Tommy Steven Forecast (born 15 October 1986) 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 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 ...

. Having started his career with

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

, he made his debut 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 ...

for

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

, after joining the club on loan from

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 ...

. He also played for Eastbourne Borough,

Thurrock Thurrock () is a unitary authority area with borough status and unparished area in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It is part of the London commuter belt and an area of regeneration within the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The l ...

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...

, Gillingham,

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 o ...

and

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...

Career

Tottenham Hotspur

Born in

Newham The London Borough of Newham is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by the s ...

, London, Forecast joined the

Academy system, and his first major impact came in the 2004–05 season with a string of fine displays as their Under-18s goalkeeper and helped his team reach the semi-finals of the

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

which included saves in a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...

. After his stand out successes in the

he was named in the first team squad as substitute six times during the 2007–08

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

but never played in a first-team game and quickly decided on a move away from

White Hart Lane White Hart Lane was a Association football, football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater i ...

Southampton

In July 2008, Forecast was signed by

for an undisclosed fee on a five-year contract. Forecast's transfer from Tottenham to Southampton was a result of a renegotiation of

Gareth Bale Gareth Frank Bale (born 16 July 1989) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC and the Wales national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wingers of his generation ...

's sell-on clause, who had made the reverse move in the previous season, after Southampton entered financial troubles. At Southampton, he became very much a third choice keeper behind Kelvin Davis and

Bartosz Białkowski Bartosz Marek Białkowski (; born 6 July 1987) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Millwall. He began his career playing in his native Poland, before moving to Southampton in 2006. After six years at Southampton, h ...

, and therefore appeared more at reserve team level; however after Białkowski's

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

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 profession ...

at the end of the 2008–09 season he became second choice keeper. On 13 August 2009, Forecast joined

on a one-month loan following an injury to Town's first-choice goalkeeper

Nick Colgan Nicholas Vincent Colgan (born 19 September 1973) is an Irish football coach and former professional footballer who is goalkeeping coach at EFL League Two side Stockport County. As a player, he was a goalkeeper from 1991 to 2013 and first briefl ...

. Forecast made his full professional debut the following day for Grimsby against

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

in a 4–0 defeat, The ''Crewe Chronicle'' described Forecast's debut as "one of the most shockingly inept displays the Football League has ever seen". Grimsby sent Forecast back early from his loan spell on 3 September after he failed to impress in his four games with The Mariners, and with Colgan still out on the sidelines Town manager Mike Newell opted to bring in Josh Lillis from

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

to fill in the sticks until Colgan's return. During the 2010–11 season, Forecast found himself demoted to the fourth choice keeper at Southampton, having fallen behind Jack Dovey in the pecking order, who would fill in on the bench for Davis and Białkowski in the club's league fixtures. On 31 January 2011, he joined Eastbourne Borough on a 28-day loan, and on 11 August 2011, he joined

on loan for a month following which he was loaned to

for a three-month period. On 4 June 2013, Southampton confirmed on their website that Forecast, alongside seven other professional players, would be released.

Gillingham (loan)

On 20 July 2012, Forecast joined Gillingham on a season-long loan as part of a deal for highly rated young Gillingham keeper

Paulo Gazzaniga Paulo Dino Gazzaniga (born 2 January 1992) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Spanish La Liga club Girona, on loan from English Premier League club Fulham. Early life Gazzaniga was born in Murphy, Santa Fe, th ...

He made his Gillingham debut on 4 September 2012 in a

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 ...

tie away at

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team co ...

. The game ended in a 3–2 defeat for the Gills. He made his League debut for Gillingham on 24 November 2012 away to

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete history ...

. With Gillingham 1–0 up, first-choice goalkeeper

Stuart Nelson Stuart James Nelson (born 17 September 1981) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Dover Athletic. Career Born in Stroud, Gloucestershire, Nelson started his career at Cheltenham youth club FC Battledown. He als ...

was sent off and Forecast was brought on to play in goal. Due to the suspension of Nelson, Forecast played the Gills next match which was an FA Cup second round tie away at Preston North End. Before the tie, Martin Allen praised Forecast for his hard-work and believed he was getting better and better. The game ended in a 2–0 defeat for Gillingham and it was Forecast's third appearance of the season. Upon Gillingham winning promotion 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 ...

, Forecast had the unusual honour of being part of a team that achieved promotion three years in a row with

winning successive promotions. However, aside from loan spells elsewhere, Forecast only managed two League appearances in these three campaigns.

Chelmsford City

On 11 August 2013, Forecast signed for

of 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 N ...

. He joined

on loan for one month from 24 October.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Forecast, Tommy 1986 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Newham English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Eastbourne Borough F.C. players Thurrock F.C. players Bromley F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Chelmsford City F.C. players Dartford F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players