Leopold Paul Osborne Fortune-West (born Leopold Paul Osborne West, 9 April 1971) 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. He played 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 Gillingham, Leyton Orient, Lincoln City,

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 ...

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 w ...

, Cardiff City,

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at T ...

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

and Shrewsbury Town. Fortune-West started his career with

Eastern Counties League The Eastern Counties Football League, currently known as the Thurlow Nunn League for sponsorship purposes, is an English football league at levels 9 and 10 of the English football league system. It currently contains clubs from Norfolk, Suffol ...

club Tiptree United, and played for five more

non-League Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is s ...

clubs before securing a move into the Football League with Gillingham in July 1995. He finished his first season with them as top scorer, and had several short stints with other League clubs before joining Cardiff City, where he played for three seasons. He played for the team as they achieved two promotions, but left on a free transfer. Fortune-West spent three seasons with Doncaster Rovers, winning promotion in his first, but was released in 2006. He then moved back into non-League football with Rushden & Diamonds, but soon made

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 ...

returns to the League with Torquay United and Shrewsbury Town. Fortune-West joined

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...

in August 2007 before starting a spell on loan with

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

in January 2008. He then had spells further down the pyramid with Alfreton Town, North Ferriby United,

Goole Goole is a port town and civil parish on the River Ouse in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The town's historic county is the West Riding of Yorkshire. According to the 2011 UK census, Goole parish had a population of 19,518, an increa ...

and Armthorpe Welfare.

Early and personal life

Fortune-West was born and raised in Stratford, Greater London, and grew up as a supporter of Leyton Orient. His surname at birth was West, but he later appended his mother's surname to his own surname, as he felt that having the word "fortune" in his name would make him lucky. He has two nephews who are professional footballers; Clayton Fortune and Jonathan Fortune. Fortune-West married Radmila Cvijetinovic in

Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough covering much of the traditional East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former metropolitan boroughs of Stepney, Poplar, and Bethnal Green. 'Tower Hamlets' was originall ...

, London in June 1996, and the couple had a child in 2000.

Career

Early career in non-League football

Fortune-West started his football career in

non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is s ...

with Tiptree United in the

aged 17, with whom he played one season, filling the roles of full-back,

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

and striker. He moved onto

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, just west of the M11 motorway on the county boundary with Essex, north-east of central London, and by rail from Liverpool Street station. Stortford had an estimated popu ...

and joined

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 the season they went out of business. A period at

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Great ...

and then

Dagenham & Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Often known simply as Dag ...

followed this before he signed for Stevenage Borough in the

Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called th ...

in 1994. He scored 7 goals in 17 league appearances for Stevenage in 1994–95, after which he moved into

with Gillingham on 12 July 1995. The fee of £5,000 was raised for the cash-strapped club by its Supporters' Club. Becoming a full-time professional necessitated giving up a degree course at the

University of Greenwich , mottoeng = "To learn, to do, to achieve" , former_name = Woolwich Polytechnic(1890–1970)Thames Polytechnic(1970–1992) , established = , type = Public university , budget = £214.9 million (2020) , administrative_staff = , chancel ...

Football League

Fortune-West's first season at Gillingham, 1995–96, saw him score in each of his first three league matches. He was Gillingham's top scorer with 15 goals from 45 appearances, as the club earned

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

to the Second Division as Third Division runners-up. Having made eight appearances and scored three goals for Gillingham during 1996–97, he joined Leyton Orient on

in March 1997 until the end of the season, making three appearances. He signed for Second Division club Lincoln City on a free transfer in June 1998, and after making 11 appearances and scoring 1 goal, was loaned out to

in the Third Division. He scored four goals in five appearances during a one-month loan spell, before

signed him for a £60,000 fee in November 1998. His debut for Brentford came in a 2–1 away defeat to Leyton Orient on 21 November 1998, and scored 1 goal in 15 appearances, before returning to Rotherham for a fee of £35,000 in February 1999. He scored 8 goals in 17 appearances as Rotherham made the Third Division play-offs, which saw them lose to Leyton Orient in a

penalty shoot-out 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 pe ...

in the semi-final. The 1999–2000 season saw Fortune-West finish as Rotherham's top scorer with 17 goals in 43 appearances, while the club won promotion to the Second Division as Third Division runners-up. After a month into 2000–01, he joined Cardiff City of the Third Division for a fee of £300,000 on 11 September 2000. They earned promotion to the Second Division as Third Division runners-up, and he scored 13 goals from 41 appearances over the season. By the end of the season, Cardiff's rivals

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ...

were believed to be ready to make an attempt at signing Fortune-West. He scored Cardiff's second goal in their play-off semi-final first leg match against

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Sto ...

, which finished as a 2–1 away victory in April 2002. However, after featuring in a 2–0 home defeat in the second leg, Cardiff missed out on making the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

, losing 3–2 on aggregate. He finished 2001–02 with 44 appearances and 11 goals. Cardiff qualified for the play-offs in 2002–03 with a sixth-place finish, and were promoted after beating

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus ...

in the

, although Fortune-West was not part of the matchday squad. He was released following this season, in which he made 28 appearances and scored 4 goals.

