Former Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster has announced his retirement from football. Ben Forster took to his popular Youtube Channel The Cycling GK, to make it known that he has finally hanged the gloves.
Forster retired at the age of 39 after turning into a free agent at the expiration of his Watford contract. He was offered a contract by Newcastle, which he rejected.
Forster confirmed on The Cycling GK that he had been offered a contract at Newcastle after their goalkeeper Karl Darlow picked an injury but has rejected the offer for undisclosed family reasons.
“I’ve got an announcement to make, it’s a big one. The time has finally come for me to announce my retirement,” he said
Despite rejecting the Newcastle offer, Forster admitted that he would have had a good time but had to follow his intuitions which was dominantly rejecting the offer.
The retired goalkeeper said: “I know for a fact if I’d have gone there I’d have had an amazing time, the lads would have been absolutely brilliant and I’d have buzzed off the stadium, the fans, all that kind of stuff, but the overriding sinking feeling was ‘I don’t want to do this.'”
Ben Forster Career Stats
After a year with Racing Club Warwick, Forster began his entire professional football career with Stoke City in 2001. Throughout his five years with Stoke City, he did not make a single appearance for the club. He was sent on loan to five different clubs, which include Bristol City, Tiverton Town, Stafford Rangers, Kidderminster Harriers, and Wrexham. At Bristol City, Forster made no appearance; he had 17 appearances for Tiverton Town, 1 for Stafford, 2 for Kidderminster Harriers, and 16 for Wrexham.
Forster joined Premier League giants Manchester United in 2005 from Stoke City and made 12 appearances for the Red Devils. He also went on loan while at Manchester United. Twice, he was loaned to Watford, where he earned a total of 73 appearances.
Forster joined Birmingham City from Manchester United in 2010, where he made 38 appearances. Again he was loaned to West Bromwich Albion. From Birmingham City, Forster joined West Bromwich Albion permanently and made 172 appearances in his six-year club spell. He joined Watford in 2018 and played for four years, making 125 appearances before announcing his retirement.
Forster has made 8 appearances for the England national team. He has won the Football League Trophy with Wrexham and the Football League Cup with Manchester United and Birmingham City. He has also won Watford, Birmingham City, and West Bromwich Player of the season.
Forster is married with two children. In March, he was fined over £22,000 for overspeeding.
He has a Youtube Channel, The Cyclic GK, with over 1.12m subscribers, where he posts footage of his matches and games.
