John Winton Fashanu (born 18 September 1962) is an English television presenter 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 footballer he was a centre-forward from 1978 until 1995, most notably in an eight-year spell at

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

in which he won the

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 ...

in 1988 and scored over 100 goals in all competitions. He also played in the earlier years of the

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 ...

for both the Dons and

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

. He also featured in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

, Lincoln City, Crystal Palace and

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

, as well as a brief loan spell in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

with

Miramar Rangers Miramar Rangers AFC is a New Zealand association football club in the Wellington suburb of Miramar. The club is one of the most successful in New Zealand, having won the Chatham Cup four times and the National League title twice. Over the last ...

. He was capped twice at senior level by

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He scored 134 league goals in a career lasting 17 years, retiring at the end of the 1994–95 season. Following his football career, he moved into television presenting and went on to co-host British television show '' Gladiators'' in the 1990s, and between 2003 and 2004 he managed his own Sunday league football side '' Fash FC'' which featured on

Bravo Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels * Bravo (band), a Russian rock band * Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984 * Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing compa ...

. He has also previously presented '' Deal or No Deal Nigeria'' and has notably appeared as a contestant on '' I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here!'' and ''

Dancing on Ice ''Dancing on Ice'' is a British television series broadcast from 2006 to 2014 and then from 2018 to 2025. It was presented by Holly Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern. Other previous hosts include Phillip Schofield and Christine Lampard. The series ...

''.

Early life

Fashanu was born in

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

, the son of Pearl Gopal, a nurse from

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies. It was located on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first known Europeans to encounter Guia ...

and Patrick Fashanu, a Nigerian

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

living in the UK. When his parents split up he was sent, together with his older brother

Justin Justin may refer to: People and fictional characters * Justin (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Justin (historian), Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire * Justin I (c. 450–527) ...

, to a Barnardo's care home. When he was five, he and his brother were fostered by Alf and Betty Jackson and were subsequently brought up in Shropham near

Attleborough Attleborough is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish located on the A11 road (England), A11 between Norwich and Thetford in Norfolk, England. The parish is in the district of Breckland (district), Breckland and has an area ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

Football career

Early career

Fashanu's footballing career began at

in 1979, and he turned professional two years later – just as his brother Justin was transferred to

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 ...

from the relegated

Carrow Road Carrow Road is a association football, football stadium in Norwich, Norfolk, England, and is the home of EFL Championship club Norwich City F.C., Norwich City. The stadium is east of the city, near Norwich railway station and the River Wensum. ...

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 was never a regular player at Carrow Road. He had a brief loan spell with Crystal Palace from Norwich. He also played in the English off-season in New Zealand with

, and made an appearance in the final of the local equivalent of the FA Cup, the

Chatham Cup The Chatham Cup is New Zealand's premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout tournament in men's association football. It is held annually, with the final contested in September. The current champions of the Chatham Cup are Wellington Olymp ...

(he remains the only player to have played in the final of both the English and New Zealand major cup competitions). Having failed to win a regular place in Norwich's first team, he 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

on 30 November 1984. In his first season at

The Den The Den (previously The New Den) is a football stadium in Bermondsey, south-east London, and the home of Millwall Football Club. The Den is adjacent to the South London railway originating at , and a quarter-of-a-mile from the Old Den, whic ...

Fashanu scored four goals in 25 games helping the Lions reach the FA Cup quarter-finals (where they lost at

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

in a game marred by fans who invaded the pitch) and secure promotion to the Second Division. He managed eight goals from 25 games in 1985–86, before leaving to join

towards the end of the Second Division season.

Wimbledon

Fashanu made a £125,000 move to Second Division promotion contenders

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 a mere nine years after being elected to the

- and also became only the second club in

history to be promoted three divisions in four seasons. 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

and

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 ...

. Fashanu was Wimbledon's top scorer with 11 league goals, and would be a regular goalscorer in the top flight for the Dons for a further seven seasons. In 1988, Fashanu helped Wimbledon win the

, 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 - as Liverpool had been the dominant side in English football for some 15 years whereas Wimbledon had played just two seasons in the First Division and only 11 as a Football League club. He performed well in the league again, scoring 14 goals. He also scored Wimbledon's goal as Liverpool defeated them 2–1 in that year's Charity Shield. Fashanu claimed two

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

s – against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in a friendly tournament in May 1989, but did not score. During his time at Wimbledon, Fashanu scored 126 goals. His best season was 1990–91, when he was the First Division's joint third highest scorer with 20 goals as his side finished seventh. He received criticism during the 1993–94 season 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 a very aggressive and physical striker, and this was seen as another example of that behaviour. With the likes of

Vinnie Jones Vincent Peter Jones (born 5 January 1965) is an English actor, presenter, and former professional footballer. Jones played professionally as a defensive midfielder from 1984 to 1999, notably for Wimbledon, Leeds United, Sheffield United, C ...

and

Dennis Wise Dennis Frank Wise (born 16 December 1966) is an English former professional football player and manager who played as a central midfielder. He spent the majority of his career at Chelsea, from 1990 to 2001. Beginning his career at Wimbledon, ...

, he was one of the " Crazy Gang" which had built up a reputation for this style of play.

Aston Villa

On 4 August 1994, just before the start of the 1994–95 season, Fashanu was sold to

for £1.35million. However, injury restricted him to just 13 games and three 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 Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

and then Nottingham Forest in January. Fashanu's last game was on 4 February 1995 away at

in a Premiership game that they lost 1–0. In a tackle with

Ryan Giggs Ryan Joseph Giggs (né Wilson; born 29 November 1973) is a Welsh football coach, former player and co-owner of Salford City. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, and one of the best wingers in the history of footba ...

he snapped his knee ligaments and was stretchered off. After the end of the season, Fashanu retired as a result of this injury. In 1995, he hit the front pages as well as the back when ''

The Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...

