John Fairbrother

John Fairbrother (born 12 February 1941) is an English former footballer who played as a centre forward. He scored 153 goals from 352 appearances in the Football League playing for Watford, Peterborough United, Northampton Town, Mansfield Town and Torquay United. He also played in the Southern League for Worcester City, Bath City and Barnet, and continued his non-league football career with Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted Town and Leverstock Green.

For the goalkeeper and manager, see Jack Fairbrother.

John Fairbrother
Personal information
Full name John Fairbrother[1]
Date of birth (1941-02-12)12 February 1941[1]
Place of birth Cricklewood,[1] England
Position(s) Centre forward
Youth career
Bennetts End
1958–1959 Luton Town
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1959–1963 Watford 40 (19)
1963–1965 Worcester City (51)
1965–1968 Peterborough United 72 (37)
1968–1971 Northampton Town 140 (56)
1971–1973 Mansfield Town 85 (38)
1973–1974 Torquay United 15 (3)
1974–1976 Bath City (31)
1976–1978 Barnet 83 (40)
1978–19?? Hemel Hempstead
Berkhamsted Town
Leverstock Green
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Life and career

Fairbrother was born in 1941 in Cricklewood, London,[1] and moved to Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, in 1953. He played youth football in the Hemel area and spent the 1958–59 season with Luton Town's junior side before moving to Watford. He scored four goals on his debut for Watford's reserves and signed professional forms immediately afterwards.[2] He was prolific in the reserves,[3] but did not make his senior debut until October 1960, when he scored in a 5–2 loss to Derby County in the League Cup.[4] His first appearance in the Third Division came on 12 November against Hull City, and he scored his first Football League goal a week later in a 1–1 draw with Reading.[4] He played increasingly regularly in the 1961–62 season, but his progress was interrupted when he broke a leg during a match in February 1962, just before his 21st birthday. Watford confirmed immediately that he would be retained for the following season and would be kept on first-team wages during his recovery.[5] He scored five goals in the first four matches of 1962–63, but soon dropped out of the side, and finished the season with 22 goals from 45 matches in all competitions over his three-year Watford career.[4]

After two seasons with Worcester City, during which he scored 51 Southern League goals, and 87 in all competitions,[6] Fairbrother joined Peterborough United for a £5000 fee. Worcester did not want to sell, and their supporters' club offered to pay £2000 towards keeping him, but the player was determined to return to the Football League.[7] He spent three months short of three seasons with the Third Division club, and top scored in the second and third.[8]

In February 1968, Fairbrother began three-and-a-half years with Northampton Town – one-and-a-half in the Third Division and two in the fourth – during which he was a first-team regular, top-scored in all three complete seasons, and was ever-present in 1969–70 with 56 appearances,[4] which included an FA Cup fifth round match in which Fairbrother had two chances to open the scoring for Northampton before George Best scored six goals in Manchester United's 8–2 win.[9][10] Mansfield Town signed Fairbrother a month into their 1971–72 season in the Third Division, at which point they had not scored a league goal at home. That state of affairs continued until 18 December when, in their tenth home league match of the season, after a Football League record 833 goalless minutes, Fairbrother's headed goal tied the scores with Plymouth Argyle; Mansfield still lost the match, and went on to be relegated.[11] He top-scored both that season and the next; in 1972–73, he had 17 league goals by Christmas, but managed only 3 more in the second half of the season as Mansfield narrowly failed to gain promotion.[4][11] Fairbrother's Football League career ended with an unproductive season with Torquay United in the Fourth Division.[4]

Fairbrother made 65 appearances in all competitions in his first season with Bath City and scored 41 goals, of which 20 came in the Southern League Premier Division; he added a further 11 league goals in 1975–76.[12] He then moved on to Barnet, where in his first season he top-scored with 22 league goals, won the club's Player of the Year award, and helped Barnet win the Southern League Division One South title.[13] He was again top scorer in league competition in 1977–78, but Jimmy Greaves had one more in all competitions.[14] He made his last Barnet appearance on 9 December 1978,[15] and finished off his career back in the Hemel area with Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted Town and Leverstock Green.[3][16]

Fairbrother worked as a hotel maintenance man before running a family building firm in the Hemel area.[9]

References
  1. "John Fairbrother". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  2. "New players: John Fairbrother". Official Journal. Watford Association Football Club. 10 October 1959. p. 10.
  3. "Players: Ellington to Folivi" (PDF). Watford Football Club archive 1881–2017. Trefor Jones. Archived from the original on 12 August 2019. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  4. "Player search: Fairbrother, J (John)". English National Football Archive. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  5. "Watford retain John Fairbrother". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 13 February 1962. p. 34.
  6. "Worcester City all time player statistics". Worcester City FC Archive. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011.
  7. Norman, Dick (29 May 1965). "Worcester's aim is 'big names'". Sports Argus. Birmingham. p. 7.
    Mitchell, Andy (11 March 2019). "Nostalgia: Wolves legend Norman Deeley wowed Worcester City". Worcester News. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  8. "1966/67 playing records". Up The Posh. Chris Wilkinson. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
    "1967/68 playing records". Up The Posh. Chris Wilkinson. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
  9. Ellis, Adam (28 September 2016). "Where Are They Now? Northampton's 1969–70 side who faced George Best in the FA Cup". The League Paper. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  10. Heilpern, John (8 February 1970). "Georgie the six-goal genius". The Observer. London. p. 28.
  11. Shaw, Martin; Taylor, Paul (19 May 2016). "History: 1970–1979". Mansfield Town F.C. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
    "Stags retro: Fairbrother ends record-breaking goal drought". Mansfield and Ashfield Chad. 2 November 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  12. "1974–75". Bath City FC Archive. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
    "1975–76". Bath City FC Archive. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  13. "Dan Sweeney Player of the Year 2017–18". The Reckless Guide to Barnet FC. Tony Hammond. 14 July 2018. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
    "Season stats 1976–1977". Downhill Second Half. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  14. "Season stats 1977–1978". Downhill Second Half. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  15. "Player profile: Johnny Fairbrother". Downhill Second Half. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  16. "Tudors Club History". Tudor Times. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  • John Fairbrother at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database
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