Fionan "Paddy" Fagan (7 June 1930 – 19 November 2014) was an Irish footballer who played as a winger. The son of Irish international and

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional Association football, football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is List of football clubs by competit ...

outside-left John Fagan, Fionan Fagan started his career with

schoolboys and then Transport F.C., before signing for English

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

club

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

after

Raich Carter Horatio Stratton "Raich" Carter (21 December 1913 – 9 October 1994) was an English sportsman who played football for Sunderland, Derby County and Hull City, as well as representing England on thirteen occasions. He also played first-class c ...

brought him to England. He played 26 times for Hull, scoring 2 goals. He signed for

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

on Christmas Eve 1953 for £15,000, playing a reserve game on Christmas Day and making his first team debut on St Stephen's Day, a 2–1 win against

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest attenda ...

. In his first season at Manchester City Fagan made only seven appearances, but in the 1954-55 season he became a first team regular, playing under the tactical system known as the

Revie Plan The Revie Plan was a tactical system in association football used by Manchester City in the 1950s. The system was named after Manchester City player Don Revie, who had the most important role in it. In 1953, English football was astounded by the H ...

. The 1954–55 season proved to be Fagan's most successful for Manchester City, playing 42 times and scoring 11 goals, including two goals against

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

, as City reached the 1955

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

final. However, his

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

appearance ended in a 3–1 defeat to

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

. Manchester City reached the final again the following season, but Fagan did not play in the final, and missed out on a winners' medal. After continuing to play regularly for a further three seasons, Fagan lost his first team place to

Colin Barlow Colin James Barlow (14 November 1935 – 19 December 2018) was an English professional footballer who played as a winger for Manchester City, Oldham Athletic and Doncaster Rovers. Club career Barlow joined Manchester City as a schoolboy, tu ...

in the 1959-60 season, and was transferred to

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

for £8,000 in March 1960, after a total of 165 appearances and 35 goals for the Manchester club. Fagan was capped twice by the Irish national team while at City. The first of these international caps came on 7 November 1954 against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. Fagan's played for Derby 24 times, scoring six goals, and while at Derby made a further six international appearances, in which he scored five goals. He subsequently played for a number of non-league clubs, including

Northwich Victoria Northwich is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire West and Chester borough of Cheshire, England. It lies on the Cheshire Plain, at the confluence of the rivers River Weaver, Weaver and River Dane, Dane, east of Chester, south of Warr ...

Ashton United Ashton United Football Club is a football club in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, England. They are currently members of and play at Hurst Cross. Having been founded as Hurst in 1892, they folded in 1892, before being reformed in 1909. ...

and

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester, southwest of Sale, Greater Manchester, Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2021 United Kingdom ce ...

, where he was player manager. After a knee ligament injury forced him to retire from football he became a driving instructor, and was a founder of the Manchester City Former Players Association in the early 1990s.

Honours

Manchester City *

runner-up: 1954–55

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fagan, Paddy 1930 births 2014 deaths Association footballers from Dublin (city) League of Ireland players Derby County F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland association football managers Republic of Ireland men's international footballers Republic of Ireland men's B international footballers Altrincham F.C. managers Transport F.C. players Men's association football wingers Mossley A.F.C. players Ashton United F.C. players Northwich Victoria F.C. players Altrincham F.C. players English Football League players 20th-century Irish sportsmen