44: John Fashanu, Aston Villa, Merlin’s Premier League 95 Sticker Collection

John Fashanu. John Fashanu. John Fashanu. John Fashanu. John Fashanu. Here’s Richard Allinson with John Fa-sha-nu. Awooga!

John Fashanu. Fash the Bash. Awooga.

Everyone of a certain age will have their own memory of him. Be it of him as an effective goal scorer for Wimbledon; his elbow on Gary Mabbutt; his Gladiators presenting stint; him falling off a wall; or this quote from his recent spell on Celebrity SAS Who Dares Wins “they called me Fash the Bash because it rhymes, good job my surname isn’t Hunt.”

Growing up, my recollection of Fashanu was of a larger than life character and of height, power and goals. He was without doubt an accomplished footballer, winning two England caps and finding the back of the net 149 times for 7 different clubs. Although Dave Beasant and Lawrie Sanchez were the heroes on the day, Fash was integral to the Dons charge to their 1988 FA Cup final win. What he certainly wasn’t was the twenty-second worst footballer in Premier League history as The Times elected him. To come to that conclusion seems wholly narrow minded. Let’s face it, Fashanu is an icon of 1980s and 90s British football.

However, I do concede that there were limitations of Fashanu’s style of play and how far it could be pushed. Although he is by no means alone in stepping outside the rules, it seems Fash crossed the line and then some in his Wimbledon days. Let’s not forget that his elbow on Gary Mabbutt didn’t result in a simple case of a broken nose, he broke his skull and eye socket and nearly blinded him. Although apologetic about the Mabbutt incident, it has been reported that Fashanu has since indicated that the violence and intimidatory tactics he implemented throughout his career were warranted due to the way other teams treated the Dons. I’m sorry but that is bollocks. Although I wouldn’t say that to his face. I quite like my skull. And eye sockets. On a similar note, Fashanu claimed in a documentary about the Crazy Gang that he ruled the dressing room by fear, a view backed up by Vinnie Jones. However, an alternative version of the truth has been put forward by ex-teammates Dave Beasant and Terry Gibson with the latter saying “the bloke is deluded. In truth we tolerated him and laughed at him, he really was and still is a clown.”

On leaving Wimbledon Fash headed north to link up with Big Ron Atkinson at Aston Villa. Things started well in the Midlands with Fash scoring on his debut against Everton. It quickly went sour though, after only notching a further two goals he snapped his knee ligaments against Manchester United before calling time on his career at the end of the 1994/95 season. An article in the Birmingham Mail sets out that the Villa fan’s overriding memory of Fashanu was his red Quaser boots. Fair play Fash. I once had some snazzy red boots too.

Fashanu’s recent reappearance in the media spotlight has brought with it articles on his childhood, his relationship with his brother Justin and Justin’s subsequent tragic suicide. There is already enough out there on these subjects so we will leave them alone. However, let’s have a look at some of the other more noteworthy bits of post-retirement Fash.

In 1997 he had to fight off allegations of match fixing and was eventually found not guilty after a 45-day trial. Then there is his TV career - his unforgettable ‘awooga’ hollering on Gladiators; hosting Nigerian Deal or No Deal; impersonating Otis Redding on Stars In Their Eyes; being called a twat by a YouTuber on SAS Who Dares Wins; and last but not least Fash FC, a documentary about him managing a Sunday League team named after himself. Back on the crime allegation front again he was held in a Nigerian prison after being accused of being a ‘fixer’ in a deal to sell land that wasn’t actually for sale. Then at one point he was Ambassador John Fashanu, Sports and Tourism, Federal Republic of Nigeria. He has been chairman of Barry Town FC (lasting less than 8 months) and weirdly a director of Kiss FM. He reportedly paid a homeless man to sleep outside some apartments he was trying to buy in order to save his place in the queue. He apparently tried to get elected as chairman of the Nigerian Football Association, got rejected but then said he didn’t want the job anyway. He was a UNICEF ambassador. And he got mugged off by Kanu in an argument over playing for Nigeria’s Olympic team.

Watching Fashanu leave ‘...Who Dares Wins’ you couldn’t help feel sorry for the guy though, someone who had been at the top and so physically dominant in his playing days being humbled by the passing of time. It wasn’t the Fash I remembered at Wimbledon but it did show a glimpse of another side of him I didn’t know about either.

So there really is a lot to take in about John Fashanu and if I’m being honest I’m still not sure what to make of it all. With that in mind, let’s just finish it with another AWOOGA!