Fraser Gerard Forster (born 17 March 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Premier League club Bournemouth.
Forster started his career with Newcastle United and had brief loan spells with Stockport County and Bristol Rovers. He then spent a successful season on loan at Norwich City, helping the club win the League One title and promotion to the Championship. Forster then joined Celtic on loan for the 2010–11 season, and helped them win the Scottish Cup. He spent a further season on loan there, winning the Scottish Premier League before becoming a permanent squad member in 2012 for a transfer fee of £2.2 million.
Forster won many plaudits for his performances at Celtic and holds the Scottish top division record of 1,256 minutes without conceding a goal. In August 2014, he joined Southampton for a reported £10 million. Forster had a generally impressive debut season in the Premier League, but sustained a serious knee injury in March 2015 which ruled him out for the rest of the year. On his return in January 2016, he quickly found form again and went on to set a club record of 708 minutes without conceding a goal. Forster's return aided Southampton's rise from thirteenth in the league to a sixth-place finish, earning them qualification for the following season's UEFA Europa League. He would go on to win the Europa League later in his career with Tottenham Hotspur, making four appearances in the group stages of that season's competition and keeping one clean sheet.
Forster was selected for several England squads during 2012 and 2013 before finally making his first international appearance in November 2013. He was named in England's squads for the 2014 World Cup and Euro 2016.
Forster was born in Hexham, Northumberland, the son of Brian Clive Forster QC (who later became a circuit judge), and attended the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle, but did not begin playing as a goalkeeper until he was 13 years old. Before then he had mainly played either rugby union or cricket. Coaches initially thought Forster might be too small to play as a goalkeeper, although he played for local junior team Stocksfield before joining the renowned Wallsend Boys Club. However, he entered a significant growth spurt at 15 years of age and later signed with Newcastle United.
Forster earned his first professional contract with Newcastle United, signing for their Academy in 2005. Forster was Newcastle's third choice goalkeeper in the 2007–08 season while Tim Krul was on loan at Falkirk, and played regularly in the reserves. However, in the six years he was signed to the club, Fraser never made a first-team appearance for Newcastle, mainly due to the fact that he spent most of his time on loan to other clubs, often lasting entire seasons.
With Krul back for the 2008–09 season and Given back to full fitness, it was the turn of Forster to go on loan. He was loaned out to Stockport County on 2 October 2008, to deputise for regular goalkeeper Owain Fôn Williams while he was away on international duty with Wales. Forster started his first match for Stockport on 7 October in the Football League Trophy second round, where they lost 1–0 away to Bury. He started his first league match for Stockport on 11 October, where his team drew 1–1 away to Southend United. He returned to Newcastle on 1 November, after completing his loan stint at Stockport playing six league matches and keeping three clean sheets.
Forster, having been on the bench for Newcastle on over 20 occasions in the Premier League, needed regular playing experience and subsequently signed a month-loan deal with Bristol Rovers on 31 July 2009. He kept two clean sheets in the four league matches he played for them. Bristol Rovers asked to extend the loan but Norwich City made a counter offer which was accepted by Newcastle. Manager Paul Trollope was disappointed and commented that the team wanted Forster between the sticks. He stated "Fraser has a great career ahead of him".
Norwich City manager Paul Lambert was keen to sign Forster who he had seen play for both Stockport and Bristol Rovers. Forster then signed for Norwich City in a one-month loan deal. It was then extended to the end of January 2010 after making an impressive debut against Hartlepool in the 2–0 victory at Victoria Park. Forster received a red card on 26 September 2009 against Gillingham for bringing Curtis Weston down in the penalty area, however this was considered to be a controversial decision. He made a blunder in a 2–1 defeat against Leeds United on 19 October, with a 90th-minute goal kick going straight to Jermaine Beckford who scored.
On 20 November 2009, Norwich announced that they had agreed a deal with Newcastle to extend Forster's loan until the end of the 2009–10 season, after impressing the Norwich faithful with his displays, helping the team shoot up the League One table. He was also allowed to play in Norwich City's cup matches. Norwich manager Paul Lambert praised "world class" saves and a terrific contribution to the team.
In November 2009, Forster was awarded Norwich City Player of the Month. On 17 April 2010, Norwich secured promotion to the Championship with a hard-fought 1–0 win over Charlton Athletic, with Forster pulling off excellent saves to deny Nicky Bailey and Deon Burton. One week later, Norwich's 2–0 win over Gillingham saw them win the League One title. In recognition of his contribution to Norwich's success, Forster was named the club's Players' Player of the Year 2010 and second in the Supporters' Player of the Year award. An excellent season at Norwich was completed by his award of the Macron Golden Gloves Award for the best record of clean sheets in the league, keeping 18 clean sheets in 38 league appearances and 20 clean sheets in 42 appearances in all competitions.
On 24 August 2010, Forster joined Celtic, originally on a season-long loan from Newcastle. Celtic manager Neil Lennon described Forster by saying, "He's a big boy, he's come highly recommended, his age is the only thing going against him because otherwise he's all the qualities you look for." He made his Celtic debut on 29 August 2010 away at Motherwell and kept a clean sheet as Celtic won 1–0. He then went on to play in every match of Celtic's season with the exception of two cup matches.
Forster had a successful season with Celtic, winning a runner-up medal in the League Cup and Scottish Premier League. Between them, Forster and fellow goalkeeper Łukasz Załuska kept 23 clean sheets in the league, breaking Celtic's previous clean sheet record from the 2001–02 season. Forster kept 21 of the clean sheets. He capped off his season with a 3–0 victory over Motherwell to help Celtic win the Scottish Cup. In total, he kept 24 clean sheets in 44 matches for Celtic.
After appearing for Newcastle in pre-season against Darlington, Orlando City, Leeds United and Fiorentina, as well as being named among the substitutes for the opening match of the Premier League season against Arsenal, Forster rejoined Celtic, on loan for the remainder of the season, on 17 August 2011. He helped Celtic draw 0–0 against FC Sion at home, but then lost 3–1 in the away leg, only for UEFA to reinstate Celtic into the Europa League with 3–0 wins in both legs after Sion were found to have fielded ineligible players. He conceded goals in all of the five group matches he played in.
Forster had a successful 2011–12 season with Celtic, winning the Scottish Premier League and helping his team beat the previous season's record of 23 clean sheets. He and Załuska kept 25 clean sheets combined, Forster racking up 21 of them. In December 2011, Hearts were awarded a controversial penalty in the final minute of a league match at Parkhead, with Celtic leading 1–0. Forster, however, pulled off an excellent save from Eggert Jonsson's penalty kick to secure three important points for Celtic. In total, he kept 26 clean sheets from 47 matches that season.
On 29 June 2012, it was announced that Forster had signed for Celtic on a permanent deal with a fee in the region of £2 million paid to Newcastle United. On signing the four-year deal, Forster stated, "I'm very happy that I'm going to be at Celtic for the next four years at least", and added that "The manager's faith in me means a lot, I've loved my two seasons at Celtic and he's done so much for my confidence." Manager Neil Lennon described Forster as being a "top class keeper" and that he considered him to be an important addition to the squad.