HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Nicholas Michael Forster (born 8 September 1973) is a former professional
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 was most recently the manager of Staines Town. Forster has also been
player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...
at
Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings which ...
and manager of Dover Athletic.


Football career


Early years

Forster, who was born in
Caterham Caterham () is a town in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. The town is administratively divided into two: Caterham on the Hill, and Caterham Valley, which includes the main town centre in the middle of a dry valley but rises to equa ...
, Surrey, was spotted playing for non-league Horley Town and invited for trials by Gillingham in December 1991. After impressing with the youth and reserve teams he signed a professional contract in May 1992, making his debut the following September. He starred for the club during the otherwise disappointing 1993–94 season, scoring 18 goals, but at the end of the season he turned down a new contract and instead joined
Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings which ...
for £320,000, a move which provoked bad feeling from Gillingham fans which persisted for many years.


Brentford and Birmingham City

While at Brentford, Forster formed prolific partnerships with
Carl Asaba Carl Edward Asaba (born 28 January 1973) is an English former footballer who played as a forward in the Football League. He began his career with non-league Dulwich Hamlet, his goalscoring prowess earning him a move to Brentford in 1994. He pl ...
and Robert Taylor, both of whom would later join his former club Gillingham. He made 109 league appearances for Brentford and scored 39 goals during his time at Griffin Park. He was later capped by England at under-21 level soon afterwards. In January 1997, Forster moved to
Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first tea ...
for a fee of £700,000. He made 67 league appearances and scored eleven league goals for the club.


Reading

Two years later he was on the move again, this time to
Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling) ...
, where he spent six years at the club at a cost of £650,000 between 1999 and 2005. Forster receives part of the credit for salvaging Reading's 1999–2000 season, during which the club rose from Division Two's relegation zone at Christmas to a finish in the top ten under caretaker manager
Alan Pardew Alan Scott Pardew (born 18 July 1961) is an English football manager and former professional footballer, who is the current manager of Greek Super League club Aris. Pardew's highest achievements in the sport include reaching the FA Cup Final th ...
. However, an injured Forster was unable to contribute to the club's good fortune the following season. However, he did return in time for the 2000–01 Division Two play-off semi final against
Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...
. In the second leg with Wigan leading 1–0 on aggregate, Forster came on as a late substitute. He set up Martin Butler for the equaliser before winning a penalty; after
Jamie Cureton Jamie Cureton (born 28 August 1975) is an English former professional footballer. A striker, he is currently player-manager at Enfield. He began his career at Norwich City in 1994, and after the club's relegation from the Premier League at th ...
's effort was saved, Forster scored from the rebound. Reading were to lose the final 3–2 after extra time to
Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is the ...
. He then scored 18 goals the following season as Reading were promoted to Division One. Forster regards Reading's 2002–03 campaign as his best period of form during his career, when he notched 17 goals, including hattricks against
Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn professio ...
and
Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syst ...
as Reading finished in fourth place. He scored the opening goal in the play-off semi final against
Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club ...
, but went off injured and Reading lost 3–1 on aggregate. Forster considers the club as "home".


Ipswich Town

Despite being a popular player at Reading, he was allowed to join Ipswich Town on a free transfer in 2005. Unable to replicate for Ipswich the form he showed with Reading due to several injury setbacks over the 2005–06 season, Forster signed a two-year contract with
Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...
on 31 August 2006 for a £250,000 transfer fee. He had been a teammate of Hull City's manager,
Phil Parkinson Philip John Parkinson (born 1 December 1967) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is currently manager of National League side Wrexham. Parkinson is the only manager to take an English fo ...
, while at Reading.


Hull City

During his time at Hull City, Forster made 37 appearances and scored six goals for the club; these totals include one goal in two
FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...
appearances. His form helped propel him to second place in the club's Player of the Year awards for the 2006–07 season.


Brighton & Hove Albion

In January 2007,
Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...
made an unsuccessful £100,000 bid for Forster. However, at the end of the 2006–07 season, Forster stated his wish to move back to the south of England for family reasons, and eventually signed a three-year contract with Brighton in late June 2007 for a £75,000 fee. He attributed his decision to drop down to
Football League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...
from the Championship to the ambition shown by Brighton manager Dean Wilkins and chairman Dick Knight. Forster was appointed
club captain The team captain of an association football team, sometimes known as the skipper, is a team member chosen to be the on-pitch leader of the team; they are often one of the older or more experienced members of the squad, or a player that can heav ...
after the departure of
Dean Hammond Dean John Hammond (born 7 March 1983) is an English retired association football, footballer. He previously played in the Football League for Brighton & Hove Albion F.C., Brighton & Hove Albion, Leyton Orient F.C., Leyton Orient, Colchester Uni ...
during January 2008, and confirmed in the role by new manager
Micky Adams Michael Richard Adams (born 8 November 1961) is an English former professional footballer and football manager. As a player, he was a full back, and made a total of 438 league appearances in a nineteen-year professional career in the English ...
for the 2008–09 season. He won the League One Player of The Month award for September 2009 after scoring five goals in four League games. Having lost his first-team place after a contract dispute with manager
Gus Poyet Gustavo Augusto Poyet Domínguez (; born 15 November 1967) is a Uruguayan professional football manager and former footballer. He is currently the head coach of the Greece national football team. Poyet played as a midfielder and began his care ...
, Forster left Brighton for
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 ...
on 25 March 2010 on loan until the end of the season. At the conclusion of the season, Forster's contract at Brighton expired and he left the club.


Brentford (second spell)

On 16 June 2010, Forster re-signed for Brentford on a two-year deal. He scored his first goal in his second spell at the club in a 1–1 draw with
Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...
on 14 January 2011. Forster was appointed as temporary manager following the departure of Andy Scott on 3 February 2011, with Mark Warburton as his assistant. On 1 March, it was confirmed Forster would remain first team manager on a permanent basis until the end of the current season. On 19 May 2011, Forster announced his retirement from football to concentrate on management. Earlier that week, it was announced that he had failed to land the Brentford manager's job.


Lingfield

In 2011, Forster signed for
Lingfield Lingfield can refer to: * Lingfield, County Durham, England, a village * Lingfield, Surrey, England, a village ** Lingfield Park Racecourse ** Lingfield Cricket Club, prominent in the 18th century ** Lingfield railway station, serving the vill ...
of the
Sussex County League The Macron Southern Combination Football League is a football league broadly covering the counties of East Sussex, West Sussex, Surrey and South West London, England. The league consists of eight divisions – three for first teams (Premier Di ...
. He scored twice on his debut in an FA Cup match against Hailsham Town. His first league goals came in his next game for the club in a 3–0 win against AFC Uckfield.


Dover Athletic

On 27 September 2011, he was appointed player-manager of Dover Athletic after the departure of Martin Hayes. He appeared on the substitutes' bench in the first league match of the season, a 2–2 home draw with Farnborough on 18 August 2012. Forster made his Dover debut as a 46th-minute substitute for Calum Willock in a 1–0 home loss to
Chelmsford City Chelmsford City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Chelmsford, Essex, England. Currently members of they play at the Melbourne Stadium. History Chelmsford Chelmsford Football Club was established in 1878 by members of ...
on 4 September. In January 2013, with Dover still third in the table despite five losses in a row, Forster was placed on
gardening leave Garden leave (also known as gardening leave) is the practice whereby an employee leaving a job – having resigned or otherwise had their employment terminated – is instructed to stay away from work during the notice period, while still remainin ...
; the club appointed a new manager the following day.


Staines Town

Forster was appointed as the replacement for Marcus Gayle as manager of Staines Town on 8 January 2015, with the task of keeping them in the
Conference South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the Na ...
. However, Staines Town were relegated to the
Isthmian League Premier Division The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 teams ...
at the end of the 2014–15 season.


Career statistics


Club


Managerial


Personal life

Forster's stepson, Jake Forster-Caskey, is also a footballer. He runs The Spot Wellness Centre in
Godstone Godstone is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England, east of Reigate at the junction of the A22 and A25 roads, near the M25 motorway and the North Downs. Godstone railway station is separated from it by agricultural land. Blindley He ...
.


Honours

Brentford *
Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third tier b ...
runner-up: 1994–95 Reading *Football League Second Division runner-up: 2001–02 Individual *
PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...
: 1994–95 Second Division, 2001–02 Second Division * Football League One Player of the Month: September 2009


References


External links


Nicky Forster player profile
at seagulls.co.uk

at hullcityafc.net

at readingfc.co.uk
Nicky Forster player profile
at margatefootballclubhistory.com * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Forster, Nicky 1973 births People from Caterham Living people English footballers England under-21 international footballers Association football forwards Horley Town F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Margate F.C. players Hythe Town F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Reading F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Lingfield F.C. players Dover Athletic F.C. players English Football League players English football managers Brentford F.C. managers Dover Athletic F.C. managers English Football League managers National League (English football) managers