Justin Fashanu

[Making Plans 936]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/51546171

Edited February 18, 2020 by Making Plans

[Ramrod 258]

Not only do players flourish only at certain clubs there is also a right and wrong time to leave one. 

As we now find ourselves talking about a host of our young players leaving at the end of the season the same thing applies to them. For me, only Max Aarons is ready for that. 

Justin was nurtured at Norwich and we sold him into the 'care' of Brian Clough. One million to us and the beginning of Justin's demise. 

Norfolk might not have been multi cultural but I never heard the kind of wicked racism which poured from all stands at Elland Road towards Justin here. He was accepted as a local boy who came through the ranks. 

I'm personally indifferent to identity politics but Justin Fashanu stands as a watershed in the game. His testimony is strong because he wasn't seen as a victim in his time and had to swim against the current. Activism can often be careless of diluting its cause and turning people off. Justin was much more than his colour and his sexuality. He was an orphan, a talented sportsman, a sensitive man and no doubt much more to those who new him. 

There is a message from Justin to modern young players about finding your football home at the right time. Football is riven with 'right place, right time' and is therefore riven with the gifted who never make it and the workmanlike who do. 

Norwich City now has the funds not to need to sell and a personal development structure which Justin Fashanu would surely endorse. Only the players themselves can now make the wrong choice. 

I wonder what advice the likes of Darren Huckerby give to finding the right club? 

The only shame with Justin Fashanu is that he wasn't able to achieve more in the game as his less talented but more settled brother did. We should have looked back on a long top flight and England career. 

 

[Midlands Yellow 3,945]

18 minutes ago, Ramrod said:

Not only do players flourish only at certain clubs there is also a right and wrong time to leave one. 

As we now find ourselves talking about a host of our young players leaving at the end of the season the same thing applies to them. For me, only Max Aarons is ready for that. 

Justin was nurtured at Norwich and we sold him into the 'care' of Brian Clough. One million to us and the beginning of Justin's demise. 

Norfolk might not have been multi cultural but I never heard the kind of wicked racism which poured from all stands at Elland Road towards Justin here. He was accepted as a local boy who came through the ranks. 

I'm personally indifferent to identity politics but Justin Fashanu stands as a watershed in the game. His testimony is strong because he wasn't seen as a victim in his time and had to swim against the current. Activism can often be careless of diluting its cause and turning people off. Justin was much more than his colour and his sexuality. He was an orphan, a talented sportsman, a sensitive man and no doubt much more to those who new him. 

There is a message from Justin to modern young players about finding your football home at the right time. Football is riven with 'right place, right time' and is therefore riven with the gifted who never make it and the workmanlike who do. 

Norwich City now has the funds not to need to sell and a personal development structure which Justin Fashanu would surely endorse. Only the players themselves can now make the wrong choice. 

I wonder what advice the likes of Darren Huckerby give to finding the right club? 

The only shame with Justin Fashanu is that he wasn't able to achieve more in the game as his less talented but more settled brother did. We should have looked back on a long top flight and England career. 

 

That’s a nice post but most footballers want the glory now and the money. Players like Huckerby  and Le Tissier are such a rarity in the modern game.

[BobLoz3 492]

10 minutes ago, Midlands Yellow said:

That’s a nice post but most footballers want the glory now and the money. Players like Huckerby  and Le Tissier are such a rarity in the modern game.

I'm sure Hucks has made PLENTY of money out of Norwich and before that in his career too.

I don't necessarily agree that ALL players want the glory and money. But I can see the attraction for a young lad, such as the ones we have at our club at the moment, to go and play their football at the highest echelon possible. If only to prove to themselves and their many doubters that they can do it.

I say good luck to them.

[Midlands Yellow 3,945]

10 minutes ago, BobLoz3 said:

I'm sure Hucks has made PLENTY of money out of Norwich and before that in his career too.

I don't necessarily agree that ALL players want the glory and money. But I can see the attraction for a young lad, such as the ones we have at our club at the moment, to go and play their football at the highest echelon possible. If only to prove to themselves and their many doubters that they can do it.

I say good luck to them.

He made more at Leeds and Man City but ironically he’s happiest days were here and at Coventry.

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

Any player worth his salt wants to think he can play for the biggest of clubs. But there are exceptions. Le Tissier being a good example.

But of those who move on, how many actually make it? Robert Fleck might as well of stayed with us for example but at the same time might have made his family's future secure.

But Fash was special.