'' published allegations of

match fixing In organized sports, match fixing (also known as game fixing, race fixing, throwing, rigging, hippodroming, or more generally sports fixing) is the act of playing or officiating a contest with the intention of achieving a predetermined result, v ...

against Fashanu, fellow Wimbledon player Hans Segers and

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

goalkeeper

Bruce Grobbelaar Bruce David Grobbelaar (born 6 October 1957) is a Zimbabwean former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, most prominently for English club Liverpool between 1981 and 1994, and for the Zimbabwean national team. Regarded as one of ...

. All three players were eventually cleared of the allegations in a subsequent court case in August 1997.

International career

Fashanu represented England at full International level gaining two

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

– against

and

in the 1989 Rous Cup, due to his good form at club level for his then club

. He was also eligible to play for Nigeria and since retiring he has expressed regret in not being able to do so.

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 Eva Ulrika Jonsson (born 16 August 1967) is a Swedish-British television presenter and model. She became known as a TV-am weather presenter, and moved on to present the ITV show '' Gladiators'', and later featured as a team captain on the BBC T ...

in the 1990s. 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 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the ITV (TV network), Channel 3 ...

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 The Nigeria Football Federation (known as Nigeria Football Association until 2008) is Nigeria's association football, football sports governing body, governing body. It was formally launched in 1945 and formed the first Nigerian national football ...

, and as chairman of Welsh football team Barry Town for one 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 2003, he became the manager of his own Sunday league football team Fash FC as part of a television reality show. 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 AFC Wimbledon is an English professional association football club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton, London. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in ...

". In 2007, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' named him 22nd out of the 50 worst footballers to have played in the

. In August 2009, Fashanu, who in 2000 accused Bob Minton and

Ibrahim Babangida Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (born 17 August 1941) is a Nigerian statesman and military dictator who ruled as military president of Nigeria from 1985 when he orchestrated a coup d'état against his military and political arch-rival Muhammadu ...

of stealing money from Nigeria, apologised 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 The Church of Scientology is a group of interconnected corporate entities and other organizations devoted to the practice, administration and dissemination of Scientology, which is variously defined as a cult, a business, or a new religiou ...

to attack him. In January 2023, Fashanu was a contestant on the fifteenth series of ''

''. He was paired with Alexandra Schauman and was first to be eliminated.

Personal life

Fashanu, who was the younger brother of Justin Fashanu, disowned his brother after the latter came out as gay, telling '' The Voice'' that Justin was "an outcast". After Justin died by suicide in 1998, Fashanu expressed remorse for abandoning his brother. However, in an interview with

TalkSPORT Talksport (styled as talkSPORT) is a sports radio station in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned by News Broadcasting. Its content includes live coverage of sporting events, interviews with the leading names in sport and entertai ...

in 2012, John Fashanu claimed his brother was not gay and was merely an attention seeker. Fashanu has two sons, Amir and Akio, and two daughters, Alana and Amal. Fashanu has been married three times, according to a documentary on football culture made by his daughter Amal. He met his first wife, a Spaniard, when they were both 18. That marriage broke up when Amal was two years old. Fashanu got into a notable feud with footballer Garth Crooks in the early 1990s, over use of the word "Awooga". Fashanu was perturbed, when Crooks used it on air, during the build up to the 1991 FA Cup Final. Crooks claimed he had nothing to apologize for, as the first use of the term was actually by sprinter Kriss Akabusi, further distressing Fashanu. Fashanu appeared on an episode of ''

The Big Breakfast ''The Big Breakfast'' is a British breakfast light entertainment television programme that was broadcast on Channel 4 from 1992 to 2002, and as a revival from 2021 to 2022. The show had various presenters, starting with Chris Evans (presenter), ...

'' the following week, to challenge both Akabusi and Crooks to a debate. Fashanu holds a black belt in Karate.

In pop culture

* Australian band Magic Lunchbox recorded a song about John Fashanu entitled "Fashanu" on their 2005 album '' Spastique''. * He appeared on Channel 4's ''

Come Dine with Me ''Come Dine with Me'' is a British reality series that has aired on Channel 4 since 10 January 2005 and is narrated by Dave Lamb. Format The original format features five amateur chefs who live in the same town or area, who each host a three-c ...

'' for a football special shortly prior to the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

. * The satirical current affairs programme '' The Day Today'' featured a trailer for a fictional show titled "John Fashanu". The trailer consisted of various clips of Fashanu accompanied by sinister music and a voice-over ( Chris Morris) saying the words "John Fashanu" five times. This was followed by presenter Chris Morris pronouncing the name incorrectly. * Fashanu was voted twice to be part in the BBC's satirical "England's Worst ever football team" TV movie, the first time in 2010 and the second time in 2014.

Honours

Wimbledon *

: 1987–88

References

Notes

#The IMDb page for the TV show ''Football Challenge'' on their website, this is incorrect and the show was actually called ''Fash FC''.

External links

*
Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk
*''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'', 3 August 2003
Fashanu myth
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fashanu, John 1962 births Living people Aston Villa F.C. players Black British sportsmen Black British television personalities Crystal Palace F.C. players English men's footballers England men's international footballers English people of Guyanese descent Sportspeople of Guyanese descent English people of Nigerian descent Sportspeople of Nigerian descent English people of Yoruba descent English television presenters Yoruba sportspeople Lincoln City F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Footballers from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea People from Kensington Premier League players Wimbledon F.C. players Association football controversies Miramar Rangers AFC players People from Attleborough Men's association football forwards English male karateka Sportspeople involved in betting scandals