David Fairclough (born

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, 5 January 1957) is an English retired footballer, most famous for playing for

as a striker during the 1970s and 1980s.

Life and playing career

Known affectionately as ''Supersub'' (because he was a talented goalscorer who, in comparison with other players, rarely started matches for Liverpool - but frequently came into the match as a substitute to make an impact), Fairclough was born in inner city Liverpool and as a child moved to the new Cantril Farm housing estate in the 1960s due to slum clearances. He rose through the Liverpool ranks as a teenager and made his debut for the club on 1 November 1975 in the 1–0 league win over

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the ...

Ayresome Park Ayresome Park was a football stadium in Middlesbrough, Yorkshire, England. It was the home of Middlesbrough F.C. from its construction in time for the 1903–04 season, until the Riverside Stadium opened in 1995. It was demolished in 1997 and ...

. As the season progressed, Fairclough scored seven crucial goals in just 14 appearances to land Liverpool the League championship. Nine of these appearances were as substitute. His first goal for the club came three days after his debut on 4 November 1975, during the 6–0 defeat of Spanish side

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septemb ...

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...

in a

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, w ...

2nd round 2nd leg tie. The pecking order of strikers at the club saw Fairclough trailing behind the 'dream duo' of

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 an ...

and

John Toshack John Benjamin Toshack (born 22 March 1949) is a Welsh former professional football player and manager. He began his playing career as a teenager with his hometown club Cardiff City, becoming the youngest player to make an appearance for the ...

, as well as England centre forward David Johnson. In the 1976–77 season, Fairclough made more appearances as a substitute, because of a succession of injuries to Toshack. His most famous Liverpool goal came at

as a substitute in a crucial

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

quarter final against the French side St Etienne. Liverpool had been a goal adrift from the first leg in France, and when they went 2–1 up in the home return, the

aggregate score There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the ''single elimination'', the ''best-of-'' series, the ''total points series'' more commonly kn ...

was level at 2–2 but St Etienne led on the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

. Liverpool's manager

Bob Paisley Robert Paisley OBE (23 January 1919 – 14 February 1996) was an English professional football manager and player who played as a wing-half. He spent almost 50 years with Liverpool and is regarded, due to his achievements with the club, a ...

sent Fairclough on in the last 20 minutes of the game and with six minutes remaining, Fairclough ran on to a long ball upfield and held off two St Etienne defenders to score the tie's decisive goal at the Kop end. ITV commentator

Gerald Sinstadt Gerald Morris Sinstadt (19 February 1930 – 10 November 2021) was an English sports commentator, broadcaster and newspaper columnist, usually on football. Early life Born in Folkestone, Kent, Sinstadt attended The Harvey Grammar School.https: ...

famously bellowed: "Supersub strikes again!" Liverpool won the League title again and reached both the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

final at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

and the European Cup final in Rome. Fairclough was not selected for the Wembley squad as Paisley named veteran winger

Ian Callaghan Ian Robert Callaghan MBE (born 10 April 1942) is an English retired professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He holds the record for most appearances for Liverpool. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) i ...

as the substitute, and Liverpool lost to

Manchester United 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 two ...

. However, he was a substitute in Rome as Liverpool won 3–1. The following season, Fairclough scored a goal in each leg as Liverpool thrashed Keegan's

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

7–1 on aggregate in the

European Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originally ...

. Liverpool reached the European Cup final again and this time Fairclough started the match. A 1–0 victory over

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the country by population. The area of the whole city ...

retained the trophy for Liverpool. He managed 29 league appearances that season, scoring 10 goals, but the Reds were beaten to both the league title and the

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by th ...

by newly promoted

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

under

Brian Clough Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Englis ...

. In 1978–79, Liverpool regained their league championship crown but Fairclough did not play enough games to seal another title medal, as he had played just four times in the league, scoring twice. Fairclough scored his only Liverpool

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

on 9 February 1980 in the thrilling 5–3 league victory over

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

Carrow Road Carrow Road is an association football stadium located in Norwich, Norfolk, England, and is the home of EFL Championship side Norwich City. The stadium is located toward the east of the city, near Norwich railway station and the River Wensum. ...

