Richard Michael Forsyth (born 3 October 1970) is an English 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 ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He made nearly 250 appearances in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

playing for

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 te ...

, Stoke City,

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

and

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league sy ...

Playing career

Forsyth was born in

Dudley Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

(now

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

). He began his football career with

Stourbridge Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The 20 ...

before joining

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team compete in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. Formed in ...

in 1987. In eight years with the club he played more than 300 games in all competitions, scoring 71 goals. He was part of the team which won the

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

title in 1993–94, and was the club's leading league scorer for the 1994–95 season with 13 goals, before moving to

for a fee of £100,000. A year later he moved on to Stoke City for a £200,000 fee, where he scored the first League goal in Stoke's new

Britannia Stadium The Bet365 Stadium (stylised as ''bet365 Stadium'') is an all-seater football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England and the home of EFL Championship club Stoke City. The stadium was previously called the Britannia Stadium but was ...

, went on to spend three seasons with the club playing more than 100 games in all competitions. His next move was to

on a free transfer in 1999, and then to

, also on a free, where he linked up again with former Birmingham manager

Barry Fry Barry Francis Fry (born 7 April 1945) is an English former football player and manager. A winger, Fry was an apprentice at Manchester United in his youth, and had brief spells with Bolton Wanderers, Luton Town and Leyton Orient, before he reti ...

. In October 2002, amid financial uncertainty at Peterborough, Forsyth joined

on a month's loan; on his return to Peterborough, the club expected him to remain with them, but, claiming the player had been "unsettled" by Cheltenham's offer of a longer permanent contract, finally allowed him to join Cheltenham for a fee of £15,000. In January 2003 he sustained a hamstring injury which put paid to the remainder of his season. Released at the end of the 2003–2004 season, Forsyth joined

Northwich Victoria {{Infobox UK place , static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg , static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church , official_name = Northwich , country ...

on non-contract terms, but within weeks he suffered

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in a toy Jacob's la ...

damage which would keep him out for the season. He has since played for Stoke City's Masters team, and for Wolverhampton Casuals and Shawbury United of the

West Midlands (Regional) League The West Midlands (Regional) League is an English association football competition for semi-professional and amateur teams based in the West Midlands county, Shropshire, Worcestershire, southern Staffordshire and northern Herefordshire. It has tw ...

Premier Division. After his career in football, he taught physical education at

North East Wolverhampton Academy Ormiston NEW Academy (formerly North East Wolverhampton Academy) is a mixed secondary school and sixth form located in the Fordhouses area of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands of England. History Previously known as 'Pendeford High School', ...

and

Ormiston Forge Academy Ormiston Forge Academy (formerly Heathfield Foundation Technology College and Heathfield High School) is a secondary school and sixth form with academy status located in the Old Hill area of Cradley Heath, West Midlands, England. Heathfield ...

Career statistics

Source: :A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Anglo-Italian Cup,

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

Honours

;Kidderminster Harriers *

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

champions: 1994

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Forsyth, Richard 1970 births Living people Footballers from Dudley English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Stourbridge F.C. players Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Cheltenham Town F.C. players Northwich Victoria F.C. players Wolverhampton Casuals F.C. players Shawbury United F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players