Courtney Huw Fairclough, commonly known as Chris Fairclough, (born 12 April 1964) is an English football coach and former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

. As a player, he was a defender from 1981 to 2001. He most notably played for

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

and

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

. He also played for

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

and

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

. He was capped 7 times by the

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is the national under-21 association football team of England, under the control of the Football Association. It is considered to be the feeder team ...

side. His time spent with both Leeds and Bolton saw him appear as a

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

player. He later became a coach and was the assistant manager back with Nottingham Forest in 2011, before later taking up a role as youth team coach for

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

Club career

He joined his hometown club

in 1981, where he won the first of his seven England under-21 international caps. Forest however allowed the defender's contract to expire and he had his pick of clubs. Having made 134 appearances and scored 2 goals for Forest, he moved to

in June 1987, with the transfer fee set by

tribunal A tribunal, generally, is any person or institution with authority to judge, adjudicate on, or determine claims or disputes—whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title. For example, an advocate who appears before a court with a singl ...

at £387,000. Fairclough proved to be a solid and reliable centre-back, being an ever-present throughout the 1987–88 season. The 1988–89 season however was blighted by injury for Fairclough and he only made 20 league appearances. After failing to reclaim his place in

Terry Venables Terence Frederick Venables (6 January 1943 – 25 November 2023), often referred to as El Tel, was an English football player and manager who played for clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Queens Park Rangers and won two caps for E ...

' team, Fairclough joined

on loan in March 1989. In the summer of 1989 he made the move permanent, moving for a fee of £500,000. He was immediately installed at the heart of the defence, and the team gained promotion, winning the Second Division Championship in 1990 and went on to win the First Division title two years later - the last top division title before the formation of the

FA Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football ...

. In his six years at

Elland Road Elland Road, or Elland Road Stadium, is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the Home (sports), home of Leeds United F.C., Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the List of foot ...

, he was almost ever-present and immensely popular with the fans, picking up

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year. In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is held on b ...

in 1990. His partnership with Chris Whyte was a key factor in the Championship win. However, he eventually lost his place in the side and moved to

in July 1995 for the same fee he joined the club for, having made 240 appearances scoring 23 goals. Over a period of three years he made 106 appearances scoring 8 goals. He joined Bolton on their promotion to the

, and although he was unable to keep them there, he helped them return at the first attempt by winning the Division One title in 1997 with 100 goals and 98 points, though again they were ultimately relegated from the Premier League after just one season. He had a spell at

(1998–1999, scoring once against his soon to be employers, York City) before joining

in 1999 where he stayed until he retired in 2001.

International career

Fairclough was capped seven times at under-21 level for England during the 1980s, but never played for his country at senior level.

Coaching career

He now lives outside

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

and worked for Nottingham Forest as an assistant first team coach having previously coached the under-17 team. He left in June 2011 when his contract was terminated by the club following the departure of Billy Davies. In July 2012 he was appointed as Professional Development Phase Coach (U16-U18) at

Personal life

Fairclough's nephew is former

striker Ben Fairclough.

Honours

Leeds United

* Second Division: 1989–90 * First Division: 1991–92 *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier ...

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

Bolton Wanderers

* First Division: 1996–97

Individual

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...

: 1989–90 Second Division

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fairclough, Chris 1964 births Living people Footballers from Nottingham English men's footballers England men's B international footballers England men's under-21 international footballers Nottingham Forest F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Notts County F.C. players York City F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. non-playing staff English Football League players Premier League players Men's association football defenders