FRED FORBES

Born: 05 August 1894

Came from: Everton   Went to: Bristol Rovers

First game: 14 March 1925   Last game: 04 May 1929

Appearances: 166 (166/0)   Goals: 54

Born in Leith, now a district of Edinburgh, Forbes could play at inside or outside-right or through the middle as a centre-forward and started his career locally with short-lived junior side Leith Benburb.

His performances locally earned him a transfer to Heart of Midlothian in 1920. In his first full season with the club, he scored 23 league goals (which included four hat-tricks) as they finished third in the First Division. A further 14 goals the following season gave him an impressive 37 goals in 67 games, across two seasons and led to a big-money move south to Everton.

Everton had paid £1,740 for Forbes in June 1922. Despite this, his chances at Goodison Park were limited and he was regarded as lacking the strength to lead the line regularly, despite wearing the coveted number nine shirt. He played just 14 times in three years on the blue side of Merseyside, scoring four goals.

He made the move to Home Park, along with his Goodison teammate Jack Cock, for a combined fee of £2,500. Forbes spent five seasons in green, clocking up a highly creditable 166 games and 54 goals, playing in a variety of forward roles for the club. He scored one hat-trick for the club and in August 1927, joined a (thus far) select group of just 15 players to have scored four in a match for the club when he achieved that feat against Merthyr Town on the opening day of the 1927-28 season at Home Park.

After leaving Home Park in 1929, he moved to Bristol Rovers for a fee of £400, going on to make 63 appearances while scoring 10 goals, in a year-long stay, before returning north of the border, after his contract was cancelled in March 1932.

He initially trained back with Hearts in 1930 and may have appeared once for East Fife during the following campaign, before playing in the Leith Athletic (then a Scottish Football League club) side that was relegated from Division One in 1931-32. He made his Leith debut versus Celtic in a 3-0 defeat in August 1931, before a ground record attendance of 20,000 at Marine Gardens. He ended that season with seven goals in just six appearances in a struggling side.

A chance to return to English football came via a brief spell with Northampton Town, becoming their oldest ever debutant at 38 years and 22 days. He went on to make 35 appearances for the Cobblers, scoring three times.

He returned to Scotland once more and signed for Airdrieonians, but was unable to get a game and elected to retire, setting up his own business in Edinburgh.

Forbes passed away in the Haymarket area of Edinburgh, aged 83, in 1979.