Derek William Fazackerley (born 5 November 1951) is an English former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who is currently employed as the assistant manager at

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

, and managed the club on a caretaker basis for two months in 2018. He spent the majority of his career playing for

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

Playing career

Fazackerley made a record 671 appearances for Blackburn in an 18-year career. In February 2019 he was one of the first seven players to be inducted into the club's Hall of Fame.Rovers legends inducted into Hall of Fame
www.rovers.co.uk, 17 July 2019

Coaching career

In January 1987, he joined Chester City as a player and assistant manager. The long-term plan was for qualified coach Fazackerley to succeed

Harry McNally Harold McNally (7 July 1936 – 12 December 2004) was an English football player, coach and manager, noted for his spells as manager of Wigan Athletic and Chester City. The Non-League Background Unusually for a Football League manager, McNa ...

as manager, but he grew unhappy at the lack of progress at the club. He moved on in the summer of 1988 to

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

to assist ex-Rovers manager

Bobby Saxton Robert Saxton (born 6 September 1943) is an English former professional footballer, manager and coach. Career Born in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, Saxton managed Blackburn Rovers for five seasons after a playing career as a utility defender wit ...

. In February 1989, he joined

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

where

Martin Dobson Martin Dobson (born 14 February 1948; Rishton) popularly known as Dobbo is a former professional footballer and England international who played as a midfielder. He was the first player to be transferred for £300,000 when Everton bought him fro ...

was manager and ended the season helping run the side after Dobson departed. This was his final playing season in professional football. In May 1990, he became player-manager of Kumu in Finland before moving to

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

as first team coach. He was involved in the

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

setup as assistant manager under

Kevin Keegan Joseph Kevin Keegan (born 14 February 1951) is an English former footballer and manager. A forward, he played for several professional clubs from 1968 to 1984. Having begun his career at Scunthorpe United, he moved to Liverpool in 1971 and ...

, working alongside Les Reed. He has since coached at other clubs, including Blackburn,

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

and

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

. He was a scout for

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

and sat alongside

Sven-Göran Eriksson Sven-Göran Eriksson (; born 5 February 1948) is a Swedish football manager and former player. After an unassuming playing career as a right-back, Eriksson went on to experience major success in club management between 1977 and 2001, winning 18 ...

on the bench at City's matches during his only season in charge. His position at the club was placed under review following Eriksson's departure, and left in July after

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former player who is the manager of Bradford City. During his playing career he usually operated as a forward or midfielder. He had two spells at Manchester United, and a ...

was appointed as manager. On 11 December 2008, he was made the new first team coach at

Football League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...

, following the appointment of Lee Clark as manager. On 4 October 2010, he was made the new assistant manager at

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

side

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

, following the appointment of Sven-Göran Eriksson as manager. He left the club in October 2011. When

Clark Clark is an English language surname, ultimately derived from the Latin with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educate ...

took over as manager of

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

in June 2012, he appointed Fazackerley to the role of first-team coach. On 17 February 2014, it was widely reported that he and assistant manager

Terry McDermott Terence McDermott (born 8 December 1951) is an English former football midfielder who was a member of the Liverpool team of the 1970s and early 1980s, in which he won three European Cups and five First Division titles. He was capped 25 times ...

had left Birmingham; the club stated they had "no comment to issue on the matter at this moment in time." Fazackerley joined

as assistant manager under

Michael Appleton Michael Antony Appleton (born 4 December 1975) is an English professional football manager and former player. He is currently the head coach of Blackpool. As a player, he operated as a midfielder, in a nine-year career that began in 1994 and e ...

on 21 July 2014. He remained at the club when Appleton joined

as assistant manager at the end of the 2016–17 season, and when Appleton's successor

Pep Clotet Josep Clotet Ruiz (born 28 April 1977) is a Spanish football coach, currently in charge of Italian Serie B club Brescia. As well as working as assistant at several clubs, he managed Cornellà, Figueres, Espanyol B, Halmstad, Málaga B, Oxfor ...

was sacked in January 2018, Fazackerley took over as caretaker manager. He was in charge for two months, during which time the team won twice in eight games, before the appointment of

Karl Robinson Karl Robinson (born 13 September 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Oxford United. Playing career Robinson was born in Rainhill, Merseyside. He played for Caernarfon Town, Bamber Bri ...

on 22 March 2018.

References

Bibliography