Jonathan Ronald James Forte (born 25 July 1986) is a 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 striker. Born in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

, he represented

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

at international level. Forte's first professional contract came with his home town club

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

before a move to

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in ...

in 2007. After four years, he then signed for Southampton in 2011. During his career Forte also spent time on loan at

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

and

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...

Club career

Youth career

Forte was born in

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

. He started his career at

as a schoolboy in the academy, but opted to join the

Academy, along with

Billy Sharp Billy Louis Sharp (born 5 February 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Doncaster Rovers. Sharp has played for Sheffield United, Rushden & Diamonds, Scunthorpe United, Southampton, Nottingham Forest, Re ...

after Rotherham turned him away. During his youth career he made several appearances for England at youth level.

Sheffield United

Forte was mostly used as a substitute at Sheffield United, with only five of his appearances being from the start. He went on loan twice in the 2005–06 season, to

and Rotherham United. He scored eight times (four for each team) for these clubs, and played an important part in keeping Rotherham in League One. In July 2006, Forte was re-signed by Doncaster Rovers, initially on a six-month loan deal. He helped Doncaster win the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

on 1 April 2007 scoring the first goal in 3–2 (aet) victory against

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers FC is a men's professional football club in Bristol. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is affiliated to Bristol Rovers W.F.C., whose team play in the FA Women's National Leag ...

after only 43 seconds. Over the course of his career at Sheffield United he made 30 appearances scoring one goal against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

Scunthorpe United

Forte signed for

on 4 July 2007. He then signed for

on 13 November 2008 in a very fruitful one-month loan deal. He scored four goals in four league games, including a

hat trick A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mechan ...

on his debut against Barnet. He re-signed on a one-month loan deal at Meadow Lane in February 2009, getting himself on the scoresheet again with two goals against

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

in Notts' 3–1 home win. The loan was extended for a second month until 18 April in March. Forte scored two goals for Scunthorpe against Crystal Palace at Glanford Park.

Southampton

On 31 January 2011, he signed for

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

for an undisclosed fee on a three-and-a-half-year deal, joining up with former manager

Nigel Adkins Nigel Howard Adkins (born 11 March 1965) is an English professional football manager and former footballer and physiotherapist. He was most recently the manager and technical director at Tranmere Rovers. Adkins played as a goalkeeper for Tran ...

. However, he did not sign in time to feature the next day at

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

. He made his debut as a substitute in a 4–4 draw with

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Peterborough United formed in ...

. He scored his first goals from the bench against

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club, usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football leag ...

, with the score at 2–0 he scored two goals in two minutes, to bring it to 2–2. The game ended in a 3–2 victory. He scored his first goal of the 2011–12 season in a 4–1 win over

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...

, in the league cup. He scored another in the League Cup, a 3–1 victory at

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

. On 8 November 2011, he signed for

, His loan expired on 10 December 2011. He made his debut against

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

in the Football League Trophy and he signed with fellow striker Sam Hoskins. On 27 January 2012, he signed for

on loan until the end of the season. He scored a hat-trick against Charlton, the second of his career. The first had been at Notts County on loan in 2008 away at Barnet on his debut. On 17 August 2012, Forte signed for

on a three-month loan. He made his debut the following day, scoring Crawley's third goal in a 3–0 victory over his former club,

. On 31 January 2013, Forte returned to his first club

, on loan for the rest of the season. Forte scored his first United goal in eight years when he netted in a 2–0 league victory over Bury 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 ...

. After initially starting regularly Forte was injured during the game against Bury, and struggled with his fitness during the rest of his loan spell. With United failing to gain promotion, Forte returned to Southampton having played twelve games and scored one goal. On 17 May 2014, Southampton announced that Forte would be released.

Oldham Athletic

On 19 July 2014, Forte played as a trialist for

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

against Melbourne City, playing for 75 minutes for the Lancashire-based-club. He also played in a 2–1 victory over

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

. On 1 August 2014, Forte signed a one-year deal with the club, with an option of a further year. Forte made his debut on the opening day of the season against

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

, scoring both goals in a 2–2 draw. Forte scored his 9th and 10th goal against Coventry; this gave them an emphatic 4–1 victory and stretched Oldham's 12-game unbeaten run. In the next match, a 2–1 victory over Bradford City, Forte continued his goal-scoring form with a goal in the 7th minute, putting Latics ahead.

Notts County

After three previous loan spells at the club, Forte returned to League Two club Notts County on 1 July 2016 on undisclosed terms. He was released by Notts County at the end of the 2017–18 season.

Exeter City

On 26 June 2018, Forte was signed by

. In August 2019, Forte announced his retirement as a player, aged 33, due to a knee injury.

International career

Despite playing for England at youth level, on 26 March 2008, he made his international debut for

in a 1–0 victory against

Dominica Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. It is part of the Windward Islands chain in the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of t ...

. He qualifies for Barbados through his father. He turned down a call-up from the nation in November 2008 and has not played internationally since.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Doncaster Rovers *

: 2006–07 Scunthorpe United *

Football League One play-offs The EFL League One play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL League One table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. , the play-offs comprise tw ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

References

External links

Jonathan Forte profile
at the official

Notts County F.C. Notts County Football Club is a professional football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of English football, following promotion from the National League in the 2022–23 season. Founded in 1862, ...

website
Jonathan Forte profile
at the official

the Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...

website * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Forte, Jonathan 1986 births Living people Footballers from Sheffield Naturalised citizens of Barbados Barbadian men's footballers Barbados men's international footballers English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers English people of Barbadian descent Sportspeople of Barbadian descent Men's association football wingers Rotherham United F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players English Football League players Black British sportsmen 21st-century English sportsmen