | - | 1 | - | - | - | 3 | 1 | 13 | 2 |
| 2009/10 | 15 | 1 | 3 | - | 2 | 1 | 3 | - | 4 | - | 27 | 2 |
| 2010/11 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3 | - | 3 | 0 |
| Total | 24 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 47 | 4 |
Honours
Images
 |
 |
 |
