A number of similarities can be found between Carl Fletcher and his former Bournemouth teammate Eddie Howe.
Both of them started their playing careers with the Cherries after they emerged through the club’s youth ranks.
They were also both also handed their first managerial vacancies at the age of 31 of the club’s in Administration, Howe with Bournemouth in 2008 and Fletcher when he was appointed as Caretaker Manager at Home Park following the dismissal of Peter Reid in September 2011.
This is also the point where the similarities between the two men differ slightly.
Prior to entering the hot seat at the Fitness First Stadium for the first time in 2008, Howe had spent a number of seasons coaching the club’s reserve and youth teams following his premature retirement from playing due to injury after having starting to take his coaching badges in his early 20’s.
Whereas Howe had spent a number of years preparing himself for taking charge of the Cherries, Fletcher was still registered as a player at Argyle and had had little in the way of coaching experience, at least not on the same scale that Howe had.
Nevertheless, Fletcher initially equipped himself well to the demands of the position, winning his first game in charge, a 2-0 home win over Macclesfield Town.
At this stage of the season, Argyle only had registered one point in the league and they gradually improved to the point whereby they guaranteed their League status with a 1-1 draw with Oxford United in their penultimate home game of the campaign.
Courage in the face of adversity was something that Fletcher never lacked, which was reflected by the way he faced the assembled media to give his post match interview, following the Bristol Rovers defeat, after he had been dismissed. He also threatened to lead the players out on strike to come up with some wages for the club's staff who were being forced to defer their monthly pay as part of the Administration process.
Whether Fletcher would have been more successful at Home Park if he had been given ample time to learn his trade we will never know.
However, there is nothing to suggest that he doesn’t still have something to offer the game after guiding the Pilgrims to safety last season, if he can take the positives from the experience, his reign as Argyle manager lasted a similar length of time to that of Ian Holloway, he could yet still have a lengthy career in football ahead of him.
One legacy he leaves his successor is the group of promising youngsters currently at Home Park, which includes Luke Young, Matt Lecointe, Tyler Harvey and Paris Cowan-Hall, all of whom could yet play a key role in a future Argyle revival.
