the season. He went straight into the starting eleven in place of the injured Joe Martin for the match against Colchester United, which Gillingham drew 2–2, and started the next five matches, but then lost his place and made only one more appearance, as a very late substitute. Fleetwood Town Birmingham decided not to take up their option of a further year on Bell's contract, and confirmed he would be released. Despite reported interest from Gillingham, Bell agreed to join League One club Fleetwood Town on 1 July 2015 after the expiry of his Birmingham contract. He went straight into the side at left wing back. In his fourth match, a 4–3 win away to Bury, he provided the assist for his fellow wing-back Tyler Hornby-Forbes' first Football League goal, and in the following match, he set up two goals in a 4–0 defeat of Colchester United. Assistant manager Chris Lucketti was impressed with both Bell and Hornby-Forbes: "with their athleticism, their attitude, their will to win and the running power they have they were different classit turned the tide in our favour." Fleetwood form and results dipped, Graham Alexander was replaced as manager by Steven Pressley, and Bell himself was struggling: after a home defeat against Chesterfield at the end of October, the Blackpool Gazette wrote that "Bell's shortcomings at left back are becoming more difficult to ignore", while Pressley said he needed more self-belief. He helped Fleetwood reach the Northern Final of the Football League Trophy, but missed his penalty as they lost to Barnsley in a shootout. By March 2016, Pressley was suggesting that Bell had the attributes to play at the top level, highlighting his pace, athleticism and ability in a one-to-one situation but also his need to work on crossing, an issue raised by the player himself early in the season. He made 51 appearances in all competitions as Fleetwood narrowly avoided relegation to League Two, and was one of a four-man shortlist for the club's Young Player of the Year awards, but lost out to Ashley Hunter. He missed some of the 2016–17 pre-season with a hamstring problem, but that did not prevent Bell becoming a first-team regular under yet another new manager, Uwe Rösler. Being used at wing-back rather than full-back helped his attacking ambitions, and he scored his first goal for Fleetwood in his 71st match, an FA Cup replay against Southport