Wayne Paul Foster (born 11 September 1963) 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 striker in England and Scotland during the 1980s and 1990s.

Career

An English youth internationalist, Foster started his career at Bolton Wanderers, signing his first professional contract in August 1981. However, after over 100 appearances for the Wanderers he left for Preston North End in 1985 after losing his place at

Burnden Park Burnden Park was the home of English football club Bolton Wanderers who played home games there between 1895 and 1997. As well as hosting the 1901 FA Cup Final replay, it was the scene in 1946 of one of the greatest disasters in English footba ...

. He lasted less than a year at

Deepdale Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England, the home of Preston North End. Deepdale is "widely recognised as being the oldest 'continuously used' football stadium in the world, though this is contested". History ...

before Alex MacDonald signed him for Heart of Midlothian on a free transfer. Foster spent seven seasons at Tynecastle. He was initially regarded to as a first team regular in his first two seasons but in a total of 65 starts he only amassed 14 goals. He was used sparingly in later seasons as he still struggled to get the goals, failing to score a single goal from 17 appearances in the 1992–93 season. Whilst never regarded as anything more than a squad player, one game in February 1994 put Foster into Heart of Midlothian folklore. Hearts had gone on a run of games undefeated against arch-rivals Hibernian which had stretched to 20 games before the sides were drawn together in the 4th Round of the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Easter Road Easter Road is a association football, football stadium located in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland, which is the home ground of Scottish Premiership club Hibernian F.C., Hibernian (Hibs). The stadium currently has an all-seated capacity ...

. With Hearts the away side and struggling in the league under

Sandy Clark Alexander "Sandy" Clark (born 28 October 1956) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who is currently manager of Lowland League side East Stirlingshire. Career Clark played for several clubs in his playing career incl ...

, Hibs were considered favourites for the tie; however it was Hearts who opened the scoring inside the first three minutes. Hibs equalised before half time and came close to taking the lead. Hearts replaced the tiring John Robertson with Foster. With just four minutes remaining,

Gary Mackay Gary Mackay (born 23 January 1964 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish former footballer, who made over 500 league appearances for Heart of Midlothian and also played for Airdrieonians and the Scotland national team. After retiring as a player, he m ...

played a long ball over the top of the Hibs defence for Foster to run on for. Using his pace, he controlled the ball and fired the ball through the legs of advancing Hibs goalkeeper

Jim Leighton James Leighton (born 24 July 1958) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Leighton started his career with Aberdeen, where he won seven domestic trophies and the 1982–83 European Cup Winners' Cup under the m ...

and into the net, right in front of the jubilant Hearts support.

References in popular culture

Foster has the distinction of having a short story named after him in

Irvine Welsh Irvine Welsh (born 27 September 1958) is a Scottish novelist, playwright and short story writer. His 1993 novel '' Trainspotting'' was made into a film of the same name. He has also written plays and screenplays, and directed several short fil ...

's 1994 collection

The Acid House ''The Acid House'' is a 1994 book by Irvine Welsh Irvine Welsh (born 27 September 1958) is a Scottish novelist, playwright and short story writer. His 1993 novel '' Trainspotting'' was made into a film of the same name. He has also written ...

Personal life

Wayne attended Sacred Heart Primary School in

Tyldesley Tyldesley () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it is north of Chat Moss near the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, southeast of Wigan ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

. In the Atherton Primary Schools Cup Final Programme, aged 11 years 8 months, he recorded his favourite team as

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

and his favourite player as Allan Clarke. Foster now works as a postman; he is an accomplished golfer with a handicap of 5 playing at

Dalmahoy Dalmahoy (Scottish Gaelic: ''Dail MoThua'') is a hotel and former country house near Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located off the A71 road, south of Ratho. The house is protected as a category A listed building, History The estate was the proper ...

on the outskirts of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

References

External links

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Appearances
at londonhearts.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Wayne 1963 births Living people English men's footballers Preston North End F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Partick Thistle F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players Livingston F.C. players People from Tyldesley Sportspeople from the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan Scottish Football League players English Football League players Men's association football forwards Footballers from Greater Manchester