Adrian Forbes

Adrian Forbes

Personal information
Full name	Adrian Emmanuel Forbes [1]
Date of birth	(1979-01-23) 23 January 1979 (age 45) [1]
Place of birth	Greenford, England
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) [1]
Position(s)	Right midfielder
Team information
Current team	Luton Town (Head of Coaching & Player Development)
Youth career
000?–1996	Norwich City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1996–2001	Norwich City	112	(8)
2001–2004	Luton Town	75	(14)
2004–2006	Swansea City	69	(11)
2006–2008	Blackpool	36	(1)
2008–2009	Millwall	13	(0)
2009	→ Grimsby Town (loan)	15	(3)
2009–2010	Grimsby Town	13	(1)
2010–2012	Lowestoft Town	33	(4)
Total		363	(38)
International career
1997	England U18	2	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Adrian Emmanuel Forbes (born 23 January 1979) is an English former professional footballer and Head of Coaching & Player Development at Luton Town.

As a player, he was a midfielder and forward from 1996 until 2012. Having started his career with Norwich City in 1996 he remained with the club for six years establishing himself in the Canaries' first team before moving to Luton Town in 2001. He went on to play for Swansea City, Blackpool, Millwall and Grimsby Town. Having been relegated out of the Football League with Grimsby in 2010, he was released by the club; he subsequently dropped into non-league, joining Lowestoft Town, where he remained for two seasons before retiring from competitive football in May 2012.

Forbes scored the last league goal for Swansea City at the Vetch Field against Shrewsbury Town on 30 April 2005 in a 1–0 win in front of 11,469 past a young Joe Hart . He then went on to score the winning goal against Bury to secure promotion to League 1 with a volley after 15 seconds in front of 6000 travelling Swansea fans.

Career

Norwich City

Forbes began his career at Norwich City in 1995. He played under several different managers in his six years at Carrow Road, including Martin O'Neill, Mike Walker and Bruce Rioch. Forbes remained with City from 1996 to 2001, he played in 131 league games, scoring 8 goals.

Luton Town

In the summer of 2001 he moved to Luton Town in a £60,000 deal, and played in three seasons at Kenilworth Road, notably playing his best football under Mike Newell.

Swansea City

Forbes signed for Swansea City, who were then in Football League Two, on a free transfer in 2004. In his first season at the club he was ever-present and scored seven goals. ^[2] On 30 April 2005, Forbes scored Swansea's last-ever league goal at their Vetch Field stadium in a 1–0 win over Shrewsbury Town, before their move to the Liberty Stadium. The following match he scored again against Bury to earn the club automatic promotion to Football League One. ^{[2] [3]} Two years later, in May 2006, he was released by Swansea. Forbes claimed that there had been on-going discussions about a new contract and that he had expected to stay at the club. He reacted by saying he was "shocked and hurt" and that he left "with a very bitter taste" in his mouth about the way the club treated him. ^[2]

Blackpool

On 1 July he signed for Blackpool on a two-year contract with an option for a further year. ^[4] In December 2006, before Blackpool played Swansea at Bloomfield Road, Forbes publicly slated Swansea manager Kenny Jackett for the manner in which he was released from the club earlier that year, stating that he was still bitter at Jackett. ^[5] He scored his first goal for Blackpool on 6 March 2007, in a 2–0 win over AFC Bournemouth at Bloomfield Road. ^[6] He played in Blackpool's Play-off final win over Yeovil Town at Wembley Stadium which earned the club promotion to the Football League Championship for the first time since 1978.

Millwall

On 3 January 2008, after failing to establish himself in Blackpool's Championship side, Forbes signed an 18-month contract with Football League One club Millwall despite recently being managed by Kenny Jackett who released him at Swansea City over a year earlier. Forbes however only played 13 times for the club and struggled to establish himself as a first team player. ^[7]

Grimsby Town

Forbes signed for Grimsby Town, managed by Mike Newell, on 2 February 2009, signing on loan until the end of the 2008–2009 season. In his second game he scored an overhead kick to equalise in the 3–3 draw with Barnet. On 6 July 2009 following his release from Millwall, Forbes agreed to join Grimsby permanently on a two-year deal. ^[8] During the 09/10 season, Forbes struggled to break into the first team and was eventually ruled out for a lengthy period after breaking his leg. This coupled with playing second fiddle to other players and the failure to consistently earn a place in the team meant that he would only feature in 13 league matches throughout the entire season. Forbes had returned to fitness towards the end of the campaign but only made a cameo appearance as the season wound to a close. On 12 May 2010, Forbes was one of seven players placed who were deemed surplus to requirements and were placed on the transfer list by Grimsby manager Neil Woods following their relegation from the Football League. ^[9] After failing to find a new club, Forbes was handed a squad number for the 2010–2011 season along with Nick Colgan, Nick Hegarty and Chris Jones who has also failed to sign terms elsewhere. On 13 July it was announced that Grimsby had accepted a request to let Forbes join league rivals Darlington for 3 days of training with a view to a permanent move. Darlington had also requested to use Forbes in a friendly in which Grimsby boss Neil Woods declined. ^[10] Forbes had his contract at Grimsby cancelled by mutual consent on 1 September 2010. ^[11]

Lowestoft Town

On 16 September 2010, Forbes joined Conference National side Hayes & Yeading on trial. ^[12] On 30 September 2010 Forbes joined Lowestoft Town, signing a two-year deal. ^[13] In May 2012 following the conclusion of the 2011–12 season Forbes announced his departure from Lowestoft and his retirement from competitive football.

