By Nathan Jackson
December 29 2009

We have come to the end of the list of the top 20 players of the 2000-2010 period, as voted for by the fans and ironically the winner only came to the club due to an injury sustained by the player who finished in second. Jamie Forrester spent just over two years at Lincoln and did enough to be considered the best to have played for City over the last ten years.

Had it not being for Gary Silk injuring Simon Yeo in an away game at Boston United in the 2005/6 season, City would never have brought in Jamie Forrester on loan from promotion rivals, Bristol Rovers. The former Auxerre, Leeds, Scunthorpe, Grimsby Town, Southend United, Walsall and Northampton Town striker had joined the Imps after finding himself shut out at the Memorial Stadium.

There are few who've had a better debut than the one Forrester had at City as he lined up against one of his former sides. Grimsby Town were flying high and hot favourites to beat City after easily beating them at Christmas, however, after Jamie Forrester had set 2 goals up and scored 1 himself, City ran out comfortable 5-0 winners. Forrester would score 4 more times before his loan deal was set to expire, however, it was announced that Forrester would not only extend his loan deal, but also sign on a permanent basis. The goals dried up after that was announced.

Jamie's permanent career at Sincil Bank did start a bit slowly, but a 4 goal haul at Mansfield changed that. Jamie went on to score a further two hatricks before the end of October in the 2006/7 season and he scored a very impressive 18 goals during his first full season at the club, forming a deadly partnership with Mark Stallard. They would score nearly 40 goals between them in that season, one of the deadliest partnerships in the division and arguably the deadliest the club has seen in some time.

However, Forrester's contribution to the team certainly wasn't restricted to goalscoring, he was instrumental in setting up chances for his fellow strikers and he was arguably our most valuable player. Two of his more impressive assists were an overhead kick against MK Dons to set up Lee Beevers, that followed a back heel into the path of Scott Kerr just a few days earlier against Macclesfield Town.

The 2007/8 season was another good season for Forrester. He scored 14 goals for the Imps in a season where it had appeared he would get sacked due to off the field issues revolving around his own football academy. Those rumours never came to materialise and he formed a fairly decent partnership with Ben Wright, the strikers scoring 29 goals between them.

Jamie left sincil Bank in the summer of 2008 after heavy rumours that he and Peter Jackson didn't see eye to eye. His final goal for the Imps came in a free kick against Brentford that regave the Imps the lead.

He was offered a new contract by the club but he decided to join Notts County instead. Forrester left Sincil Bank having scored 37 goals over his two spells. He scored against Grimsby in each of the three seasons he was at Sincil Bank, also scoring a winning goal over Bristol Rovers in 2006/7.

A year at Notts County didn't see the same form he had at Sincil Bank and he was released from there in summer. His next move was surprising. With many fans feeling he was still easily capable of playing League football, he chose to sign for Lincoln United in the Unibond Division One, a full four divisions below the Football League. He left them a few weeks ago due to cost cutting measures at Ashby Avenue. Most now believe he will choose to retire from football.

Forrester was also kind enough to do an interview for this site just before he left. You can find that interview here.

Top 20 Players : 1st - Jamie Forrester

Discussion started by theimps.tk (IP Logged), 29/12/2009 09:38

theimps.tk
29/12/2009 09:38

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redimp981
29/12/2009 10:05

Clever player. Knew where the goal was, and combined well with Stallard. Quality. Good to admire except when the ball was hoofed up to him.

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