Name:
Jack Lester

Position:
Forward

Born:
8 October 1975, Sheffield

Signed from:
(1) Grimsby Town, 2 February 2000
(2) Sheffield United, 23 November 2004 (£50,000)

Debuts:
(1) 5 February 2000 vs Manchester City (City Ground)
Nationwide League Division One - LOST 1-3

(2) 27 November 2004 vs Gillingham (Priest Field)
Coca-Cola Championship - LOST 1-2

Signed from Grimsby after the Martin Smith transfer fiasco (Smith announcing that he'd signed for Forest, asked for permission "to visit his sick sister up North", and re-emerged having mysteriously signed for Huddersfield whilst supposedly mopping her fevered brow), Lester is a quick and imaginative player. He arrived with the reputation of being someone who makes goals rather than scoring them by the bucket-full, and his time at Forest tends to back that up - he is a decent player and will run his heart out for you and seldom let you down (apart from the occasional flash of temperament), but is unlikely to ram in 20 in a season.

Jack arrived at a time when we were playing poorly - hardly the fairest time to judge anyone. But early in the 2000-2001 season he formed a productive partnership with the on-loan Robbie Blake; both were fairly similar in their size, movement off the ball and eye for the counter attack, and Blake certainly brought the best out of Jack. This was epitomised at the Priestfield in November 2000, when Gillingham kept the ball in midfield for long periods... and Lester came away with the match ball after an inspired hat trick.

Unfortunately, not only did Robbie Blake go back to Bradford, but Jack suffered an injury only a couple of games later. At the time it was thought that it would keep him out for about 3 or 4 months, but in fact we didn't see him again in the entire season. None the less, with 7 goals in 17 league games (perhaps revealingly all of them away from home, where Forest played on the counter), Jack was comfortably our most prolific forward in that season.

He was less prominent in 2001 - 2002, falling down the pecking order behind Stern John, David Johnson, Marlon Harewood and even the 16-year-old Craig Westcarr. However, he kept plugging away and re-emerged as the season went on, often in a deep role playing behind the front man, where his work rate and ability to spot other people's runs made him finish the season strongly. The following season he continued in that vein, playing an effective role in the hole behind the front 2, in rotation with Eoin Jess.

Alas, the other side of the coin was Jack's tendency to get into trouble with referees - he was sent off twice in 2002 - 2003, which was hardly calculated to endear him to a disciplinarian like Paul Hart. He also found himself suspended retrospectively for a headbutt, missed by the referee, on Ipswich's Jim Magilton. A reputation for a mardy attitude in the dressing room was (allegedly) the final straw, and Jack's contract was not renewed. Most of us thought this was a real shame - no, he was never going to be the full-on out-and-out goal machine, but he seldom had a stinker either, playing tidy neat football and working hard for week after week. Nothing wrong with that in any team.

On balance, Jack was a bargain - probably David Platt's best signing (though the competition for that claim is not too tough)!

... so when he came back 18 months later, as part of Joe Kinnear's bid to strengthen the squad and get us out of the brown stuff, most people were pretty pleased to see him back. He made an immediate impact, scoring a bullet header (of all things - Jack is no Dixie Dean!) to beat QPR in the dying embers of Joe Kinnear's reign. Less than 3 games into his return, however, he suffered a serious cruciate ligament injury and was out for the rest of the season, no doubt watching in helpless frustration as Forest sank like a stone towards Division 3.

After a few scoring appearances for the Stiffs in early season, Jack finally made his return 7 games into the new season, with Forest having made a pretty dreadful start. He changed all that almost single-handedly, scoring in each of his first three games back, but also showing that his hunger, his eye for a pass, his work-rate and his ability to turn defenders were undiminished - he looked too good for this level, and to be really enjoying his return. Jack was one of the least likely players to be enamoured of the Gary Megson "PE Teacher" regime of shouting a lot, but he kept plugging away. Colin Calderwood also seemed to like him - though he was less enamoured of his disciplinary record, which by this stage had almost reached the self-parody stage (13 yellow cards in 29 starts!). The "bad influence in the dressing room" rumours started to resurface, too, and Jack was allowed to go on a Bosman for the second and final time, this time to Chesterfield.

"Tidy Jack" did exactly what it said on the tin; a whole-hearted player with considerable skill, who didn't score enough goals but made a lot of them for other people.

Final Games:
(1) 15 May 2003 vs Sheffield United (City Ground)
Nationwide League Division One Play-Off Semi-Final 2nd Leg (sub for Marlon Harewood) - LOST 3-4 aet
(2) 18 May 2007 vs Yeovil Town (City Ground)
Coca-Cola League One Play-Off Semi-Final 2nd Leg - LOST 2-5 aet

Sold to:
(1) Sheffield United , 1 July 2003 (Bosman)
(2) Chesterfield, 1 July 2007 (Bosman)