I was released by Liverpool, battled with Sir Kenny Dalglish and Sir Alex Ferguson, but now face a new fight
"They'll have to drag me kicking and screaming."
A parting quip from Paul Fairclough as he recounts an illustrious yet unorthodox career in football that has seen him have skirmishes with Liverpool icon Sir Kenny Dalglish, rub shoulders with Arsene Wenger, and have his goalkeeper sent off after 30 seconds against Manchester United.
Born in Litherland in 1950, Fairclough is heading into his 22nd year in charge of England C, the non-league Three Lions who give English players outside of the Football League the chance to win international caps.
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While the names in Fairclough's squad do not have the same ring to them as the ones in Gareth Southgate's, players who have won England C caps in the past include Ethan Pinnock, Jamal Lowe and Andre Gray, who all went on to play in the Premier League.
Fairclough spent his formative years playing in the streets of Liverpool, attending St Phillips then Litherland Secondary Modern and Kirkby College. After starting out at Liverpool, where he trained alongside Ian St John, Roger Hunt and Ray Clemence, Fairclough failed to make the grade in the professional game but enjoyed a strong career around non-league, mainly in the south of the country with Wealdstone.
Fairclough moved into teaching and it wasn’t long after his time in education that Fairclough started coaching, acquiring his badges and taking the chance to take over Stevenage Borough, who are now challenging at the upper reaches of League One, in 1990.
“I applied for a job at Stevenage Borough and I had a 10-year plan that I had to win
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