A 2–9 professional playoff defeat by Brady Gollan in April 1989 meant that Fagan lost his professional status. His highest career ranking had been 11, in &lt;a href="Snooker%20world%20rankings%201978/1979"&gt;1978/79&lt;/a&gt;, and his best finish in a ranking tournament was reaching the quarter-final at the 1978 World Snooker Championship. He subsequently worked as a landscape gardener and a night-shift sorter for the Post Office. Fagan works as a snooker coach and has coached the Paddington professional Alfie Burden, who was the world amateur champion in 2009. Ronnie O'Sullivan sought coaching advice from Fagan in 2011.