Derek Forster (19 February 1949 – 2 May 2024) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He started his career at Manor Park School in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

, and during his time at Manor Park he also played for the England school team. He then moved to

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

as a youth player, where he would progress to become their youngest ever player to make a first team appearance. Forster moved up into the senior side, but suffered limited appearances due to the presence of

Jimmy Montgomery Jimmy Montgomery BEM (born 9 October 1943) is an English retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He made a record 627 appearances for his hometown club Sunderland with 537 of these appearances being in the league, after joining the cl ...

. He left Sunderland in 1972 to join

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

before moving again to Brighton & Hove Albion where he finished his career.

Career

Born in

, Forster started his footballing career during his time at Manor Park School, in the Newcastle Schools Youth Team. From here, he went on to make five appearances for England schools. In 1964 he signed for Sunderland as a youth apprentice, where he would become an understudy of record appearance holder Jimmy Montgomery. While still in the youth side of the club, Forster was called up to the first team due to an injury to Montgomery, and started a game against Leicester City on 22 August 1964. At 15 years 185 days old, he became the First Division's youngest ever player, as well as Sunderland's. He held the record for youngest debutant in England's top division until Ethan Nwaneri made his debut for Arsenal in 2022. Forster signed his professional contract at the club in February 1966. He made just 18 league appearances in his Sunderland career, spanning from 1964 to 1972, with Montgomery staying the first choice for the team until 1977. At 5 foot 9 inches, he was significantly shorter than most goalkeepers in the top flight. Forster joined Charlton Athletic in July 1973, but again was left regularly unused, making just nine appearances in his solitary season at the club. He made the last move of his career in 1974 when he joined Brighton & Hove Albion where he made three appearances, later becoming an amateur player in the Wearside Football League.

Later life and death

After football, Forster became assistant manager of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

Leisure Centre in

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

. He died on 2 May 2024, at the age of 75.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forster, Derek 1949 births 2024 deaths Footballers from Newcastle upon Tyne English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers English Football League players Sunderland A.F.C. players Vancouver Royals players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players United Soccer Association players English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada