John Fashanu

For a definition of the word "fash", see the Wiktionary entry fash.

John Fashanu

Personal information
Full name	John Fashanu
Date of birth	18 September 1962 (1962-09-18)
Place of birth	Kensington, London, England
Playing position	Striker (retired)
Youth career
	Norwich City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1978–1983	Norwich City	7	(1)
1982	→ Miramar Rangers (loan)	?	(?)
1983	→ Crystal Palace (loan)	1	(0)
1983–1984	Lincoln City	36	(11)
1984–1986	Millwall	50	(12)
1986–1994	Wimbledon	276	(107)
1994–1995	Aston Villa	13	(3)
Total		383	(134)
National team
1989	England	2	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

John "Fash" Fashanu ( /ˈfæʃənuː/ FASH-ə-noo; born 18 September 1962 in Kensington, London) is an English television presenter and former footballer of Nigerian (paternal) and Guyanese (maternal) descent. In his former career, he was a centre-forward, who scored 134 league goals in a career lasting 17 years. He was also capped twice at senior level by the England team, but failed to score on either occasion.

Early life

Fashanu is the son of a Nigerian barrister living in England. When his parents split up he was sent, together with his older brother Justin to a Barnardo's home. When he was five, he and his brother were fostered by Alf and Betty Jackson and were brought up in Shropham near Attleborough, Norfolk.

Football career

Early career

Fashanu's footballing career began at Norwich City in 1979, and he turned professional two years later – just as his brother Justin was transferred to Nottingham Forest from the relegated Carrow Road club.

Norwich were promoted straight back to the First Division in 1981–82, but Fashanu managed just five league appearances and scored once. He managed two appearances in the 1982–83 First Division campaign – which would be his last for the club.

He had brief loan spell with Crystal Palace and also played in the English off-season in New Zealand with Miramar Rangers, with whom he played in the final of the local equivaloent of the FA Cup, the Chatham Cup (he remains the only played to have played in the final of both the English and New Zealand major cup competitions). He then joined Lincoln City on a free transfer on 23 September 1983, when they were in the Third Division. He scored seven goals from 26 league games that season, and managed four from 10 league games the following campaign before his £55,000 transfer to Third Division promotion challengers Millwall on 30 November 1984. It was an exciting first season at The Den for Fashanu, who scored four goals in 25 games but helped the Lions reach the FA Cup quarter-finals (where they lost at Luton Town in a game marred by rioting Millwall fans who invaded the pitch and ripped seats from the stands) and secure promotion to the Second Division. He managed eight goals from 25 games in 1985–86, before leaving to join Wimbledon.

Wimbledon

Fashanu made a £125,000 move to Second Division promotion contenders Wimbledon in March 1986, when they were pushing for a third promotion in four seasons as they looked to complete a rapid rise from the Fourth Division to the First. At the time, he was the club's record signing.

Fashanu's four goals from the remaining nine league games helped Wimbledon seal the final promotion place and they were a First Division side barely a decade after being elected to the Football League.

Fashanu and his colleagues settled well into the First Division, surprising all the observers by finishing sixth in the league (briefly topping the table in early September) and finishing above traditional big clubs including Nottingham Forest and Manchester United. Fashanu was Wimbledon's top scorer with 11 league goals.

In 1988, Fashanu helped Wimbledon win the FA Cup, beating Liverpool in a final that was billed as a "rags versus riches" affair, although the two clubs were separated by just six places in the First Division. He performed well in the league, scoring 14 goals.

He also scored Wimbledon's goal as Liverpool defeated them 2–1 in that year's Charity Shield. Fashanu claimed two England caps – against Chile and Scotland in a friendly tournament in May 1989.

During his time at Wimbledon, Fashanu scored 126 goals, but he still lags behind Alan Cork, the club's leading goalscorer. His best season was 1990–91, when he was the First Division's second highest scorer with 20 goals as his side finished seventh.

He received criticism during the (1993–94) when a clash with Gary Mabbutt, then Spurs captain, in an aerial challenge left the Spurs defender with a broken skull and eye socket. Fashanu had already established a reputation by that point of being an aggressive and physical striker, and this was seen as another example of that behaviour (at that time synonymous with Wimbledons "Crazy Gang").

Aston Villa

On 4 August 1994, just before the start of the 1994–95 season, Fashanu was sold to Aston Villa for £1.35million. However, injury restricted him to just 13 games and 3 goals for a Villa side who narrowly avoided relegation that season. He managed a goal on his Villa debut when they drew 2–2 at Everton on the opening day of the Premier League season, his other two goals coming in successive games against Queens Park Rangers and then Nottingham Forest in January. [2]

Fashanu's last game was on 4 February 1995 away at Manchester Utd in a Premiership game that they lost 1–0. He said on CH4's "Come dine with me" that he went in for a 50/50 tackle with Ryan Giggs and that snapped his achilles and he was stretchered off and never played a professional game again.

