Curtis Fleming

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Curtis Fleming
Personal information
Date of birth	8 October 1968 (1968-10-08) (age 40)
Place of birth	Manchester, England
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Playing position	right back
Club information
Current club	Retired
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1987–1989 1989–1990 1990–1991 1991–2001 2001 2001–2004 2004–2005 2005 2006–2007	St Patrick's Athletic Swindon Town St Patrick's Athletic Middlesbrough → Birmingham City (loan) Crystal Palace Darlington Shelbourne Billingham Synthonia	? (?) 0 (0) 31 (2) 266 (3) 6 (0) 45 (0) 27 (0) 10 (0)
National team2
1996–1998	Republic of Ireland	10 0(0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 05:54, 5 September 2007 (UTC) (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 23:50, 16 December 2006 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Curtis Fleming (born 8 October 1968 in Manchester, UK) is a former Irish international footballer. Fleming played right back and won international honours for the Republic of Ireland at under-21, under-23, B and senior level. He started his career with St. Patrick's Athletic in the League of Ireland and spent the majority of his career with Middlesbrough. Although born in Manchester, Fleming was raised in Dublin and spent only months in Manchester.

Contents 1 St. Patrick's Athletic 2 Middlesbrough 3 After Middlesbrough 4 Honours 5 References 6 External links

[edit] St. Patrick's Athletic

Fleming was signed by Brian Kerr for St. Patrick's Athletic in the summer of 1987. He was one of a number of young players signed as Kerr sought to build a squad that could challenge for honours. In his first season he ousted former international player Eamonn Gregg from the first eleven and quickly established himself as one of the most exciting talents in the league. He won 4 caps for the Republic of Ireland under-21 side and was the only home based player when playing for the Republic of Ireland under-23 side against Northern Ireland in 1989. He was transferred to Swindon Town in March 1989 but returned in 1990 having not played for the first team. After finishing second in his first season, Fleming won the league with St. Pat's in 1989/90 season and earned the moniker Black Pearl of Inchicore Mark II (See Paul McGrath and Paul Osam). In November 1990 he was awarded the FAI's Under-21 Player of the Year award. He also played in the European Cup and UEFA Cup while at Richmond Park.

[edit] Middlesbrough

Lennie Lawrence signed Fleming for Middlesbrough in the summer of 1991 and Fleming helped Middlesbrough gain promotion to the newly formed F.A. Premier League in his first season. After being relegated, it took 'Boro' until 1995 to be promoted again, this time with Bryan Robson in charge the won the first division title. As Middlesbrough alternated between Premiership and First division, Fleming remained a constant in the side and made his international debut for Ireland in Prague against the Czech Republic national football team on 29 April 1996 (and in the process netting St. Patrick's Athletic another £50,000 as part of his transfer deal). He would go on to win 10 caps under Mick McCarthy. As part of Robson's highly paid squad Fleming played in the League Cup finals in 1997 and 1998 and the FA Cup Final in 1997. Unfortunately Fleming would not earn another winners' medal. On 5 August 2001, Middlesbrough played Athletic Bilbao in a testimonial match for Fleming. He would end up playing 266 league games for Middlesbrough before finally moving on.

[edit] After Middlesbrough

Fleming went on loan to Birmingham City in November 2001, playing 6 games for them. He signed for Crystal Palace in December 2001. Unfortunately for Fleming injuries would curtail his involvement at Palace, although Ian Dowie was impressed enough to make him club captain. After two and half seasons at Crystal palace, Fleming moved back to North East England and joined Darlington until the end of the 2004/05 season.

Fleming briefly joined Shelbourne in the League of Ireland (managed by former St. Patrick's Athletic colleague Pat Fenlon), and played in the Champions League qualifiers, but at the end of the Irish 2005 season, Fleming officially retired.

He later went on to work as a pundit on Setanta Sports for a period during 2006 and was rumoured to have been associated with the position of assistant manager to Pat Fenlon at Derry City of the FAI National League. His playing career has continued at an amateur level, with Fleming appearing regularly in the 2006–07 season for Northern League side Billingham Synthonia as a central defender.

[edit] Honours

• League of Ireland Championship
  • St Patrick's Athletic - 1989/90

• Football League First Division
  • Middlesbrough F.C. - 1994/95

• International Honours
  • 10 full caps for Republic of Ireland
  • Multiple youth, under-21, under-23 and 'B' caps

[edit] References

This biography of a living person does not cite any references or sources. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (December 2006) Find sources: (Curtis Fleming – news, books, scholar)

[edit] External links

• Fleming's UK statistics at soccerbase