The Thistle Archive

Having just lost Maurice Johnston to Watford, manager Peter Cormack was keen to try and plug the gap with another exciting young prospect and he'd been watching 18-year-old Robert Fleck in the Rangers Reserves for several weeks before a one-month loan deal was arranged in late December 1983. At the time, Thistle were sitting 5 points clear at the top of the First Division and looking good for a return to the Premier League. The youngster was handed his senior debut on 2nd January 1984 coming on as a second half sub, but the 1-2 reverse at home to Clyde was a shock. Robert was handed his first senior start 5 days later at Somerset Park and - ignoring the wind, sleet and hail - he astutely lobbed Thistle into an 11th minute lead. Alas, Ayr United came back and sealed the two points with a late winner for 2-1. Within the space of 180 minutes Thistle had blown their big advantage and the chasing group had closed the gap. Snow and ice led to match postponements for the rest of January, so Robert's brief stint as a Jag was stunted. Despite the two narrow losses, he looked back on it as a positive experience: “The spell at Firhill was a big help. It gave me first team experience and showed me just what was needed to be a success.”

Before 1983-84 was out, Jock Wallace handed the 18-year-old his Rangers debut, appearing in a 0-0 league draw at home to Hearts in early April. However, it was only after the arrival of Graeme Souness as player-manager in 1986 that he began to make a real impact as a regular, scoring 22 goals in 48 appearances in the 1986–87 season. His goal tally that season included four hat-tricks; in league games against Clydebank (twice) and Falkirk, and in a UEFA Cup tie against Ilves Tampere. In December 1987 Robert was transferred for £580,000 to Norwich City in the English top flight. He scored 66 goals in 181 appearances in his first spell with the club, attaining hero status among Norwich supporters and was voted player of the year in 1992 which was the final season of his first spell at Carrow Road. He helped them finish fourth in the league in 1989, when they also reached the FA Cup semi-final, though Norwich were unable to compete in the following season's UEFA Cup due to the ongoing ban on English clubs in European competitions that followed the Heysel disaster of 1985.

His good form at Norwich led to a call-up from Andy Roxburgh for the Scotland national team. Robert had previously been capped 4 times by Scotland at Under-21 level, and the 24-year-old finally made his senior international debut in a friendly against Argentina on 28th March 1990. He played the full 90 minutes of the match - which Scotland won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Stewart McKimmie – in front of a crowd of 51,537 at Hampden Park. There can't be too many Scots who've made their debut by defeating the World Champions! Having made a positive contribution in that match, Robert was selected in the 22-man-squad for the 1990 World Cup in Italy. He was an unused sub in the Group C opener – a 1-0 defeat to Costa Rica - but featured in the other two games at the tournament. By starting in the 2-1 victory over Sweden in Genoa five days later, he became the 7th Jag to play at the World Cup. It was a brilliant night for the country and for Robert who was involved in both goals. He stretched the Swedish defence out wide winning the corner which led to Stuart McCall scrambling in the opener, and it was his trickery and through ball which led to Roy Aitken being tripped up for the winning penalty, coolly dispatched by Maurice Johnston. Robert came on as a 77th-minute substitute for Ally McCoist in the agonising 1-0 defeat to Brazil which, after a couple of nervous days wait, meant that Scotland just missed out on progression as one of the best 3rd placed teams. In his two World Cup appearances another unusual Thistle record would be set (in the fullness of time) as three Jags featured on those big stage matches, namely Maurice Johnston, Murdo MacLeod and Robert Fleck. A 4th cap was earned in February 1991 when he appeared against the U.S.S.R. in a 0-1 friendly loss on familiar territory back at Ibrox.

In 1992, he controversially moved on to Chelsea for a (then) club record fee of £2.1 million just before the first season of the new Premier League got underway. Norwich turned down the bid, but he forced it through by threatening to go on strike and refusing to play for the club again. At the time the deal was a record sale for Norwich. The move proved unsuccessful; Fleck scored just four goals in 48 appearances and was loaned out to Bolton Wanderers and Bristol City. He missed out on a place in Chelsea's squad for the 1994 FA Cup Final, which they lost 4–0 to Manchester United. Robert re-joined Norwich (who had just been relegated from the Premier League) for £650,000 in September 1995 after a loan spell. He initially made an impact and formed a solid strike partnership with Ashley Ward, but after Ward was sold due to Norwich's financial problems, Fleck's performances were inconsistent and the team were unable to gain promotion in any of his three seasons back at the club. He moved to Reading towards the end of the 1997–98 season, spending one season at the Berkshire club, and in nine league games he scored once against Luton Town (in the first game at the Madejski Stadium), before injury ended his playing career. Spells as manager of Gorleston (player-manager) and Diss Town, while he worked as a scout for Norwich City for a period thereafter.

In his personal life, Robert married a “Norfolk girl” and has an adult daughter who is a beautician. While playing, he funded trips for 18 months for a child with a terminal condition - good guy! He became a teaching assistant at the Parkside School, “a Norwich school for children with complex needs”, a career move that developed from running coaching sessions for children at the school. His nephew, John Fleck (Rangers, Coventry City, Sheffield United) was also capped for Scotland, almost 30 years later.

Robert is included in our feature piece, The Definitive Who's Who Of The Partick Thistle Internationalists →