Gerry Forrest

Gerald Forrest (born 21 January 1957) is an English retired footballer who played at full-back for Rotherham United and Southampton.

Gerry Forrest
Personal information
Full name Gerald Forrest[1]
Date of birth (1957-01-21) 21 January 1957[1]
Place of birth Stockton-on-Tees,[1] England
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2]
Position(s) Full-back
Youth career
Billingham Town
South Bank
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1977–1985 Rotherham United 357 (8)
1985–1990 Southampton 115 (0)
1990–1991 Rotherham United 34 (0)
1991–1992 Gateshead United
1992 Billingham Town
Managerial career
1993 Darlington (caretaker manager)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Football career

Born in Stockton-on-Tees, Forrest played his youth football with Billingham Town[3] and was a member of the Stockton Youth Representative team in the mid-1970s.[4]

He then joined South Bank of the Northern League[5] from where he was invited to Rotherham United for a trial in February 1977. After making an impression on manager Jimmy McGuigan, Forrest was signed as a professional and went straight into Rotherham's first team at the start of the 1977–78 season, remaining an automatic choice for several years.[6] In 1981, Rotherham were Third Division champions but after two seasons in the Second Division they dropped back down again.

Described as "an exceptionally skilful attacking right back", Forrest soon attracted attention from top clubs, with an offer of £200,000 from Sunderland being rejected.[6] Eventually, Rotherham agreed to let him move on in December 1985 after Southampton of the First Division made an offer of £100,000, although Forrest was by now 28 years old.[7]

At The Dell, Forrest soon justified manager Chris Nicholl's investment and made the step-up to top-flight football seamlessly. He was a cultured right back who was comfortable on the ball and strong in attack yet had great defensive abilities.[8] He made his debut for "the Saints", when he took the place of Steve Baker in a 3–0 victory over Arsenal on 7 December 1985, retaining his place for the rest of the season.[9]

Over the next three seasons, he rarely missed a game, until October 1988 when he was replaced by Ray Wallace in a 2–1 defeat by Sheffield Wednesday.[10] Wallace's brothers Rod and Danny were established members of the Southampton side – this was the first time three brothers had played in the same team in the Football League First Division for 67 years.[11]

Now in his early thirties, Forrest made only the occasional appearance until he sustained a serious knee injury against Wimbledon on 30 September 1989 which ended his career at Southampton.[7] By the time that he had regained his fitness six months later, Jason Dodd was beginning to establish himself at right-back and with Aleksei Cherednik also on the books, Forrest was unable to get back into the team and was given a free transfer.[7]

Forrest returned to Rotherham in August 1990 for one final season in League football before dropping down to the lower leagues with Gateshead United.

Coaching career

In 1992, Forrest joined the coaching staff at Darlington taking over the reins as caretaker manager in October 1993 (with Tim Parkin) when Billy McEwan was dismissed. Forrest and Parkin took charge of the first-team for four matches before Alan Murray took over permanently.[12]

Career statistics
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Rotherham United
1977–78[13] Third Division 4404040—520
1978–79[13] Third Division 4604050—550
1979–80[13] Third Division 4343040—504
1980–81[13] Third Division 4422021—483
1981–82[13] Second Division 35110403[lower-alpha 1]0431
1982–83[13] Second Division 3901030—430
1983–84[13] Third Division 45050601[lower-alpha 2]0570
1984–85[13] Third Division 44010612[lower-alpha 2]0531
1985–86[13] Third Division 1711020—201
Total 35782203626042110
Southampton
1985–86[14] First Division 220——1[lower-alpha 3]0230
1986–87[14] First Division 38010701[lower-alpha 4]0470
1987–88[14] First Division 37020201[lower-alpha 4]0420
1988–89[14] First Division 1702120—211
1989–90[14] First Division 100000—10
Total 115051110301341
Rotherham United 1990–91[13] Third Division 34060403[lower-alpha 2]0470
Career total 506833151212060211
  1. Appearances in Group Cup
  2. Appearances in Associate Members' Cup
  3. Appearances in Football League Super Cup
  4. Appearances in Full Members' Cup

Honours

Rotherham United

References
  1. "Gerry Forrest". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
  2. Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 336. ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5.
  3. "Billingham Town Old Boys". Billingham Town FC History. Billingham Town FC. Archived from the original on 13 December 2009. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
  4. "Stockton Youth Representative Team". picturestockton. 4 August 2009. Archived from the original on 8 October 2011. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
  5. "South Bank FC". Football Club History Database. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
  6. "Past players: Gerry Forrest". www.themillers.co.uk. 17 November 2004. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
  7. Holley, Duncan; Chalk, Gary (2003). In That Number – A post-war chronicle of Southampton FC. Hagiology Publishing. p. 512. ISBN 0-9534474-3-X.
  8. "Millersmad Greatest XI: The full backs". www.rotherhamunited-mad.co.uk. 21 May 2007. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
  9. In That Number – A post-war chronicle of Southampton FC. p. 190.
  10. In That Number – A post-war chronicle of Southampton FC. p. 203.
  11. Culley, Jon (13 October 1997). "Football: Family Tree". The Independent. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
  12. O'Hagan, Simon (24 October 1993). "Simon O'Hagan sees a class struggle as the club in a no-win situation thwart upwardly mobile visitors". The Independent. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
  13. "Player search: Forrest, G (Gerry)". English National Football Archive. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  14. Holley, Duncan; Chalk, Gary (2003). In That Number – A post-war chronicle of Southampton FC. Hagiology Publishing. ISBN 0-9534474-3-X.
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