E

Ioquent, joviaI and handsome

- sketchy footage from earIy
qos Scottish TV programme 4RIAL
BY.IGHT shows Justin Fashanu
undefeated and on the front foot.
Ominous titIe aside, it's a rare
artefact in as much as it offers a
gIimpse into the second, spirited
phase of Fashanu's British pubIic
Iife and, therefore, Iife as a gay
footbaIIer. It's aIso an indicator
of the burgeoning media career
he was buiIding in paraIIeI with
his pIaying duties north of the
border. Far from being crushed
by his tabIoid coming-out in
qqo, Fashanu was busy pursuing
muItipIe opportunities and mak-
ing new friends. By the spring of
qq(, however, he had waIked
away from the British game for-
ever.
It was never intended as a scout-
ing trip but it turned out to be ar-
guabIy the biggest deaI of aII their
Iives. When the then Nottingham
Forest manager Brian CIough and
his assistant Peter TayIor watched
the striker dominate their cen-
traI defence back in q8o, they
were sufcientIy worried to pay
Norwich City handsomeIy for his
services. Forest defenders Kenny
Burns and Larry LIoyd were ceI-
ebrated oId-schooI bruisers that
few got the better of.
That afternoon, Fashanu did.
A footbaIIer who wouId shortIy
become the rst Lm bIack - and,
Iater, the rst openIy gay - pIayer
couId Iook after himseIf.
Sent to a Barnado's home at an
earIy age with younger brother
John, both were Iater fostered
and brought up together in the
more idyIIic surrounds of NorfoIk.
The eIder sibIing's career rise
through the ranks at neighbour-
ing Norwich City proved meteoric
as he went from humbIe appren-
tice to the BBC's -ATCHOFTHE$AY
reguIar by the turn of the decade,
thanks to a wonder-goaI against
the then dominant LiverpooI.
If his rapid ascent had seemed
effortIess then his switch to
the big-time came fraught with
probIems. TayIor was uItimateIy
responsibIe for bringing Fashanu
to Forest, but the move ensured a
guIf existed between CIough and
the striker from day one.
That Fashanu had aIready been
wideIy feted for scoring the
goaI of the season probabIy
irked CIough from the start.
FamousIy a seIf-procIaimed big
head", the manager wouId go
to great Iengths to ensure his
team weren't about to foIIow
suit. Trevor Francis, the rst Lm
pIayer and Fashanu's predecessor,
had been signed for fractionaIIy
under that record gure, ensur-
ing his bank baIance wouIdn't
upset the Forest dressing room.
A generation apart, with Fashanu
raised in north-east London and
CIough coming from the north-
east of EngIand, their differ-
ences were many, but it was their
simiIarities that tore them apart.
Prior to working together, nei-
ther had been a shrinking vioIet.
CIough had Iong estabIished
himseIf as one of footbaII's most
powerfuI orators, taking a narcis-
sistic deIight in every subsequent
teIevision appearance. Fashanu
was supremeIy articuIate and had
enjoyed the wave of press atten-
tion surrounding 1nn1 goaI.
ITV's footage of Norwich impIod-
ing (-o the same season demon-
strated a remarkabIe ease in front
of the cameras, a dejected dress-
ing room Iit up by Fashanu taking
the team to task. AmusingIy, Ca-
naries manager Ken Brown couId
onIy nod and agree whiIe toId
how to do his job by the beguiIing
youngster.
It's unIikeIy - rather, impossibIe -
that CIough wouId have stood for
this and, by the time their career
paths intertwined, they were two
peacocks strutting on the same
turf: Fashanu used his new found
Justin Fashanu
by Daniel Tickner

