Tommy Steven Forecast (born 15 October 1986) 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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. Having started his career with

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

, he made his debut in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

for

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

, after joining the club on loan from

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, ...

. He also played for Eastbourne Borough,

Thurrock Thurrock () is a unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Essex, England. It lies on the north bank of the River ...

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

, Gillingham, Chelmsford City and

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...

Career

Tottenham Hotspur

Born in

Newham The London Borough of Newham () is a London boroughs, London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of County Borough of West Ham, West Ham and County ...

, London, Forecast joined the

Academy system, and his first major impact came in the 2004–05 season with a string of fine displays as their Under-18s goalkeeper and helped his team reach the semi-finals of the

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

which included saves in a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

Anfield Anfield is a Association football, football stadium in the area of Anfield (suburb), Anfield, Liverpool, England, which has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since its formation in 1892. The stadium has a seating capacity of 61,276, making it the ...

. After his stand out successes in the

he was named in the first team squad as substitute six times during the 2007–08

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

but never played in a first-team game and quickly decided on a move away from

White Hart Lane White Hart Lane was a Association football, football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater i ...

Southampton

In July 2008, Forecast was signed by

for an undisclosed fee on a five-year contract. Forecast's transfer from Tottenham to Southampton was a result of a renegotiation of

Gareth Bale Gareth Frank Bale (born 16 July 1989) is a Welsh former professional Association football, footballer who played as a right winger, most notably for Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur, Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid, and the Wales national ...

's sell-on clause, who had made the reverse move in the previous season, after Southampton entered financial troubles. At Southampton, he became very much a third choice keeper behind Kelvin Davis and

Bartosz Białkowski Bartosz Marek Białkowski (; born 6 July 1987) is a Polish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (football), goalkeeper. He began his career playing in his native Poland, before moving to Southampton F. ...

, and therefore appeared more at reserve team level; however after Białkowski's

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 ...

to Ipswich Town at the end of the 2008–09 season he became second choice keeper. On 13 August 2009, Forecast joined

on a one-month loan following an injury to Town's first-choice goalkeeper Nick Colgan. Forecast made his full professional debut the following day for Grimsby against

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

in a 4–0 defeat, The ''Crewe Chronicle'' described Forecast's debut as "one of the most shockingly inept displays the Football League has ever seen". Grimsby sent Forecast back early from his loan spell on 3 September after he failed to impress in his four games with The Mariners, and with Colgan still out on the sidelines Town manager Mike Newell opted to bring in

Josh Lillis Joshua Mark Lillis (born 24 June 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. He is currently goalkeeping coach at Rochdale. He began his career at Scunthorpe United in the League One and Championship. He spent time ...

from

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 ...

to fill in the sticks until Colgan's return. During the 2010–11 season, Forecast found himself demoted to the fourth choice keeper at Southampton, having fallen behind Jack Dovey in the pecking order, who would fill in on the bench for Davis and Białkowski in the club's league fixtures. On 31 January 2011, he joined Eastbourne Borough on a 28-day loan, and on 11 August 2011, he joined

on loan for a month following which he was loaned to

for a three-month period. On 4 June 2013, Southampton confirmed on their website that Forecast, alongside seven other professional players, would be released.

Gillingham (loan)

On 20 July 2012, Forecast joined Gillingham on a season-long loan as part of a deal for highly rated young Gillingham keeper

Paulo Gazzaniga Paulo Dino Gazzaniga Farías (born 2 January 1992) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for La Liga club Girona. Early life Gazzaniga was born in Murphy, Santa Fe, the same small town in Argentina where his future ...

He made his Gillingham debut on 4 September 2012 in a

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 ...

tie away at

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 ...

. The game ended in a 3–2 defeat for the Gills. He made his League debut for Gillingham on 24 November 2012 away to

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 ...

. With Gillingham 1–0 up, first-choice goalkeeper Stuart Nelson was sent off and Forecast was brought on to play in goal. Due to the suspension of Nelson, Forecast played the Gills next match which was an FA Cup second round tie away at Preston North End. Before the tie, Martin Allen praised Forecast for his hard-work and believed he was getting better and better. The game ended in a 2–0 defeat for Gillingham and it was Forecast's third appearance of the season. Upon Gillingham winning promotion to

Football 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 ...

, Forecast had the unusual honour of being part of a team that achieved promotion three years in a row with

winning successive promotions. However, aside from loan spells elsewhere, Forecast only managed two League appearances in these three campaigns.

Chelmsford City

On 11 August 2013, Forecast signed for Chelmsford City of the

Conference South The National League South, officially Vanarama National League South, is a professional Association football league in England. National League South is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 of the NLS and sixth-highest ti ...

. He joined

on loan for one month from 24 October.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Forecast, Tommy 1986 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Newham English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Eastbourne Borough F.C. players Thurrock F.C. players Bromley F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Chelmsford City F.C. players Dartford F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players 21st-century English sportsmen