Nicky Forster

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Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox football biography Nicholas Michael Forster (born 8 September 1973) is an English former professional footballer who was most recently the manager of Staines Town. Forster has also been player-manager at Brentford and manager of Dover Athletic.

Career

Early years

Forster, who was born in Caterham, 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.[1] 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 for £320,000, a move which provoked bad feeling from Gillingham fans which persisted for many years.[2]

Brentford and Birmingham City

While at Brentford, Forster formed prolific partnerships with Carl Asaba 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.[3] He was later capped by England at under-21 level soon afterwards.[3] In January 1997, Forster moved to Birmingham City for a fee of £700,000.[3] He made 67 league appearances and scored eleven league goals for the club.[4]

Reading

Two years later he was on the move again, this time to Reading, 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.[5] However, an injured Forster was unable to contribute to the club's good fortune the following season.[5] However, he did return in time for the 2000–01 Division Two play-off semi final against Wigan Athletic. 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's effort was saved, Forster scored from the rebound. Reading were to lose the final 3–2 after extra time to Walsall. 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,[6] when he notched 17 goals, including hattricks against Ipswich Town and Preston North End as Reading finished in fourth place. He scored the opening goal in the play-off semi final against Wolverhampton Wanderers, but went off injured and Reading lost 3–1 on aggregate.

Forster considers the club as "home".[6]

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 on 31 August 2006 for a £250,000 transfer fee.[7] He had been a teammate of Hull City's manager, Phil Parkinson, 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 appearances. His form helped propel him to second place in the club's Player of the Year awards for the 2006–07 season.[3]

Brighton & Hove Albion

In January 2007, Brighton & Hove Albion made an unsuccessful £100,000 bid for Forster.[8] However, at the end of the 2006–07 season, Forster stated his wish to move back to the south of England for family reasons,[9] and eventually signed a three-year contract with Brighton in late June 2007 for a £75,000 fee.[10] He attributed his decision to drop down to Football League One from the Championship to the ambition shown by Brighton manager Dean Wilkins and chairman Dick Knight.[11]

Forster was appointed club captain after the departure of Dean Hammond during January 2008, and confirmed in the role by new manager Micky Adams for the 2008–09 season.[12][13] He won the League One Player of The Month award for September 2009 after scoring five goals in four League games.[14] Having lost his first-team place after a contract dispute with manager Gus Poyet, Forster left Brighton for Charlton Athletic on 25 March 2010 on loan until the end of the season.[15][16] 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.[17] He scored his first goal in his second spell at the club in a 1–1 draw with Exeter City on 14 January 2011. Forster was appointed as temporary manager following the departure of Andy Scott on 3 February 2011,[18] with Mark Warburton as his assistant.[19] 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 of the Sussex County League.[20] He scored twice on his debut in an FA Cup match against Hailsham Town.[21] 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.[22] 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.[23] Forster made his Dover debut as a 46th-minute substitute for Calum Willock in a 1–0 home loss to Chelmsford City on 4 September.[24]

In January 2013, with Dover still third in the table despite five consecutive losses, Forster was placed on gardening leave; the club appointed Chris Kinnear the following day.[25]

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. However, Staines Town were relegated to the Isthmian League Premier Division at the end of the 2014–15 season.

Personal life

As of 2020, Forster ran The Spot Wellness Centre in Godstone.[26][27] His stepson, Jake Forster-Caskey, is also a footballer.[28]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Gillingham 1992–93[29] Third Division 26 6 3 2 3 0 0 0 32 8
1993–94[29] Third Division 41 18 3 0 2 0 0 0 46 18
Total 67 24 6 2 5 0 0 0 78 26
Margate (loan) 1992–93[30] Southern League Southern Div. 1 1 — — — 1 1
Brentford 1994–95[29] Second Division 46 24 2 0 4 0 5Template:Efn 2 57 26
1995–96[29] Second Division 38 5 3 0 4 2 2Template:Efn 1 47 8
1996–97[29] Second Division 25 10 3 1 3 1 1Template:Efn 1 32 13
Total 109 39 8 1 11 3 8 4 136 47
Birmingham City 1996–97[29] First Division 7 3 — — — 7 3
1997–98[31] First Division 28 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 31 3
1998–99[32] First Division 33 5 1 0 4 1 0 0 38 6
Total 68 11 4 0 4 1 0 0 76 12
Reading 1999–2000[33] Second Division 36 10 2 0 3 0 3Template:Efn 0 44 10
2000–01[34] Second Division 9 1 0 0 0 0 3Template:Efn 1 12 2
2001–02[35] Second Division 42 18 1 0 2 0 2Template:Efn 0 48 18
2002–03[36] First Division 40 16 2 0 1 0 1Template:Efn 1 48 18
2003–04[37] First Division 30 7 0 0 4 4 — 34 11
2004–05[38] Championship 30 7 3 2 1 0 — 34 9
Total 187 59 8 2 11 4 9 2 215 67
Ipswich Town 2005–06[39] Championship 20 7 0 0 0 0 — 20 7
2006–07[40] Championship 4 1 — 1 0 — 5 1
Total 24 8 0 0 1 0 — 25 8
Hull City 2006–07[40] Championship 35 5 2 1 — — 37 6
Brighton & Hove Albion 2007–08[41] League One 41 15 4 2 1 0 2Template:Efn 2 48 19
2008–09[42] League One 30 12 2 1 1 1 5Template:Efn 2 38 16
2009–10[43] League One 27 13 5 3 1 0 0 0 33 16
Total 98 40 11 6 3 1 7 4 119 51
Charlton Athletic (loan) 2009–10[43] League One 8 2 — — 2Template:Efn 0 10 2
Brentford 2010–11[44] League One 18 1 2 0 2 0 4Template:Efn 0 26 1
Career total 615 190 41 12 37 9 30 10 723 221

Template:Notelist

Managerial statistics

Template:Updated

Managerial record by team and tenure
Team From To Record Ref
P W D L Win %
Brentford (caretaker) 3 February 2011 19 May 2011

Template:WDL

[45][46]
Total

Template:WDLtot

—

Honours

As a player

Brentford

Reading

  • Football League Second Division runner-up: 2001–02

Individual

As a manager

Brentford

References

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  28. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  29. ↑ a b c d e f Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  31. ↑ Template:Soccerbase season
  32. ↑ Template:Soccerbase season
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  36. ↑ Template:Soccerbase season
  37. ↑ Template:Soccerbase season
  38. ↑ Template:Soccerbase season
  39. ↑ Template:Soccerbase season
  40. ↑ a b Template:Soccerbase season
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  43. ↑ a b Template:Soccerbase season
  44. ↑ Template:Soccerbase season
  45. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  47. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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External links

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