Player
At the age of 14 I was lucky enough to be selected to attend The FA National Centre of Excellence. This was for a term of 2 years and was made up of the elite of England’s schoolboy talent.
On leaving there at 16 I took the unorthodox step of moving abroad to play for French club A.J. Auxerre. This was an opportunity I could not turn down but after a year of homesickness I decided to leave France to ply my trade at Leeds United. I had a loan spell at Southend United for one month in the middle of 3 enjoyable years there, but I was not able to consistently perform at the top level and looked to progress my career for Grimsby Town. Scunthorpe United was my next port of call. Joining Scunthorpe was the best football decision I have made because it allowed me to play first team football on a regular basis and this is where I ‘came of age’ as a footballer.
Another fantastic opportunity arose for me to play abroad, this time at Dutch Premier side F.C. Utrecht. Things never really worked out in Holland and so Walsall was next for a short loan spell before signing permanently in June 2000 for Northampton Town. Peter Taylor signed me for Hull City in February 2003 and success there led to me becoming surplus to requirements with Bristol Rovers taking me until I finally signed for Lincoln City FC.
Coach
I have recently been awarded the FA Advanced UEFA B Coaching Licence, the FA Coaching Children Certificate, the FA Emergency First Aid Certificate as well as the FA Child Protection and Best Practice Certificate.
I am also currently working towards making ’The Jamie Forrester Soccer Academy’ an FA Charter academy. This will further enhance our organisation and professionalism in coaching children. These qualifications will go a long way to fulfilling our ambitions mentioned above but also assuring parents that health and safety of children is paramount. These qualification certificates are able to be viewed if you so wish on request.
Photos on this page were supplied by Andrew Vaughan.