Forrester: Jamie Mark (Jamie)

1992-1995 (Leeds Player Details)(Player Details)

Striker

Born: Bradford: 01-11-1974

Debut v Nottingham Forest (a) (substitute): 21-03-1993

5’7” 10st (1995)

He started with Blackpool Rangers, then Poulton Le Fylde where he teamed up with Kevin Sharp and the pair went to the F.A. National School of Excellence before spending some time as teenagers in France. Leeds United paid a fee of £120,000 to French club Auxerre to take the England youth and schoolboy international to Elland Road in October 1992. A spectacular overhead kick rifled the ball into the Manchester United net in the 1993 F.A. Youth Cup Final Second Leg in front of a crowd of 31,037 fans at Elland Road and earmarked the razor-sharp striker Jamie Forrester as a star of the future. Unfortunately, the diminutive front man, who was also in the England side that won the Under-Eighteen European Championship the same year, could not establish himself in the Premiership and spent time on loan at Southend United, in September 1994, starting three League games and coming off the bench in two more, without scoring. He was also loaned to Grimsby Town, from March to May in 1995, scoring once in seven League starts and two more from the bench, before making the move to Blundell Park permanent on 17th October 1995, on a free transfer. His only senior goals for Leeds both came in a 3-1 F.A. Cup win over Crewe Alexandra in January 1994. After scoring six times in twenty-seven starts and fourteen substitute appearances in the League and three goals in four games, of which one was as a substute in the F.A. Cup and no goals in two substitute appearances in the League Cup for the Mariners, he was on the move again, joining Scunthorpe United on 21st March 1997. Thirty-seven goals in a hundred and one League appearances,with two being as a substitute, four goals in seven F.A. Cup ties, two goals in six League cup ties and seven other games without scoring followed, but on 2nd June 1999 Forrester moved to Holland, signing for FC Utrecht. He only made one substitute appearance there, before returning to England to join Walsall on 30th December 1999 on loan until 12th March 2000, but he failed to score in five games, three of which were off the bench. He was taken on loan by Northampton Town on 21st March 2000 and struck six League goals from ten games, one of which was as a substitute. He clearly made a good impression and on 27th June 2000 Northampton Town paid £150,000 to secure his signature. He enjoyed arguably his best form with the Cobblers and added thirty-nine goals in another one hundred and eleven League games, of which eleven were as a substitute, two goals in seven F.A. Cup ties, one goal in five League Cup ties and two goals in three other appearances to the previous details when on loan, before moving to Hull City on 22nd January 2003. However, a surfeit of strikers at the KC Stadium meant that Jamie, after being a member of the Hull City squad that won promotion to League One in 2003/04, was one of five strikers at the club. He was unable to hold down a regular place in the starting line-up, but was included in the squad for every single game of the season. He appeared in a total of thirty-two League games, fifteen of which were from the bench, and scored seven goals. He also made one appearance as a substitute in the F.A. Cup, without scoring and scored in playing one other game.He left for Bristol Rovers on 1st July 2004, on a free transfer. He scored his first goal for Rovers, from the penalty spot, in the home game against Bury on 10th August 2004. He managed nine goals in twenty-three starts and twenty-nine substitute appearances in the League, made one substitute appearance in the F.A. Cup, without scoring and scored twice in four other games one of which was as a substitute. While he had been a regular contributor in 2004-05 he was used predominantly from the bench in 2005-06 and was loaned to Lincoln City from 23rd March 2006 until the end of the season. Once again he impressed while on loan, scoring five goals in nine League appearances and making two other appearances without scoring. He joined Lincoln on 1st July 2006 on a free transfer. His good form continued the following seasons and he was able to add to his good form while on loan with thirty League goals in eighty-one games, including five from the bench, together with one goal in three F.A. Cup games, one goal in two League Cup ties and two other games without scoring. It was thought that Lincoln had agreed a one year extension to his contract in May 2008 but this was not accepted and Forrester decided to join League Two rivals Notts County to the dismay of the Lincoln fathful on 11th June 2008. He scored eight League goals in thirty games, three as a substitute and no goals in two F.A. Cup ties, one of which was as a substitute. Forrester was released by County after the end of the 2008-2009 season. On the 6th August 2009, Forrester signed for Non-League side Lincoln United. He left the club when they trimmed their budget in December 2009, but came out of retirement to play with Lincoln Moorlands Railway until the end of the 2009-10 season. Since October 2007 he has been delivering specialist professional football coaching to children of all ages at the Jamie Forrester Soccer Academy in Lincolnshire with centres at Lincoln and Grimsby. He is a radio pundit for the BBC and also presents a TV Football show, but still manages to fit in coaching children on the weekend and he runs an energy-reducing consultants business on a part-time basis.