Coaching career

In October 2011 Forbes re-joined Norwich City as an academy coach on a part-time basis alongside his playing days with Lowestoft, ^[14] however following his retirement in May 2012 Forbes became a full-time coach with City. After gaining a full-time role at Norwich's Cat 1 academy looking after the U9 and U10 players he was promoted in September 2017 and he is currently the Lead Foundation Phase Coach and responsible for the day-to-day running of the U9 to U12 age groups as well as being the match day announcer at Carrow Road. He is also in year 4 of The Premier Leagues Elite Coaches Apprenticeship Scheme.

He now works as the Head of Coaching & Player Development at Luton Town. ^[15]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Norwich City	1996–97 [16]	First Division	10	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	11	0
	1997–98 [17]	First Division	33	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	33	4
	1998–99 [18]	First Division	15	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	18	0
	1999–2000 [19]	First Division	25	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	26	1
	2000–01 [20]	First Division	29	3	1	0	3	0	0	0	33	3
	Total		112	8	4	0	5	0	0	0	121	8
Luton Town	2001–02 [21]	Third Division	40	4	1	1	1	0	0	0	42	5
	2002–03 [22]	Second Division	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	1
	2003–04 [23]	Second Division	27	9	4	5	0	0	1 [lower-alpha 1]	0	32	14
	Total		72	14	5	6	1	0	1	0	79	20
Swansea City	2004–05 [24]	League Two	40	7	5	0	1	0	2 [lower-alpha 1]	0	48	7
	2005–06 [17]	League One	29	4	1	0	0	0	8 [lower-alpha 2]	1	38	5
	Total		69	11	6	0	1	0	10	1	86	12
Blackpool	2006–07 [25]	League One	34	1	5	0	0	0	4 [lower-alpha 3]	0	43	1
	2007–08 [26]	Championship	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	0
	Total		36	1	5	0	1	0	4	0	46	1
Millwall	2007–08 [26]	League One	11	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	14	0
	2008–09 [27]	League One	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
	Total		13	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	16	0
Grimsby Town (loan)	2008–09 [27]	League Two	15	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	15	3
Grimsby Town	2009–10 [28]	League Two	13	1	0	0	0	0	2 [lower-alpha 1]	0	15	1
	2010–11	Conference Premier	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total		28	4	0	0	0	0	2	0	30	4
Total			330	38	23	6	8	0	17	1	378	45

1. Appearance(s) in Football League Trophy
2. Six appearances and one goal in Football League Trophy, two appearances in Football League play-offs
3. One appearance in Football League Trophy, three in Football League play-offs

Honours

Swansea City

• Football League Trophy: 2005–06 ^[29]

Blackpool

• Football League One play-offs: 2007

References

1. Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2003). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2003/2004. Queen Anne Press. p. 150. ISBN   1-85291-651-6.
2. "Forbes bitter over Swans release". BBC Sport. 2 June 2006. Retrieved 3 January 2008.
3. "Forbes hails fine Vetch farewell". BBC Sport. 1 May 2005. Retrieved 3 January 2008.
4. "Two more agree terms". Blackpool. 23 June 2006. Retrieved 3 January 2008.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
5. "Bitter Forbes in swipe at Jackett". BBC Sport. 8 December 2006. Archived from the original on 6 January 2008. Retrieved 3 January 2008.
6. "Blackpool 2–0 Bournemouth". BBC. 6 March 2007. Retrieved 1 May 2010.
7. "New face". Millwall F.C. 3 January 2008. Archived from the original on 6 January 2008. Retrieved 3 January 2008.
8. "Grimsby complete Forbes signing". BBC News. 7 July 2009. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
9. Grimsby Town | News | Latest News | Latest News | 3 Released, 7 Transfer Listed Archived 8 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
10. This is Grimsby | ADRIAN Forbes is training with Darlington with a view to leaving Grimsby Town this week
11. Grimsby Town | News | Latest News | Latest News | 2 Depart Archived 25 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
12. This is Grimsby | FORMER Grimsby Town frontman Adrian Forbes admits he knew his time at Blundell Park was coming to an end before relegation was confirmed last season Archived 19 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine
13. Lowestoft Town Football Club Archived 24 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
14. "Former Grimsby Town striker Adrian Forbes starts coaching career and backs calls for 'Rooney Rule'". Toogoodtogodown.wordpress.com. 10 October 2011. Archived from the original on 25 December 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
15. https://uk.linkedin.com/in/adrian-forbes-9b9a5973 ^{[ self-published source ]}
16. "Games played by Adrian Forbes in 1996/1997". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
17. "Player search: Forbes (AE) Adrian" . English National Football Archive. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
18. "Games played by Adrian Forbes in 1998/1999". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
19. "Games played by Adrian Forbes in 1999/2000". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
20. "Games played by Adrian Forbes in 2000/2001". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
21. "Games played by Adrian Forbes in 2001/2002". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
22. "Games played by Adrian Forbes in 2002/2003". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
23. "Games played by Adrian Forbes in 2003/2004". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
24. "Games played by Adrian Forbes in 2004/2005". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
25. "Games played by Adrian Forbes in 2006/2007". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
26. "Games played by Adrian Forbes in 2007/2008". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
27. "Games played by Adrian Forbes in 2008/2009". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
28. "Games played by Adrian Forbes in 2009/2010". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
29. "Carlisle 1–2 Swansea". BBC Sport. 2 April 2006. Retrieved 17 March 2024.

External links

• Adrian Forbes at Soccerbase
• Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk
• England profile ^{[ permanent dead link ]} at TheFA