Ashley Fletcher speaks to the Manchester Evening News about rediscovering his best at Blackpool and coming through the ranks at Man United.
Blackpool's Ashley Fletcher celebrates scoring the opening goal during the Sky Bet League One match between Stockport County and Blackpool at Edgeley Park on March 1, 2025
Ashley Fletcher is happy on and off the pitch at Blackpool
Ashley Fletcher is a good talker. Which is just as well given conversations have reinvigorated his career.
Fletcher came through the ranks at Manchester United, turning down a new contract for more opportunities at West Ham. Now 29, he’s reflecting on a transformative year at Blackpool, sparked by football and psychology.
Ex-United captain Steve Bruce is Fletcher's manager at Bloomfield Road and helped turn his season around on the pitch, while sports psychologist Martin Perry did the same off it.
Fletcher feels those honest and frank discussions have sparked an uptick in his career, which he candidly described as being in danger of petering out as we chat for an engaging interview.
"If anything I should have sought help sooner but I tried to solve it myself and things didn't work," he said. "But I can put my hand on my heart and say that I feel at home with the club."
Fletcher scored once in his first 18 games for Blackpool. A chat with Bruce and the coaching staff followed in November as player and manager spoke openly. He then hit 10 goals in 30 matches as he spearheaded the club's play-off push, which ultimately came up just short.
"From November onwards it is the best I have played in the last few years and I am really enjoying my football and life," said Fletcher.
"I needed to get my career back on track and thankfully him and his coaching staff have trusted me and given me what I needed.
"For my personally and how to get the best out of me I want to feel happy and secure at a place, I feel really at home here. It is somewhere I want to keep working and progressing and I feel comfortable."
Fletcher will be at Blackpool next season having penned a two-year contract when signing last summer. Prior to that he had been on loan for two-and-a-half seasons and not since he was at Middlesbrough between 2017 and 2021 has he been as settled as he is now.
"When I look back at the last few years of my career I have been on loan and not found a home, it is being sent here and there and hopefully you can do well," he reflected.
"When I signed for Blackpool I wanted to find a home and a base which I haven't had over the last few years. People look at me as a big 6 foot 5 striker and say 'he's good in the air' but that is not my game. It is my game to get on the ball and play with the ball on the floor and the manager realised that and then gave me the confidence to be a starter in the team.
"It would have been quite easy for the manager to disregard me like others have previously but he was the total opposite along with the coaching staff and for that I am thankful. I come in with a smile on my face every day and I am enjoying it."
Fletcher's work away from football has a lot to do with that smile as well. He's back in the north west, living just outside Manchester with his family, and the Bolton-born former United player has found the perfect balance.
He added: "I speak with Martin, who I used over the years, and things that we speak about is about having a base, being happy in your life. That can lead to doing better in your work.
"When you are constantly thinking about where you are going to be next year, or you're travelling or not settled, it is about putting down roots. Not thinking about the financial side, for me it was all about where I was going to start feeling comfortable.
"I felt like I was at a crossroads where I could either peter out and drop down and keep not performing or seek help and really give this a go. Martin Perry has been unbelievable.
Ashley Fletcher of Manchester United U21s celebrates scoring their third goal during the Barclays U21 Premier League match between United and Manchester City at Old Trafford
Ashley Fletcher celebrates a goal for Manchester United Under-21s against Manchester City in 2015
"Part of my routine is focusing on what is important. That has been so important to me, since I have been speaking to him, I have had to put in the work, but it all moulds into one and the outcome has been decent performances which wasn't the case in the last few years."
Fletcher brings up his chats with Perry unprompted. It's not the first time he's used his services, having previously consulted him during a loan spell at Sunderland when the striker said he was 'having a tough time'. But that was seven years ago, when opening up to psychologists was perhaps not the done thing for a footballer.
The landscape has changed and Fletcher seemingly feels a sense of responsibility in talking about his need for help. His career began at United, where he was on the fringes of the first team before deciding to leave Old Trafford in the pursuit of first team football in the Premier League at West Ham.
He initially left on loan for League One side Barnsley, winning the Football League Trophy and third tier play-off final at Wembley during a hugely successful spell.
But while he was at Oakwell, a striker vacancy at United opened up. Fletcher may well have been first in the queue. Instead, Will Keane was afforded an opportunity in an FA Cup tie against Shrewsbury Town and when injury struck him, Marcus Rashford was handed a chance and didn't look back.
Fletcher didn't either. He didn't wonder what if, he simply thought what next?
"Everyone asks me with Marcus if you stayed would you have got an opportunity?" he said.
"But football is sliding doors and I have no bitterness. Marcus has gone on to be what he is, which is a world-class player. He has done unbelievably well.
"For me I felt it was being real and that if there was an opportunity to go and play elsewhere in the Premier League then I should take it. It was lovely to see someone like Marcus who had come through from when he was five or six and for him to take that chance. I was happy with what I was doing."
What Fletcher was doing was seeking minutes. His six months at Barnsley yielded eight goals in 16 games and two winning trips to Wembley. He wanted more. West Ham came calling, offering top flight chances and a four-year deal.
"I am a realist," he said of his decision to leave United when there was an offer on the table from the Reds.
"There was an opportunity before I left to go on loan to Barnsley where I could have been on the bench against Watford. One of my best mates in Sean Goss was on the bench and Marcus was on the bench and I wasn't picked.
"I was thinking then that it was going to be difficult. I went to Barnsley and concentrated on myself and that was the most important thing.
Ashley Fletcher of West Ham United celebrates after scoring his team's first goal of the game during the EFL Cup quarter final match between Manchester United and West Ham United at Old Trafford on November 30, 2016
Ashley Fletcher celebrates scoring for West Ham against Manchester United in 2016
"It was my dream to play for United first team but my dream at the start was to play pro football. Even going out to Barnsley on loan was a great achievement for me but I wanted it to be the first step."
West Ham offered a four-year contract, the promise of top flight football and an improved salary. Within months of signing he was back at Old Trafford, scoring for Hammers in the League Cup. A year later he joined Middlesbrough for £6.5million. He was a regular for three years at the Riverside before a move to Watford which didn't work out and led to a series of loans.
Fletcher still speaks to former United teammates and he encounters plenty on a weekly basis in opposition line-ups.
"You look at the teams in the leagues that I play in and there is always one or two who have come through the academy at United," he said. "That is a testament to the club for how good they are at producing good players, but also people with a good attitude who can survive in the football world.
"I can honestly say coming through there and growing up surrounded by greatness and eliteness, there is no better place to learn your trade, not just as a player but as a person."
Fletcher's breakthrough into the senior squad was under Louis van Gaal, a man he has huge respect for even if that first team call never quite came.
"I loved Louis, I didn't train under Sir Alex, but Louis was top and he was really good for the young lads," Fletcher reflects.
"Being involved in the first team training environment was unbelievable. I was training with the first-team squad for a few months here and there.
"Louis was very methodical. A lot of drills specific to who we might be playing next but I loved it. Louis actually quite liked me from the feedback I got but at the time my body wasn't developed enough to play in the Premier League.
"I was training with Robin van Persie, Falcao, Rooney, Di Maria, the talent was ridiculous.
"I learned every day and I didn't feel out of place either. I just dreamt of getting an opportunity but it never came. But I am happy with how things worked out."
And happy to talk, too. Fletcher will continue to do his talking on and off the pitch.