‘No fan could say something to me now that I’ve not already heard’
HOW FLAK MADE FLETCHER STRONG
ASHLEY Fletcher has opened up on the struggles at Sunderland that left him seeing a psychologist.
Middlesbrough’s 11-goal top scorer found himself on the fringes after the arrival of Tony Pulis in December 2017 and eager for action he made an ill-fated loan move to the Black Cats in the January.
It proved to be a challenging time for the £6.5m buy.
Struggling Sunderland were in chaos on and off the pitch and slithering towards League One.
And Fletcher was put under immediate pressure as he was expected to replace the goals of proven hitman Lewis Grabban in Chris Coleman’s imploding side.
He failed to make an impact and faced a lot of flak from frustrated fans after scoring just twice in 15 games.
His situation was made worse as the whole Sunderland circus was being filmed for the car crash Netflix reality show Sunderland Til I Die.
Now, speaking to Kenji Gorre for his podcast, Fletcher reflected on a really tough period of his career.
Fletcher told ‘Konversations With Kenji’: “Sunderland is a massive club and playing at the Stadium of Light was a big draw. John O’shea was captain and they had players like Lee Cattermole still there. Good players.
“But I was 22 and I was brought in as the guy to save Sunderland. They were in the bottom three and I was supposed to be this guy coming in to score all the goals.
“So automatically all the pressure is on. On day one at the press conference I remember one of the reporters saying, ‘you have to be our saviour,’ and I was like, ‘wow.’
“There were no strikers. There was one other lad, a young lad, Josh
Maja who’s gone to Bordeaux now. Just the two of us, 22 and 19.
“I felt so much responsibility to score goals. Obviously, I’m a striker, it’s what I’m paid to do. But at such a young age, at such a big club, I won’t lie, it was tough and I found it really difficult.” Sunderland slithered to a second successive relegation and angry fans turned on the players, a situation Fletcher admits affected him mentally and led him to seek professional help.
“I was living with my girlfriend at the time and I used to go home a lot,” he said.
“But I was so down at that time I wouldn’t even want to go out on my days off and stuff. I didn’t want to leave the house. But she kept me quite positive.
“I also spoke to a psychologist who helped me a lot. He was called Martin Perry. I spoke to him on the phone and then he came to a couple of games to watch, and he looked at my demeanour and stuff like that.
“This is where the mental side of the game comes into it and how important that is. I only scored two goals there in about 18 appearances, which isn’t great.
“But without him I don’t even think I’d have scored even that, to be honest. I think that’s the main reason I came out of that situation better than I thought I would.”
Two years on and Fletcher is in a far better place. He has matured, honed his skills and nailed down a regular Riverside slot and is having his most productive season to date.
He says he has no regrets over the short stint at Sunderland and says the intensity of the situation has made him a stronger personality and a better player.
“If we didn’t win a game the fans were right on you, and rightly so
On day one at the press conference I remember one of
the reporters saying, ‘you have to be our saviour’
Ashley Fletcher