Chris Fairclough

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Courtney "Chris" Fairclough (born 12th April 1964, Nottingham) is a retired footballer most notable for playing for Nottingham Forest and Leeds United. He also played for Tottenham Hotspur, Bolton Wanderers, Notts County and York City.

He joined his hometown club Forest in 1981 where he won the first of his seven England under 23 International caps. Forest however allowed the defender's contract to expire and he had his pick of clubs. Having made 134 appearances and scored 2 goals for Forest, he moved to Spurs in June 1987, with the transfer fee set by tribunal at £387,000. Fairclough proved to be a solid and reliable centre-back, being an ever present throughout the 1987-88 season. The 1988-89 season however was blighted by injury for Fairclough and he only 20 made league appearances. Failing to reclaim his place in Terry Venables' team, Chris joined Leeds United on loan in March 1989. In the summer of 1989 he made the move permanent, moving for a fee of £500,000. He was immediately installed at the heart of the defence, and the team gained promotion from Division 2 in 1990 and went on to win Leeds' first Division 1 Championship in eighteen years in 1992. In his six years at Elland Road, he was almost ever-present and immensely popular with the fans, picking up Player of the Year in 1990. His partnership with Chris Whyte was a key factor in the Championship win. However he slowly started to lose his place in the side and moved to Bolton Wanderers in July 1995 for the same fee he joined the club for, having made 240 appearances scoring 23 goals. In-between 1995 and 1998 he made 106 appearances scoring 8 goals. He had a spell at Notts County (1998–1999) before joining York City in 1999 where he stayed till he hung up his boots in 2001. He now lives outside Nottingham and works for Forest, coaching the under-17s.

[edit] External Links

• Chris Fairclough career stats at Soccerbase