John Fashanu

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John Fashanu
Personal information
Full name	John Fashanu
Date of birth	18 September 1962 (1962-09-18) (age 45)
Place of birth	Kensington, London, England
Playing position	Forward
Youth clubs
	Cambridge United
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1979–1983 1983 1983–1984 1984–1986 1986–1994 1994	Norwich City → Crystal Palace (loan) Lincoln City Millwall Wimbledon Aston Villa Total	007 00(1) 001 00(0) 036 0(11) 050 0(12) 276 (107) 013 00(3) 383 (134)
National team
1989	England	002 00(0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

John "Fash" Fashanu (born 18 September 1962 in Kensington, London) is a British television presenter and ex-footballer of Nigerian (paternal) & Guyanese (maternal) descent. In his former career, he was a centre-forward.

Contents 1 Early Life 2 Football career 3 Post-football career 4 Honours 5 Footnotes 6 See also 7 External links

[edit] 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 Barnardos 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.

[edit] 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. He made his Millwall debut on 15 December 1984. Fashanu played 65 overall games for The Lions, scoring 19 goals. 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, Fashanu scored 126 goals, but he still lags behind Alan Cork, the club's leading goalscorer.

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.

[edit] 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. Fashanu became a national icon and his catchprase "AWOOGA" was well known across England. 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 is now host of the Nigerian version of the popular game show format Deal or No Deal that airs on M-Net Africa.

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 1980s and 1990s that came to be known in the financial and media community as the Fashanu Report.

John is involved in the Wimbledon Old Players' Association, an organisation set up by the Wimbledon Independent Supporters Association. On its launch in September 2005 Fashanu said "I am proud to join up with the Wimbledon Old Players’ Association.

"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 1991 John was "sought after" by the Italian comic Teo Teocoli, that idolized him for comical relief.

John is the younger brother of Justin Fashanu, the first openly homosexual professional English footballer. John famously disowned his brother, telling The Voice newspaper: "My gay brother is an outcast".^[1] Justin Fashanu committed suicide in 1998.

In 2007 The Timesonline voted him 22nd out of the 50 worst footballers.^[2]

[edit] Honours

Wimbledon

• F.A. Cup winner - 1988

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] See also

• Justin Fashanu

[edit] External links

• [1] John Fash Personal Website
• Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk

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.