John Fashanu

John "Fash" Fashanu (born September 18, 1962 in Kensington, London) is a British television presenter and ex-footballer. He was a strong centre-forward with a powerful volley.

Football career

Fashanu's footballing career began at Norwich City in 1979. He had brief loan spell with Crystal Palace before joining Lincoln City and later Millwall. His fame grew considerably from 1986 when he joined Wimbledon, at that time the self-proclaimed "Crazy Gang" which had gained several promotions in rapid succession. 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. Fashanu claimed two England caps - against Chile and Scotland in a friendly tournament in May 1989. During his time at Wimbledon, Fash scored 126 goals, but he still lags behind Alan Cork, the club's leading goalscorer.

In 1993 he broke Gary Mabbutt's cheekbone in four places after a deliberate elbow to the face. Mabbutt still has parlysis down the right side of his face to this day.

In the summer of 1994 Fashanu moved to Aston Villa. 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.

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 would often shout his catchphrase "awooga". 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.

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

He also compiled a detailed report on corruption in Nigeria in the 80s and 90s that came to be known in the financial and media community as the "Fashanu Report".

John is the younger brother of Justin Fashanu, and controversially told 'The Voice' magazine: "My gay brother is an outcast".

Cult status

Fashanu has mild cult status following his presenting of Gladiators and his trademarks catchphrase "awooga", and a brief appearance on the early 90s bbc spoof news show The Day Today where a montage of video clips of him are shown with threatening music and presenter Chris Morris repeating his name in an american accent.