Core data seems to fetch empty objects

In my iOS app, im trying to save values via core data to an sqlite db in one view and then retrieve in another. Looking at the database, the save looks to be working fine, objects are in the db as expected. If i then go to my collection view, the result appears correctly. However, if i quite the app and reopen, upon retrieval the collection view displays the correct number of cells(rows) but all are empty??? The fetch count always returns 0 but having set up command line args to see the sql, it suggests that it fetches the correct number of rows. My fetch request is as follows:

- (NSFetchedResultsController *)fetchedResultsController {

if (_fetchedResultsController != nil) {
    return _fetchedResultsController;
}

NSFetchRequest *fetchRequest = [[NSFetchRequest alloc] init];
NSEntityDescription *entity = [NSEntityDescription
                               entityForName:@"Player" inManagedObjectContext:self.context];
[fetchRequest setEntity:entity];

NSSortDescriptor *sort = [[NSSortDescriptor alloc]
                          initWithKey:@"surname" ascending:YES];
[fetchRequest setSortDescriptors:[NSArray arrayWithObject:sort]];

[fetchRequest setFetchBatchSize:20];

NSFetchedResultsController *theFetchedResultsController =
[[NSFetchedResultsController alloc] initWithFetchRequest:fetchRequest
                                    managedObjectContext:context sectionNameKeyPath:nil
                                               cacheName:nil];
self.fetchedResultsController = theFetchedResultsController;
NSLog(@"fetch count %@",[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%d",[theFetchedResultsController.fetchedObjects count]]);
_fetchedResultsController.delegate = self;

return _fetchedResultsController;

}

and this produces the following log for the sql via the command line args tool:

CoreData: sql: SELECT 0, t0.Z_PK FROM ZPLAYER t0 ORDER BY t0.ZSURNAME DESC
2015-02-09 23:56:39.522 teamPicker[290:20878] CoreData: annotation: sql    connection fetch time: 0.0013s
2015-02-09 23:56:39.523 teamPicker[290:20878] CoreData: annotation: total   fetch execution time: 0.0020s for 4 rows.
2015-02-09 23:56:39.562 teamPicker[290:20878] CoreData: sql: SELECT 0, t0.Z_PK, t0.Z_OPT, t0.ZEMAIL, t0.ZFORENAME, t0.ZMOBNUM, t0.ZMUGSHOT, t0.ZSURNAME, t0.ZTWITTER, t0.ZPROFILE FROM ZPLAYER t0 WHERE  t0.Z_PK IN  (?,?,?,?)  ORDER BY t0.ZSURNAME DESC LIMIT 20
2015-02-09 23:56:39.711 teamPicker[290:20878] CoreData: annotation: sql   connection fetch time: 0.1408s
2015-02-09 23:56:39.711 teamPicker[290:20878] CoreData: annotation: total fetch execution time: 0.1495s for 4 rows.

As you can see, it appears to run two queries which i find strange but as im a noob, i wouldnt know if this isnt just how it works. What it does seem to suggest though is that despite the fetch count reporting 0, it has fetched 4 rows, which at this point is all thats in there

Here are my collection view datasource methods in case that helps:

#pragma mark - UICollectionView Datasource
// 1
- (NSInteger)collectionView:(UICollectionView *)view numberOfItemsInSection:(NSInteger)section {
id  sectionInfo =
[[_fetchedResultsController sections] objectAtIndex:section];
return [sectionInfo numberOfObjects];
}
// 2
- (NSInteger)numberOfSectionsInCollectionView: (UICollectionView *)collectionView {
return 1;
}
// 3
- (UICollectionViewCell *)collectionView:(UICollectionView *)cv cellForItemAtIndexPath:(NSIndexPath *)indexPath {
Player *info = [_fetchedResultsController objectAtIndexPath:indexPath];
playerPhotoCell *cell = [cv dequeueReusableCellWithReuseIdentifier:@"playerCell" forIndexPath:indexPath];
cell.playerImage.image = [UIImage imageWithData:info.mugshot];
cell.playerLabel.text = info.forename;
cell.backgroundColor = [UIColor whiteColor];
return cell;
}

Ive probably made some glaring and basic errors but im damned if i can spot them or find any answers. I'd be most grateful if anyone can help point me in the right direction. Thanks for reading