Gerald Forrest (born 21 January 1957) is an English retired

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 at full-back for

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

and

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

Football career

Born in

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees, often simply referred to as Stockton, is a market town in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is on the northern banks of the River Tees, part of the Teesside built-up area. The town had an estimated ...

, Forrest played his youth football with Billingham Town and was a member of the Stockton Youth Representative team in the mid-1970s. He then joined

South Bank The South Bank is an entertainment and commercial district in central London, next to the River Thames opposite the City of Westminster. It forms a narrow strip of riverside land within the London Borough of Lambeth (where it adjoins Alber ...

of the Northern League from where he was invited to

for a trial in February 1977. After making an impression on manager

Jimmy McGuigan James McGuigan (1 March 1924 – 30 March 1988) was a Scottish professional football player and manager. Career Playing career McGuigan, who played as a wing half, played junior football with Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic, before turning professi ...

, Forrest was signed as a professional and went straight into Rotherham's first team at the start of the 1977–78 season, remaining an automatic choice for several years. In

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

, Rotherham were Third Division champions but after two seasons in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

they dropped back down again. Described as "an exceptionally skilful attacking right back", Forrest soon attracted attention from top clubs, with an offer of £200,000 from

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 ...

being rejected. Eventually, Rotherham agreed to let him move on in December 1985 after

of the First Division made an offer of £100,000, although Forrest was by now 28 years old. At The Dell, Forrest soon justified manager

Chris Nicholl Christopher John Nicholl (born 12 October 1946) is an English-born former Northern Ireland international footballer who later worked as a coach and manager. Playing career Nicholl was born in Macclesfield. He played for Burnley (1963–1966) ( ...

's investment and made the step-up to top-flight football seamlessly. He was a cultured right back who was comfortable on the ball and strong in attack yet had great defensive abilities. He made his debut for "the Saints", when he took the place of Steve Baker in a 3–0 victory over

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

on 7 December 1985, retaining his place for the rest of the season. Over the next three seasons, he rarely missed a game, until October 1988 when he was replaced by Ray Wallace in a 2–1 defeat by

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

. Wallace's brothers Rod and

Danny Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to the male name Daniel. It may refer to: People *Danny Altmann, British immunologist *Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer *Danny Baker (born 1957), English journalis ...

were established members of the Southampton side – this was the first time three brothers had played in the same team in the

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

for 67 years. Now in his early thirties, Forrest made only the occasional appearance until he sustained a serious knee injury against

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

on 30 September 1989 which ended his career at Southampton. By the time that he had regained his fitness six months later,

Jason Dodd Jason Robert Dodd (born 2 November 1970) is an English football coach and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a full-back who notably spent sixteen-years playing for Southampton where the majority of those came in the Premier L ...

was beginning to establish himself at right-back and with Aleksei Cherednik also on the books, Forrest was unable to get back into the team and was given a free transfer. Forrest returned to Rotherham in August 1990 for one final season in League football before dropping down to the lower leagues with Gateshead United.

Coaching career

In 1992, Forrest joined the coaching staff at

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

taking over the reins as caretaker manager in October 1993 (with Tim Parkin) when Billy McEwan was dismissed. Forrest and Parkin took charge of the first-team for four matches before Alan Murray took over permanently.

Career statistics

Honours

Rotherham United * Third Division champions: 1980–81

References

External links

Profile and photograph on Sporting Heroes
*
Saints Legends You Have Never Heard Of !: Gerry Forrest
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forrest, Gerry 1957 births Living people Footballers from Stockton-on-Tees English men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Rotherham United F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Billingham Town F.C. players Gateshead F.C. players Darlington F.C. managers English football managers