photography courtesy of Getty

and George Herringshaw
1 FASHANU in action
during his difcult
period in NOTTINGHAM,
where he managed
only 3 goals in 32
appearances, 1982
31
He faced the spotlight
as an openly gay player
even basking in it at
times and football had
not wholly rejected him.
weaIth to induIge in faith heaIers
and masseurs whiIe CIough gIee-
fuIIy reveIIed in the autonomy
granted to him through succes-
sive European Cup victories.
The manager had smoothed the
edges off many a rough diamond
over the years, emerging with the
conformity and controI he craved.
He'd battIed haircuts, outts,
smoking, gambIing. He'd stopped
some drinking habits, started
others. Yet, just as the striker had
been too powerfuI for LIoyd and
Burns the afternoon he caught
TayIor's eye, he was too strong
an individuaI to acquiesce in a
CIough dictatorship.
Beyond the personaIity cIash,
Fashanu and Forest were wrong
for each other. The goaI against
LiverpooI that triggered the
ashbuIbs had aIso Iumbered
the striker with unfair expecta-
tions of exotic air. Thought to
have been bIessed with more
naturaI abiIity than his brother
John, his game was stiII primariIy
based on the physicaIity the Iat-
ter wouId successfuIIy empIoy at
WimbIedon. The unconventionaI
training regime at Forest never
offered him the chance to de-
veIop the taIent he badIy needed:
A morning run through stinging
nettIes might toughen up a pIayer
mentaIIy, but it was unIikeIy to
improve their rst touch; an im-
promptu team drinking session
the night before a game may have
buiIt moraI, but it was coaching
Fashanu needed, not a hangover.
Despite CIough Ietting the feud
descend into homophobic taunts
- for which he apoIogised in the
brevity between the striker's
death and his own - it was TayIor
and Fashanu who wouId pay for
the costIy signing with earIy exits
from Forest. The former never
recovered his reputation for
spotting pIayers and, unabIe to
forgive himseIf for such an expen-
sive error, took earIy retirement.
Fashanu wouId not go so quietIy,
determined to make it work in
2 With the world
seemingly at his feet,
the NORWICH CITY striker
enjoys a relaxing moment
by the pool, 1981.
JUSTIN FASHANU
3 An unused NOTTINGHAM FOREST substitute, FASHANU watches his team-
mates in their 3-0 victory over MANCHESTER CITY, NOVEMBER 1982.
a city where he'd estabIished
himseIf on the gay scene and,
paradoxicaIIy, among the Chris-
tian right, who wouId inuence
his conviction that staying on was
indeed God's wiII, perhaps forget-
ting it was CIough who waIked on
water in Nottingham.
LuckiIy for Fashanu, on the other
side of the river Trent, neigh-
bours Notts County were sIowIy
strengthening under the thought-
fuI stewardship of a young How-
ard WiIkinson. With a river now
running between him and his
tormentor, the striker contributed
zo goaIs for the Magpies before a
knee injury saw his career staII.
He naIIy Ieft the city in June
q8. Despite enduring a tur-
buIent time, the four years he'd
spent there had offered him a
stabiIity he wouId rareIy encoun-
ter again in his career.
Next foIIowed a wiIderness pe-
riod for Fashanu away from the
EngIish game, not uncommon in a
career that wouId eventuaIIy take
him to Canada, the US, AustraIia
and New ZeaIand, among oth-
ers. More gIamorous gIobetrot-
ter than jaded journeyman, the
barrister's son from Barnado's
was weII-traveIIed by the time the
8os drew to a cIose and ready to
return to home for another shot
at the big time. Waiting for him
was the future manager of Not-
tingham Forest.
Frank CIark, ironicaIIy, wouId be
hand-picked by CIough to take
over at the City Ground foIIow-
ing his rapid, aIcohoI-fueIIed
demise some years Iater. In qqo,
however, he was more concerned
about getting some money on the
gate at IowIy Leyton Orient and,
despite Fashanu not yet being a
tabIoid xture, he sensed box of-
ce. AImost a decade had passed,
though, since CIark had seen the
striker pIay whiIe reserve team
coach at Forest and the years had
not been kind. Despite paying a
smaII fortune for a knee opera-
tion in the US he wouId never be
quite the same pIayer again.
Off-the-eId probIems were aIso
taking their toII. UnIike CIough
and TayIor before them, CIark
and assistant BiIIy Saunders were
sensitive to Fashanu's personaI
situation. They knew he was
gay and sensed his terror, not so
much of coming out, but having
the news Ieak at any moment.
Unconcerned by the initiaI
headIines and encouraged by
the pIayer's huge popuIarity in
the dressing room, the forward-
thinking management duo
persuaded the pIayer to free
himseIf from torment. Later that
year Fashanu toId the worId, I'm
Gay", the news breaking on the
front page of the 3UN.
That October morning in qqo
through to earIy qq( marked
perhaps the most proIic and
coIourfuI chapter of Fashanu's
career, and his Iast signicant pe-
riod in the UK. Despite the initiaI
bIows deaIt to him - his brother
disowned him aIong with Iarge
segments of the bIack community
- he seemed to pursue opportuni-
ties with a renewed vigour.