 

Edited February 19, 2020 by keelansgrandad

[Nuff Said 5,092]

A bit OT I know but whenever I see the Fashanu name I think of this:

 

 

[glory.win or die. 270]

On 19/02/2020 at 17:14, Nuff Said said:

A bit OT I know but whenever I see the Fashanu name I think of this:

 

 

My first thought is him ending john o'Neills career and then the elbow on gary mabbut...are 3rdly his **** attempts on record breakers at kicking a ball hard

[Pugin 601]

9 minutes ago, glory.win or die. said:

My first thought is him ending john o'Neills career and then the elbow on gary mabbut...are 3rdly his **** attempts on record breakers at kicking a ball hard

'Thief' and 'scumbag' were two of the words used by his former colleagues to describe John Fashanu during some research I was doing for a Wimbledon publication last year.

 

 

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

Justin Fashanu was a fugitive who had committed a sexual offence in the USA (even if consensual as he claimed/admitted, the other party was below the age of consent in the USA and was therefore a minor). 

A TV documentary in recent times claims that he frequently used underage rent boys in the UK, and in the nineties a tabloid newspaper claimed the same. 

With the large number of male footballers coming out as having been abused in recent years and with numerous coaches from the 80's and 90's convicted, and some still awaiting trial, I have to seriously question the morality and wisdom of celebrating Fashanu as a player just because he scored a world class goal once and there is a shortage of gay footballers to celebrate. 

He was essentially a depraved individual who ruined his football career by going out on the **** to gay bars and spending his money on rent boys. 

I do hope that the next gay footballers to come out is just a normal bloke with a boyfriend or husband, somebody like Timm Klose perhaps. I'm not sure that Fashanu is the good role model and inspiration that young gay fans need.

[Pugin 601]

The most shocking comment here is the deliberate connection of paedophilia with homosexuality. You really do need to understand the difference if engaging in debate.

'Rent boys' and 'call girls' are intentionally derogatory expressions which largely disappeared in the 1960's. They were almost exclusively used to describe sexual encounters between politicians and prostitutes. 

It's a long time since I read about Justin's troubles in America, but I seem to remember that he had a relationship with a young athlete who subsequently pursued an action which could have resulted in financial reward. Of course, it was never tested in the Courts.

Injury and prejudice curtailed Justin's career, no one has ever previously suggested that 'depraved' behaviour played a role. 

Was your post serious? I cannot honestly believe it was.

 

 

[BroadstairsR 2,138]

Clever footballer with issues,but he wouldn't be anywhere near my top ten list of all time City strikers.

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

4 hours ago, Pugin said:

The most shocking comment here is the deliberate connection of paedophilia with homosexuality. You really do need to understand the difference if engaging in debate.

'Rent boys' and 'call girls' are intentionally derogatory expressions which largely disappeared in the 1960's. 

You must have missed the word "underage".

Edited February 22, 2020 by TeemuVanBasten

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

5 hours ago, Pugin said:

It's a long time since I read about Justin's troubles in America, but I seem to remember that he had a relationship with a young athlete who subsequently pursued an action which could have resulted in financial reward. Of course, it was never tested in the Courts.

The athlete was one of his students (he was a coach), and it didn't end in a financial reward but with Fashanu fleeing the country to avoid arrest and killing himself because he was afraid of the trial. 

Edited February 22, 2020 by TeemuVanBasten

[Surfer 1,547]

For clarity define “ under age “ in the US you are under age if you have a drink before you are 21

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

1 hour ago, Surfer said:

For clarity define “ under age “ in the US you are under age if you have a drink before you are 21

In the Netflix documentary Forbidden Games: The Justin Fashanu Story there were 1st hand accounts from people of Justin Fashanu using underage rent boys. Not in the US but in the UK. 

A team mate at Leyton Orient also states that he used to turn up to training at Leyton Orient with rent boys! 

Having watched that film I find it difficult to accept Fashanu as some sort of role model or pioneer, he used to sell kiss and tell stories to the newspapers while playing including getting paid to boast about his affair with an MP which wrecked that mans marriage. 

I'm surprised that in the light of all these allegations at Crewe etc in recent times that the FA and Norwich City have taken the risk of enrolling him into Hall's of Fame. 

Like I said, I hope that when a footballer next comes out it is somebody more respectable and clean living rather than a party maniac who used young, possibly underage, male escorts and used to sell shocking stories to tabloid newspapers instead of concentrating on trying to resurrect a failing football career. 

I mean even if the rent boys were legal age would that still be acceptable? Personally I'd be pretty appalled if we had a straight player who was frequently hiring prostitutes and taking them to Colney, or a coach who had sexual contact with a 17 year old player they were supposed to be coaching even if it were consensual and technically legal. 

I certainly wouldn't expect them to be celebrated and enrolled into a Hall of Fame and held up as a role model!

Is there no decency and morality left in society? Since when did it become acceptable for a mid-thirties coach to sexually touch a 17 year old player that he was coaching, and to use his wealth to pay young men to let him **** them? If you can rationalise that then what else can you rationalise?

Shouldn't be anywhere near our Hall of Fame. I'd say the same of any straight player who had done the same.

Edited February 22, 2020 by TeemuVanBasten