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When Manchester City signed 22-year old Gary Fleming in August 1989
he already had plenty of First Division experience under his belt,
having played 74 league games under the great Brian Clough at Nottingham
Forest. After not figuring for Forest in the 1988/89 season City
manager Mel Machin was then persuaded to part with £150, 000 for his
signature as he looked to bolster his newly-promoted side on their
return to the top-flight after a two-year absence.
He was born in
Derry, Northern Ireland and made his City debut in the second game of
the 1989/90 season when he came on as a substitute in a 2-1 home defeat
to Southampton, being given his first start three days later in a 1-1
home draw with Tottenham Hotspur (the photo above is during the game)
when the Blues claimed their first point of the new campaign thanks to a
goal from David White. Although the team were struggling to come to
terms with life at the top level Fleming made the number two shirt his
own and the first league win eventually arrived in the fifth game with a
1-0 victory over Queens Park Rangers. However, by the time Manchester
United came to Maine Road for the derby match in late September the club
were in the bottom three and looking at a season-long fight for
survival. Despite this the game turned out to be the highlight of the
season and also of Fleming's short time with the club, a superb
performance culminating in a 5-1 hammering of their local rivals as
United's supporters turned on manager Alex Ferguson. A 3-1 home win over
Luton Town a week later gave further cause for optimism, but it was to
be a brief respite as the club's and Gary's fortunes would soon go into
decline.
A 3-0 home win over Crystal Palace was the only league
win over the next two months, during which time League Cup hopes were
ended with a 1-0 home defeat to Coventry City in round four, and after a
1-1 draw at Charlton on November 25th left the Blues next-to-bottom of
the table manager Machin was dismissed. The Charlton game would turn out
to be Fleming's last for the club, having played in the previous
thirteen, as Howard Kendall was appointed as new manager. He immediately
made it clear that Gary had no part in his future plans when he signed
right-back Alan Harper from Sheffield Wednesday, a player who had been
with him in his old Everton days, and Fleming's days at the club were
numbered. After a brief loan spell with Notts County he was finally sold
to Second Division Barnsley for £85, 000 in March 1990, linking up once
again with Machin who had taken over the reins at Oakwell after leaving
Maine Road. During his brief spell with City he made 19 league and cup
appearances (including 1 as a substitute) and also earned two of his
thirty-one Northern Ireland international caps.
He remained with
Barnsley for a further six years but was forced to retire from the game
in 1996, aged just 29, due to a persistent knee injury, having never
opened his goalscoring account in his entire professional career. He
then decided to study to be a physiotherapist and four years later
returned to his old club Nottingham Forest in that capacity. (David Redshaw)
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