Notts Alumni: Jonathan Forte – Notts Alumni

Born on July 25, 1986 in Sheffield, England, Jonathan Forte is a former professional footballer who played for several notable clubs during his career, including Notts County. 

Forte began his football journey as a schoolboy at Rotherham United’s Academy, but later joined the Sheffield United Academy, where he played alongside Billy Sharp. 

During his youth career, he also featured for England at youth level.

He made his professional debut for Sheffield United in 2005, playing in the Championship against Plymouth Argyle. 

He went on to play for various clubs, including Doncaster Rovers, Rotherham United Scunthorpe United, Notts County, Southampton, Preston North End, Oldham Athletic, and Exeter City.

Forte’s career saw him play for several clubs on loan, including Rotherham United and Doncaster Rovers. 

He later signed for Scunthorpe United in 2007, where he spent three years, scoring nine goals in ninety-eight appearances. 

In 2008, he joined Notts County on his first loan spell at the club, initially for a month.

Forte scored a hat-trick on his debut against Barnet and his short spell at Meadow Lane ended with four goals in four appearances.

The striker later re-joined Notts after renewing his loan in 2009, where he scored a further 4 goals in 14 appearances. 

Forte then signed for Southampton, but he only played 11 times in three years, scoring just two goals.

In 2011, he had a short loan with Preston North End, where he struggled to score and only made three appearances before securing a loan back to Notts in 2012. 

Forte found his earlier form with the Magpies, netting five goals in ten appearances. 

In the same year, he was also loaned out to Crawley Town, scoring three times in twelve appearances.

He would rejoin hometown team Sheffield United on loan in 2013. 

Before leaving Southampton in 2014, after playing as a trialist for Oldham Athletic against Australian outfit Melbourne City, Forte signed permanently for the Latics.

He went on to score a career record amount of 18 goals from 60 appearances.

In 2016, Forte and Notts had another reunion, joining the Magpies for an undisclosed fee. 

During his time at Meadow Lane, Forte became a fan favourite, scoring some crucial goals that helped the club avoid relegation. 

In the 2017-2018 season, he scored a crucial goal against Coventry City in the playoffs at the Ricoh Arena. 

In the home tie at Meadow Lane, he wrongly had a goal ruled out for offside which would have put Notts level at 2-2.

Forte then joined League Two club Exeter City, where he played for two seasons, scoring five goals in 27 appearances. 

He left the club in 2019 and unfortunately had retired from professional football at the age of 33 due to injury. 

During his 15-year career, Forte played for ten different clubs and scored 80 goals in 412 league games. 

Throughout his career, Forte was known for his speed, dribbling ability, and clinical finishing. 

He was also capable of playing in a variety of attacking positions, including as a central striker, on the wings, and as an attacking midfielder. 

His versatility and work rate made him a valuable asset to his teams and helped him establish himself as a regular player throughout his career.

Since his retirement, Forte has become involved in coaching and mentoring young footballers. 

He has set up his own academy, the Jonathan Forte Football Academy, which provides coaching and training to young footballers in Nottingham. 

Coaching and mentoring can positively impact the workplace in various ways such as building stronger teams, supporting talented employees, aligning the organization’s culture and ethos with employees, creating a more inclusive culture, improving employee satisfaction scores, and staff retention.

Jonathan Forte was a versatile and skilled footballer who played for several notable clubs during his career, including Notts County. He established himself as a regular player through his speed, dribbling ability, and clinical finishing, which enabled him to play in a variety of attacking positions. Despite retiring in 2019, he will be remembered as a hardworking and valuable asset to the teams he played for throughout his career.

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