Far from being rejected by foot-
baII, he was invited for triaIs and
was embraced by fans Iooking
for a cuIt hero. Argentine Iegend
Ossie ArdiIes briey brought
him to a pre-Keegan NewcastIe
United, whiIe the terraces sang
affectionate anthems about their
new number q. And, whiIe the
tongue-in-cheek homophobic un-
dertones saiIed very cIose to the
wind, they were perhaps prefer-
abIe to the fear-Iaden siIence of
zst century footbaII.
FierceIy inteIIigent, Fashanu
came from the oId footbaII worId
but saw the possibiIities of the
new. The kid whose post-match
anaIysis outshone the boss at
Norwich aII those years ago was
now activeIy pursuing his man-
agement dream. Frank CIark had
been forced to move him on from
Orient due to his growing inu-
ence in the dressing room and by
qq Torquay United had made
him pIayer/coach. Two years
Iater, with the side in choppy reI-
egation waters, Fashanu appIied
for the vacant manager's position.
NeiI Warnock got the job instead.
With many pIayers stiII retiring
to the pub trade, Fashanu was
one of the rst to attempt both a
management and media career.
Knowing onIy too weII the power
of his own story, the Iatter came
easiIy. In some ways you couId
argue his bizarre tabIoid romance
with UK soap star JuIie Good-
year (aka #ORONATION3TREET's Bet
Lynch) in qq_, whiIst hardIy Posh
and Becks, was certainIy a fore-
runner to the money-spinning
faux-ceIebrity coupIes omnipres-
ent now. A few /+! excIusives
in today's terms may even have
saved him from forgettabIe stints
at non-Ieague Leatherhead and
Swedish minnows TreIIeborg.
When he attempted to seII faIse
stories about sIeeping with maIe
UK Conservative MPS, however,
it was a media manipuIation too
far. In the spring of qq( he was
sacked by his then cIub, Scottish
outt Hearts, for improper con-
duct". Speaking to the 'AY4IMES
before Ieaving the UK once again,
he confessed to being unprepared
for the backIash and the damage
done to his career by coming out.
He had, however, faced the spot-
Iight as an openIy gay pIayer -
even basking in it at times - and
footbaII had not whoIIy rejected
him. Fashanu wouId return to the
UK one naI time in May qq8,
back to the pIace where he was
born, taking his own Iife in east
London.
Between that Iast interview and
the May morning when he was
discovered, he continued to
coach footbaII abroad, buiIding
an impressive CV. It was whiIe in
the US in one such roIe that he
was accused of sexuaI assauIt
at a party by a ;-year-oId. This
time, for Fashanu, it seemed the
triaI wouId be for reaI. Rather
than risk arrest, he opted to
return home for the Iast time.
Four months after his death, an
inquest heard there had been no
warrant, the case having been
dropped due to Iack of evidence.
It's fascinating to think what
Fashanu couId have achieved had
he own home under different
circumstances. WouId it have
taken another o years to see Brit-
ain's rst top-ight bIack manag-
er? How much couId a gay coach
have heIped cIoseted pIayers in
the game? AIternativeIy, might he
have carved out a roIe for himseIf
sat aIongside the Iikes of
CharIie NichoIas - a Scottish
striking contemporary the same
age as Fashanu - as a footbaII
pundit?
AII these things were possibIe be-
cause it's important to remember
that through aII the tormented
times of Justin Fashanu's Iife, he
never gave up on footbaII. And,
importantIy, footbaII never quite
gave up on him.
35