Wember-glee for ex-Claret Fletcher FORMER Burnley striker Paul Fletcher is back on the road to Wembley after being named as the Director of Commercial affairs at the new English National Stadium.

Wembley is being redeveloped to create the new national stadium which will be a focal point of England's bid to host the 2006 World Cup and will also stage other top-level sporting events.

And Fletcher, currently the chief executive at Bolton Wanderers' Reebok Stadium, has been placed in charge of the commercial side of the operation to make it pay on a day-to-day basis.

He will also have a major role to play in the planning and lay-out of the new home of English football, working with the architects to ensure the commercial potential is designed into the building.

The announcement yesterday made it a happy 48th birthday for Fletcher, who nearly booked a place at Wembley with Burnley in 1974 when the Clarets lost to Newcastle United in the FA Cup semi-finals.

But he has made it now and the former Burnley, Bolton and Blackpool player, who made 352 appearances throughout the 1970s for the Turf Moor club, is delighted to have landed the prestigious post.

"The opportunity to take part in the rebuilding of Wembley is very exciting," said Fletcher, who will take up his new post in the spring. "I think it's an opportunity of taking part in history really. Although there is a lot of love and hate seen between the likes of Burnley, Blackburn, Preston and Blackpool when you talk about a national stadium everybody unites.

"We are all just football fans at heart and we all want to build a great stadium. The fact that I will be representing the north of England makes me very proud."

Fletcher will have offices in Wembley itself and Wembley Way but will also have a roving role around the country "spreading the gospel" about the new stadium's commerical potential.

Fletcher was Burnley's then record signing for £66,000 when Bolton sold him to ease their financial problems and the England under-23 international helped the Clarets regain their top-flight status in 1973 as Second Division champions.

His first job on the commercial side of the game came at Colne Dynamoes before he joined Huddersfield Town as commercial manager. , progressing to chief executive and overseeing the development of the McAlpine Stadium as the Terriers made massive strides on and off the pitch.

He then returned to his first club, Bolton, in September 1996 to become chief executive of the Reebok Stadium.

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