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been ...

denied that they were interested in signing Fortune-West in June 2003, before

of the Third Division signed him on a two-year contract. His first season with the club, 2003–04, saw him score 12 goals in 43 appearances as they won the Third Division championship, earning promotion to the Second Division. During this season, he formed a strike partnership with

Gregg Blundell Gregg Steven Blundell (born 3 October 1977) is an English retired footballer who played as a striker. He is now a physiotherapist for Liverpool. Prior to his appointment at Tranmere he combined playing football and being the club's physiotherap ...

. Fortune-West suffered a knee injury caused by wear and tear to the knee joint in October 2004, which resulted in him undergoing surgery, before returning to the team in March 2005. He was to be offered a new deal in April 2005 and finished the season with 7 goals in 28 appearances. The 2005–06 season was his last with Doncaster, as he was released after scoring 4 goals in 33 appearances.

Rushden & Diamonds and Shrewsbury Town

He returned into non-League football after he signed for

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 ...

club Rushden & Diamonds in June 2006 on a two-year contract. He joined

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Le ...

on loan in September 2006 as cover for the injured Mickey Evans, but was recalled by Rushden due to an injury crisis in early November 2006. He had made five appearances for Torquay. Days later, he signed for another League Two club, Shrewsbury Town, originally on a two-month loan deal. His Shrewsbury debut came as a 60th-minute substitute in a 2–0 away defeat to Milton Keynes Dons on 18 November 2006, after hoping he would be able to play in the

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 ...

tie against

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...

. The loan was extended to the end of 2006–07 in January 2007. Following Shrewsbury's 2–0 home win over

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

in February 2007, manager

Gary Peters Gary Charles Peters Sr. (born December 1, 1958) is an American lawyer, politician, and former military officer serving as the junior United States senator from Michigan since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representat ...

referred to Fortune-West as ' Ronseal', as he does "exactly what it says on the tin". His final appearance for Shrewsbury came in the 2007 League Two play-off Final against Bristol Rovers at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

on 26 May 2007, coming on as a substitute in the 80th minute, as Shrewsbury lost 3–1. With the season over, Fortune-West returned to his parent club Rushden, who he left by mutual consent in August 2007.

Return to non-League football

He signed for

Conference Premier 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-profess ...

club

in August 2007 after playing for them in a pre-season friendly. He started his Cambridge career by scoring four goals in the first three matches, which included a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wi ...

in their 5–1 home victory over Farsley Celtic on 21 August 2007. He was named as the Conference Premier Player of the Month for August 2007. He signed for Conference Premier rivals

on loan until the end of 2007–08 on 31 January 2008, after which he said he was looking to sign for the club permanently in the summer. He scored on his debut, a 2–0 home win over Grays Athletic after coming on as a 46th-minute substitute for Richard Brodie on 9 February 2008. He started ahead of Brodie in the following matches against Halifax Town and

Histon Histon is a village and civil parish in the South Cambridgeshire district, in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is immediately north of Cambridge – and is separated from the city – by the A14 road which runs east–west. In ...

, but struggled during these matches. Cambridge attempted to recall him from his loan in March 2008, but league rules meant that he would not be able to return. He returned to Cambridge following the expiration of his loan spell at York in April 2008, in which he made 13 appearances and scored 2 goals. He featured in Cambridge's play-off semi-final second leg 2–1 home win over

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home gro ...

; this result meant the team reached the

4–3 on aggregate. He came on for the last 15 minutes of the final against Exeter City at Wembley Stadium on 18 May 2008, but Cambridge lost 1–0. He was released by the club in May 2008 after making 33 appearances and scoring 8 goals. On 11 June 2008, Fortune-West joined

Conference North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sys ...

club Alfreton Town on a one-year contract for 2008–09. He made his debut in a 3–2 home victory over Hyde United on 9 August 2008 and scored two headers late on in the following match, a 2–2 away draw with

Solihull Moors Solihull Moors Football Club is a professional football club based in Solihull, England. The club currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system, after achieving promotion from the National Lea ...

. He scored a 61st-minute equaliser with a close range header at home to Bury Town in the FA Cup first round on 8 November 2008, bringing the score to 2–2, which eventually finished as a 4–2 victory, seeing Alfreton progress to the second round. After struggling to affirm a place in the team, he was released by Alfreton on 28 January 2009. He signed for North Ferriby United of the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division ...

Premier Division, and made his debut as a 65th-minute substitute in a 4–0 away defeat to Nantwich Town on 28 February 2009. Fortune-West joined Northern Premier League Division One South club

in July 2009, debuting in a 1–1 home draw with Carlton Town on 15 August 2009. In November 2010, he joined Northern Counties East League Premier Division club Armthorpe Welfare. He became player-manager of Armthorpe in May 2012, following the resignation of long-term boss Des Bennett. He resigned from this position on 4 April 2013 before retiring from football.

Style of play

Fortune-West played as a striker and had a "no-nonsense physical style".

Career statistics

Honours

Doncaster Rovers *

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following th ...

: 2003–04

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fortune-West, Leo 1971 births Living people Footballers from Stratford, London English footballers Association football forwards Tiptree United F.C. players Bishop's Stortford F.C. players Dartford F.C. players Hendon F.C. players Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. players Stevenage F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Rushden & Diamonds F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players York City F.C. players Alfreton Town F.C. players North Ferriby United A.F.C. players Goole A.F.C. players Armthorpe Welfare F.C. players Isthmian League players National League (English football) players English Football League players Northern Premier League players Northern Counties East Football League players English football managers Armthorpe Welfare F.C. managers Association football player-managers Black British sportspeople Alumni of the University of Greenwich