After the end of the season, Fashanu retired as a result of injury. [3]

In 1995 he hit the front pages as well as the back when The Sun published allegations of match fixing against Fashanu, fellow Wimbledon player Hans Segers and Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar.

Although all three players were eventually cleared of the allegations, they were ordered to pay their own legal costs.

International career

Fashanu represented England at full International level gaining two caps – against Chile and Scotland in a friendly tournament in May 1989, due to his good form at club level for his then club Wimbledon.

Post-football career

Following retirement from the game through injury, Fashanu became a television presenter. He presented the UK edition of Gladiators alongside Ulrika Jonsson in the mid-1990s where he became well known for his 'Awooga' catchphrase. In 2003 he came second in the second series of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here!. Later that year he presented Fash's Football Challenge, a reality television show that followed Fashanu managing an amateur football team. Also in 2003, he fronted a six-part series for ITV1 based on the American format Man vs. Beast, however following protests from animal rights groups, the series was never broadcast. He also released a video "Focus on Fitness with Fash". He is now host of Deal or No Deal Nigeria, airing on M-Net Africa.

Since retirement Fashanu has also maintained his sporting connections, becoming involved with the Nigeria Football Association, and as chairman of Welsh football team Barry Town for a year, vacating this post in 2003.

In 2000, he also compiled, all with an investigator, a report on corruption in Nigeria in the 1980s and 1990s that came to be known as the Fashanu Report.

In September 2005 Wimbledon Old Players’ Association was launched. John is involved in the Wimbledon Old Players' Association, an organisation set up by the Wimbledon Independent Supporters Association. He said: "It’s going to be great to be back as part of the Wimbledon family. As an ex-Wimbledon player, I know all about the heroics of the likes of Roy Law and Dickie Guy in the old days, as well as what the new boys have been doing at AFC Wimbledon".

In 2007, The Times named him 22nd out of the 50 worst footballers to have played in the Premier League.

In August 2009, Fashanu, who in 2000 accused Bob Minton and Ibrahim Babangida of stealing money from Nigeria, apologized saying "I can say it again and again, that there was nothing like debt buy-back or any billions stacked away in any account anywhere." Minton said that Fashanu was given false information by the Church of Scientology to attack him.

In April 2011, he competed in Celebrity Total Wipeout and ultimately won, beating Calum Best and Chico Slimani in the Wipeout Zone and winning £10,000 for UNICEF.

Honours

Wimbledon

• F.A. Cup winner – 1988

In pop culture

• Australian band Magic Lunchbox recorded a song about John Fashanu entitled "Fashanu" on their 2005 album Spastique.

• In an episode of Chris Morris' satirical TV programme The Day Today, a spoof trailer for a TV show shows footage of Fashanu backed by menacing music (a section of The Augurs of Spring, reminiscent of the theme from Jaws) while Morris repeatedly intones his name in a sinister fashion. It then cuts to Morris sitting in his news studio who announces, "That's John Fa-shar-noo (pronouncing his name incorrectly) tonight on BBC 2".

• He appeared on Channel 4's Come Dine With Me for a football special shortly prior to the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

• English Post-Indie band Self Esteem Engine recorded a song entitled 'Being John Fashanu' on their 2011 E.P. of the same name.

Personal life

Fashanu, who was the younger brother of Justin Fashanu, famously disowned his brother after the latter came out as gay, telling The Voice that Justin was "an outcast". After he took his own life in 1998, Fashanu expressed remorse for abandoning his brother. Fashanu's daughter Amal has since launched the Justin Campaign – named after her uncle – which aims to tackle homophobia in football. Amal is Fashanu's first-born child; her mother is Spanish former model Marisol Acuña Dueñas who was in a relationship with Fashanu until they parted following his infidelity. Fashanu also has two sons, Amir and Akin, with former wife Ivorian model Melissa Kassa-Mapsi; the couple divorced in 2004 Fashanu is now married to Nigerian lawyer Abigail Igwe, who is the mother of former MBGN Adaeze Igwe.

See also

• Justin Fashanu

External links

• Official website
• Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk
• The Observer, 3 August 2003, Fashanu myth

Media offices
New creation	Host of Gladiators 1992–1996 with Ulrika Jonsson	Succeeded by Jeremy Guscott and Ulrika Jonsson
Preceded by Jeremy Guscott and Ulrika Jonsson	Host of Gladiators 1999–2000 with Ulrika Jonsson	Show ended. Later revived in 2008 with Ian Wright and Kirsty Gallacher as hosts.