Playing Norwich today makes me think about the first goal I can remember seeing on the television, that is the one that won the annual Match of the Day/The Premiership goal of the season award for the 1979-80 campaign. The winner that year being Justin Fashanu's controlled flick up and volley against Liverpool at Carrow Road on February 9th 1980 that had Barry Davies screaming into the microphone : "oh, oh what a goal, oh that is a magnificent goal." I suppose though that one person you have to feel sorry for is Liverpool striker David Fairclough, who later went on to play for Norwich in a short 1985 spell. Supersub Fairclough, playing from the start for the Anfield giants that day actually getting his only ever Liverpool hat-trick in the game before Fashanu's equaliser made the score 3-3. The visitors though going on to win the match 5-3 thanks to two goals in the last three minutes from first Kenny Dalglish and then Jimmy Case. The game also reminds you of how bad the playing surfaces were in that era as the fixture takes place on what is basically dry cut up mud in the middle, sand in the goalmouth and a light sprinkling of grass in the corners. You do wonder why pitches were so bad in what is less than 30 years ago, Derby's Baseball Ground being one I remember as a sandpit. While of course Ronnie Radford's strike for Hereford against Newcastle in February 1972 (another goal of the season winner) takes some beating in the mudbath stakes. Back to Fashanu though and he came through the youth ranks at Norwich before making his debut for the Canaries in January 1979. Fashanu only being 18 at the time of that great goal against Liverpool, that youth in direct contrast to 36-year old Martin Peters who scored the opener in the match. Peters at the end of the season moving to the last club of his career in Sheffield United, his league debut for the Blades coming in a 3-0 win against Carlisle at Brunton Park in which he scored. I think that Fashanu goal is as well remembered for the celebration as much as the goal itself though. But what a goal it was, a short pass played into his feet with his back to goal 20 yards out halfway between the D and the left-hand angle of the box starting things off. Fashanu then teeing the ball up in the air on the turn before spinning inside Liverpool left-back Alan Kennedy and smashing a left-footed volley across goal, over the top of Ray Clemence and into the far corner of the net. And then comes the "celebration", well if you can call it that, the most energetic Fashanu gets being a little skip as he realises he has hit a cracker with the ball almost into the net in that point. Things then getting a lot more understated as Fashanu slows down to a walk and raises his index finger on his right hand into the air for a few strides before being congratulated by his team-mates. That taking place while a young Sammy Lee stands nearby with his hands on his hips looking completely flummoxed by it all. Like Lee, England under-21 caps followed for Fashanu before he became Britain's first £1 million black footballer when he was transferred to Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest in August 1981. Fashanu a replacement for the departing Trevor Francis who, coincidentally, was Britain's first £1 million player when he moved to the City Ground in early 1979. The actual transfer fee for Francis being £999,000, although the deal itself, from Birmingham City, was worth around £1.1 million in total. Like many players before and after him Justin didn't get on well with Brian Clough. Fashanu's career going nowhere under Clough before just 16 months later he was sold to city rivals Notts County for a cut price £150,000. That really the end of the road for Fashanu at the top level as the old "more clubs than Jack Nicklaus" routine then followed, Justin also having seven short spells at clubs abroad mainly in North America, although he also played a few games for Trelleborgs in Sweden. Fashanu officially came out as gay in October 1990 in an article run in the Sun, Justin having according to gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell been a good friend of his for many years. Fashanu also having a relationship at the time with Coronation Street actress Julie Goodyear, before a good few years later in 1998 he sadly hanged himself in a deserted lock-up garage he had broken into in Shoreditch. A lot of us here today though, particularly in the away end, won't forget Justin, and I certainly won't, if only for "that" goal. |