Ian Fairbrother (born 2 October 1966) is an English retired footballer. He spent the majority of his career in the United States. He spent his youth career with

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 City of Salford, Salford to ...

and Blackburn Rovers, but began his professional career in 1984 with Liverpool. He never played any games for Liverpool's first team, and moved to Bury on a free transfer in 1986. In 1988, he moved to the United States to play for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in the American Soccer League. However, he is not listed with Fort Lauderdale's first team that year. During the summer of 1989, he played for the amateur Wichita Blue in the Heartland Soccer League. On 14 December 1989, he signed with the

Wichita Wings The Wichita Wings were a professional indoor soccer franchise based in Wichita, Kansas. The Wings were admitted to the Major Indoor Soccer League as an expansion team on August 21, 1979.

of the Major Indoor Soccer League. In May 1990, he joined the Miami Freedom in the

American Professional Soccer League The American Professional Soccer League (APSL) was a professional men's soccer league with teams from the United States and later Canada. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the third American Soccer League with the Western Soccer League. It ...

. He returned to the Wings in August 1990, but lost the first two months of the MISL season after having an emergency appendectomy. He returned in December and played out the remainder of the season. In 1991, he moved to the Detroit Rockers in the National Professional Soccer League. The Rockers won the 1991-1992 league championship. He played only five games, scoring two goals, with the Rockers during the 1992–1993 season before losing the rest of the season to tendinitis of his Achilles tendon.''FAIRBROTHER IS BACK'' Detroit Free Press (MI) - Friday, 29 October 1993 He returned for the 1993–1994 season, scoring 23 goals in 38 games. In 1994, he moved to the expansion Detroit Neon which played summer indoor soccer in the

Continental Indoor Soccer League The Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL) was a professional indoor soccer league that played from 1993 to 1997. History In the summer of 1989 Dr Jerry Buss, the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and California Sports, told his executive Vice Pre ...

. Fairbrother remained with Detroit through the 1997 season. That year, the team was renamed the Detroit Safari. In August 1997, he served as the team's interim coach.

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MISL stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fairbrother, Ian 1966 births Living people Expatriate soccer players in the United States English footballers Bury F.C. players American Professional Soccer League players Continental Indoor Soccer League coaches Continental Indoor Soccer League players Detroit Neon players Detroit Rockers players Detroit Safari players Liverpool F.C. players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) players Miami Freedom players Wichita Blue players Wichita Wings (MISL) players Wrexham A.F.C. players Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1988–1994) players Association football midfielders English expatriate sportspeople in the United States English expatriate footballers Sportspeople from Bootle English football managers