. His goals came in the 4th, 18th and 75th minutes, with

Kenny Dalglish Sir Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish (born 4 March 1951) is a Scottish former football player and manager. During his career, he made 338 appearances for Celtic and 515 for Liverpool, playing as a forward, and earned a record 102 full caps for t ...

and

Jimmy Case James Robert Case (born 18 May 1954) is an English retired professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He gained national prominence with Liverpool in the 1970s and early 1980s. Early life Case was brought up in Allerton and was a di ...

scoring to guarantee a late win for the Reds. However, Fairclough's league chances were again restricted that season, as he played just 14 league games and scored five goals. He came on as a substitute in the League Cup semi final second leg against Nottingham Forest four days after his hat trick at Norwich, and scored a late equaliser to preserve Liverpool's long two-year unbeaten run at Anfield. Even though Liverpool went out on aggregate to Forest, Fairclough's goal helped create an English record of eighty five unbeaten matches in succession at home. Fairclough spent another five years at Anfield, although in what was a golden era for the club, he was rarely in the first team. He was a prolific scorer in the reserves, but the phenomenal partnership of Dalglish and

Ian Rush Ian James Rush (born 20 October 1961) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a forward. At club level Rush played for Liverpool from 1980–1987 and 1988–1996. He is the club's all-time leading goalscorer, having scored a ...

rendered him surplus to first team requirements. In the 1982–83 season he scored three times in eight league appearances but failed to play enough games to merit a title medal. He had also failed to make the squad for the League Cup victories of the previous two seasons, and in the 1981–82 season, when the Reds won another league title as well as the League Cup, he did not play a single first team game. The ''Supersub'' tag belied the number of first team starts Fairclough made at Liverpool; of his 153 appearances, only 61 were from the bench. He scored 55 goals (34 of them in the league), averaging a goal every 2.8 games. Fairclough left Liverpool on 4 July 1983 after a loan spell at NASL side Toronto Blizzard. He then moved to the Swiss side

FC Lucerne Fussball-Club Luzern (), or simply abbreviated to FCL, is a Swiss sports club based in Lucerne (german: Luzern). It is best known for its professional football team, which plays in the Super League, the top tier of the Swiss football league syst ...

before returning to England for spells with

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 City of Salford, Salford to ...

, Norwich, Oldham Athletic and

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Boroug ...

. He moved overseas once more to Belgium club

Beveren Beveren () is a municipality in the Belgian province of East Flanders which comprises the towns of Beveren, Doel, Haasdonk, Kallo, Kieldrecht, Melsele, Verrebroek and Vrasene. The port of the Waasland (Dutch: ''Waaslandhaven'') is in Be ...

for three seasons before returning home for stints with

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

and

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

. He ended his playing days at non-league Knowsley.

Later life and legacy

Fairclough now works as a pundit and also on the after-dinner circuit, he also writes a weekly column on th
official Liverpool Football Club web-site.
Fairclough is still a firm favourite amongst the Anfield faithful and was voted in at No.18 on the 2006 poll 100 Players Who Shook The Kop. The poll was conducted by the Reds official web-site, 110,000 supporters worldwide took part listing their favourite 10 Liverpool players of all-time. Fairclough's 18th place was higher than John Toshack's 34th and David Johnson's 77th positions, two of the players that prevented Fairclough from gaining more Liverpool appearances. Fairclough was married to Jan Fairclough who died on 9 April 2011. Jan collapsed suddenly on the morning of 6 April of a brain haemorrhage and died 3 days later. A minute of silence was held for Jan (as well as the 96 Hillsborough victims and Mark Burgan, a soldier from Liverpool) at Anfield before a Liverpool vs. Manchester City match on 11 April 2011. Fairclough and Jan have two children, Tom and Sophie. Fairclough suffered a minor heart attack on 3 October 2010, at the age of 53, but made a full recovery.

Honours

Liverpool *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First Di ...

: 1975–76, 1976–77, 1979–80 *

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

: 1982–83 *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic Re ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Syst ...

: 1976–77, 1977–78 *

: 1975–76 *

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was original ...

Tranmere Rovers *

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Lea ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

References

External links

*
LiverpoolFC profileProfile on LFChistory.netSporting-Heroes profilePartner in JDB Health & Performance Ltd
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fairclough, David 1957 births Living people English expatriate sportspeople in Belgium English expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland England B international footballers England under-21 international footballers English expatriate footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Canada English footballers Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Expatriate soccer players in Canada FC Luzern players Association football forwards K.S.K. Beveren players Liverpool F.C. players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Manchester City F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Toronto Blizzard (1971–1984) players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Footballers from Liverpool UEFA Champions League winning players UEFA Cup winning players

Life and playing career

Later life and legacy

Honours

References

Further reading

External links