Anton George Forrester (born 11 February 1994) 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 lea ...

who played as a forward. A former Everton

youth team In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or Sports league, league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team (a ...

player, he was signed to

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

in January 2013. He spent the 2013–14 season on

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

at Bury, where he scored seven goals in 30 appearances. He suffered a serious knee injury in March 2014, which left him sidelined for nine months. He joined

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

on loan in November 2015 and signed with Port Vale in July 2016 after being released by Blackburn. He was released by Port Vale in May 2018 and signed with Radcliffe in August 2019.

Club career

Blackburn Rovers

Forrester was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and attended the Everton

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

from the age of nine. He joined

after a trial spell in January 2013, and signed a two-year

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

after impressing

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Michael Appleton Michael Antony Appleton (born 4 December 1975) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of EFL League Two club Shrewsbury Town. As a player, he operated as a midfielder, in a nine-year career that ...

and

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

manager Gary Bowyer. He made his debut in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

on 13 March, coming on as a 75th-minute substitute for Joshua King in a 1–0 defeat to

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

Ewood Park Ewood Park () is a Association football, football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C., founding members of the English Football League, Football League and Premier League, who have played there since ...

. In July 2013, Forrester joined Bury of League Two on

until 1 January 2014. He made his debut for the "Shakers" in the opening game of the 2013–14 season, where he came on as a substitute for Ashley Grimes 60 minutes into a 2–0 defeat to Chesterfield at

Gigg Lane Gigg Lane is a football ground in Bury, Greater Manchester, England, built for Bury F.C. in 1885. The first match was played on 12 September 1885 between Bury and a team from Wigan. One of the world's oldest professional football stadiums, Gi ...

. On 17 August, he scored his first goal in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

, in a 3–0 home win over

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England, that compete in the , the fourth level of the English football league system. They have spent their entire history playing a ...

. He then scored in the next game seven days later, in a 2–2 draw at Burton Albion. Three days later, he scored again in the second round of the League Cup, in a 6–3 defeat to

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

Carrow Road Carrow Road is a association football, football stadium in Norwich, Norfolk, England, and is the home of EFL Championship club Norwich City F.C., Norwich City. The stadium is east of the city, near Norwich railway station and the River Wensum. ...

. The following month he scored two goals in two games against

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

and Dagenham & Redbridge. After scoring his sixth goal just 43 seconds into a 2–1 win over

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

on 29 December, his loan deal was extended until the end of the season. The goal against York was later voted the club's 'Goal of the Season' at the end of season awards dinner. He added a seventh goal to his tally in a 1–0 win over

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...

on 1 February. However, he suffered a knee injury against Fleetwood Town on 11 March, which brought his season to an end. Forrester was sidelined for nine months before he recovered from his knee injury. He then struggled with minor

hamstring A hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in human anatomy between the hip and the knee: from medial to lateral, the semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris. Etymology The word " ham" is derived from the Old ...

injuries for the remainder of the 2014–15 season. He signed a one-year contract with the club in July 2015. He returned to League Two on a one-month loan at

Jim Bentley James Graham Bentley (born 11 June 1976) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a centre back. He was most recently the first team manager at Southport F.C. Playing career Bentley debuted for Telford Unite ...

in November 2015. He made two starts and two substitute appearances during his loan spell. Forrester scored six goals in 17 games for Blackburn Reserves in the 2015–16 season. He was released by new manager Paul Lambert in May 2016.

Port Vale

He signed a two-year contract with

EFL League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

club Port Vale in July 2016 after impressing manager

Bruno Ribeiro Bruno Miguel Fernandes Ribeiro (born 22 October 1975) is a Portuguese former football manager and player. A midfielder with a powerful left-foot strike, he began his playing career with hometown club Vitória Setúbal from 1994 to 1997, befo ...

in a trial game. He scored the opening goal and provided the assist for the second in a 2–0 victory over

on his home debut on 13 August. He picked up a hamstring injury at the start of September, and then aggravated the same hamstring upon his return to action on 1 October, leaving him with another month-long lay-off. He was again forced off upon his return to action on 22 November, having again aggravated the same hamstring injury. He underwent surgery on his

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus () was a hero of the Trojan War who was known as being the greatest of all the Greek warriors. The central character in Homer's ''Iliad'', he was the son of the Nereids, Nereid Thetis and Peleus, ...

in April. He picked up a thigh injury at the start of the 2017–18 season which saw him ruled out of action for three months. He had a meeting with the new manager

Neil Aspin Neil Aspin (born 12 April 1965) is an English association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player. A defender who could play at centre-back and right-back, he was a Marking (association football), marker an ...

in November, who stated that "I can only comment since I have been here, but he has got himself fit and his attitude has been fine." He marked his return to action in November with two goals in three appearances, including the equalising goal at Newport County. However, injuries and a lack of confidence restricted his first-team opportunities, leading Aspin to state that "he is a player who possesses a lot of good attributes but it is a case of who can get those attributes out of Anton and can he do it himself?" He was released upon the expiry of his contract in May 2018.

Later career

Forrester joined

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

on trial in July 2018. Having gone the 2018–19 season without a club, he joined Jon Macken's Radcliffe of the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

Premier Division on 23 August 2019. As a result of the

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, this season's competition was formally abandoned on 26 March 2020, with all results from the season being expunged, and no

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 ...

relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

taking place to, from, or within the competition.

International career

In March 2015, Forrester was called up for the England under-19 team but did not play due to injury.

Style of play

Forrestor is a forward who can hold the ball up well and bring others into play. He is strong and aggressive with a good first touch.

Personal life

His elder brother Carl (born 1992), played in the

s at

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

and

, and in the senior teams for

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 ...

sides

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

and Leigh Genesis.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forrester, Anton 1994 births Living people Footballers from Liverpool Men's association football forwards English men's footballers Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Bury F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Radcliffe F.C. players English Football League players Northern Premier League players 21st-century English sportsmen