MA chats with former leading figure of WImbledon's "Crazy Gang" of the 1980's and 1990's, John Fashanu. Part of the now defunct London club's famous F.A. Cup triumph in 1988, Fashanu has led a fascinating an often controversial life, which has seen him go from one of the hardest players in the English game, to a regular fixture on our TV screens which included the former England international presenting the hit show Gladiators over twenty years ago.


Key to the development of Fashanu's character, a man who many have described as a 'bully", is his complex childhood. Having been placed into a Barnardo's home with his older brother Justin as a baby, the pair soon found themselves in the Foster care of a rural white family in Norfolk, where being the only black kids in town made them targets for racial prejudice. 


With this came an ambition to succeed however, and having followed in the footsteps of his often envied older brother who became Britain's first £1 million pound black footballer, Fashanu found his path through the beautiful game. Revelling in the unconventional methods of the ruthless but equally successful Wimbledon side, Fashanu became a household name in the English game, with his ability to intimidate being as responsible as his technical gifts. 


Throughout this career however, there was something that lay much deeper for "Fash". With his brother becoming the world's first professional footballer to come out as gay, bigotry and hate was par for the course, in a game that refused to recognise such a sexual leaning. Admittedly playing his part in societies ostracisation of his brother, Fashanu was rocked in 1998 when the once brightest prospect in English football was found hanged in a garage in Shoreditch. 


With maturity and age, Fashanu opens up on his regrets about past events in his life in this episode of The Michael Anthony Show, and also delves into a career that lives long in the memory of football fans worldwide. His career in entertainment is also discussed, as is footballs still dubious relationship with homosexuality. 


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