Derek Fazackerley

Derek Fazackerley

Personal information
Full name	Derek William Fazackerley
Date of birth	(1951-11-05) 5 November 1951 (age 73)
Place of birth	Preston, England
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[1]
Position(s)	Central defender
Team information
Current team	Oxford United (Assistant Manager)
Youth career
	Blackburn Rovers
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1969–1987	Blackburn Rovers	596	(23)
1987–1988	Chester City	66	(0)
1988	York City	16	(0)
1988	Bury	14	(0)
1990	Kumu	17	(0)
Total		709	(23)
Managerial career
2018	Oxford United (caretaker)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Derek William Fazackerley (born 5 November 1951) is an English former footballer who was previously assistant manager at Oxford United, and managed the club on a caretaker basis for two months in 2018. He spent the majority of his career playing for Blackburn Rovers.

Playing career

Fazackerley made a record 671 appearances for Blackburn in an 18-year career.^[2] In February 2019 he was one of the first seven players to be inducted into the club's Hall of Fame.^[3]

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 as manager,^[4] but he grew unhappy at the lack of progress at the club.^[5] He moved on in the summer of 1988 to York City to assist ex-Rovers manager Bobby Saxton. In February 1989, he joined Bury where Martin Dobson 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^[6] before moving to Newcastle United as first team coach. He was involved in the England setup as assistant manager under Kevin Keegan, working alongside Les Reed.

He has since coached at other clubs, including Blackburn, Bolton Wanderers and Barnsley.

He was a scout for Manchester City and sat alongside Sven-Göran Eriksson 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,^[7] and left in July after Mark Hughes was appointed as manager.^[8]

On 11 December 2008, he was made the new first team coach at Football League One side Huddersfield Town, following the appointment of Lee Clark as manager.

On 4 October 2010, he was made the new assistant manager at Football League Championship side Leicester City, following the appointment of Sven-Göran Eriksson as manager. He left the club in October 2011.

When Clark took over as manager of Birmingham City in June 2012, he appointed Fazackerley to the role of first-team coach.^[9] On 17 February 2014, it was widely reported that he and assistant manager Terry McDermott had left Birmingham;^[10] the club stated they had "no comment to issue on the matter at this moment in time."^[11]

Fazackerley joined Oxford United as assistant manager under Michael Appleton on 21 July 2014.^[12] He remained at the club when Appleton joined Leicester City as assistant manager at the end of the 2016–17 season, and when Appleton's successor Pep Clotet was sacked in January 2018, Fazackerley took over as caretaker manager.^[13] He was in charge for two months, during which time the team won twice in eight games,^[14] before the appointment of Karl Robinson on 22 March 2018.^[15] He left his coaching position in 2020, though he retained an advisory position at the club^[16] and was involved in the recruitment of Robinson's successor, Liam Manning, in 2023.^[17]

References

1. Rollin, Jack, ed. (1980). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1980–81. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 66. ISBN 0362020175.
2. Slater, Richard (30 May 1999). "Football: Toast to the right-hand man". The Independent. London. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
3. Rovers legends inducted into Hall of Fame www.rovers.co.uk, 17 July 2019
4. Sumner (1997), p. 103
5. Sumner (1997), p. 105
6. Thomson, Dougie (8 August 2009). "Derek Fazackerley's 40 years in the game ready to pay off for Huddersfield Town". Huddersfield Examiner. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
7. "Sven-Goran Eriksson expected to leave Manchester City next week". Times Online. London. 30 May 2008. Retrieved 8 July 2008.^{[dead link‍]}
8. "Coach Fazackerley leaves Man City". BBC Sport. 7 July 2008. Retrieved 8 July 2008.
9. "Backroom Staff: Derek Fazackerley". Birmingham City F.C. Retrieved 7 August 2012.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
10. "Birmingham City: McDermott & Fazackerley future in doubt". BBC Sport. 17 February 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
11. "Terry McDermott and Derek Fazackerley". Birmingham City F.C. 17 February 2014. Archived from the original on 17 February 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
12. "Derek Fazackerley". Oxford United F.C. Archived from the original on 11 July 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
13. "Pep Clotet: Oxford United sack manager". BBC Sport. 22 January 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
14. Pritchard, David (19 March 2018). "Oxford United's players and fans deserve the credit for win, says Derek Fazackerley". Oxford Times. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
15. "Oxford United: Karl Robinson named new head coach after". BBC Sport. 22 March 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
16. Roberts, James (10 August 2020). "Derek Fazackerley moves to new Oxford United role upstairs". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
17. Rice, Liam (14 March 2023). "Oxford United CEO discusses hiring of Liam Manning as head coach". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 8 November 2023. What was really important to us was that we got the best of a sporting recruitment process – we had Ed Waldron and Derek Fazackerley involved – and then we also put in some what I'd say corporate discipline in that.

Bibliography

• Sumner, Chas (1997). On the Borderline: The Official History of Chester City F.C. 1885–1997. Yore Publications. ISBN 978-1-874427-52-0.