Fraser Forster makes Champions League start over 3,000 days since last appearance

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Former Newcastle United youth prospect, Fraser Forster turned out in the Champions League for Tottenham Hotspur last night as they faced AC Milan. It was his first Champions League appearance in 3,352 days.

The 6’7″ stopper got his start in football at Newcastle United as a youngster after graduating from the prestigious Wallsend Boys Club in 2005. A year later he was given a professional deal at Newcastle United going on to remain on the books at St James’ Park for six years without ever forcing his way into the first team.

After several loan spells, and realising his chances of first-team action at his boyhood club were slim, Forster moved on a permanent deal to Celtic following two successful loan spells with the Scottish giants. However, the bulk of his playing career was spent at Southampton where he made 134 appearances before moving to Tottenham last year as backup for Hugo Lloris.

Made to wait

Now with Lloris injured, Forster finds himself back in first team action in the Champions League where he last appeared for Celtic back in the 2013/14 season.

Unfortunately for the Hexham-born lad, his side ended up on the losing side as AC Milan saw off the Spurs’ challenge with a 1-0 win in the first leg.

As the Match Of The Day Twitter pointed out, this gap between Champions League appearances isn’t even the longest wait for action for an English Player as Scott Carson had to wait a whopping 6182 days (nearly 17 years) between appearances.

Forster was never given a fair shot at Newcastle

When he was at Newcastle he was always touted as being the next big thing to come out of the academy, which made it all the more strange that he never made a senior appearance for the club, especially has he has gone on to prove himself to be a capable goalkeeper.

On reflection, however, that was typical of the way Newcastle United dealt with emerging talent at the club. They were talked up in the media and amongst fans, but were rarely given the opportunity to actually show us what they were capable of before being moved on. Thankfully, it seems like those days are behind us, especially with Dan Ashworth overseeing things.