Former Rangers winger Harry Forrester has called time on his playing career in a bid to unearth the stars of the future with the help of an old Ibrox teammate.
The 31-year-old now resides in California where he runs the Prospect Soccer Academy alongside childhood buddy Rob Kiernan.
The pair are hoping to pass on their footballing knowledge to those embarking on the first steps of their careers and have enjoyed considerable success thus far.
It’s a long way away from life in Govan where Forrester spent two-and-a-half years. He told the Rangers Review he’s excited about his future as a coach.
“It’s going well,” he said. “We set it up a couple of years back just to help the kids out here and it’s really taken off.
“We’ve got some real good players that are coming through the system and it’s trying to give them the stuff we’ve learned in the UK along our careers. We’ve had long careers with a lot of ups and downs so it’s just giving that information that’s not readily available out here in California.
“I wouldn’t say I always had ambitions to be a coach. Later on in your career, you start to think ‘What’s next?’
“Maybe at Rangers when Pedro came in there was a little bit of that for me. I was starting to reach the latter end of my career and was thinking, ‘What’s going to happen next?’
“I love working with the kids and they’re really receptive so it kind of took off from there.
“Covid happened and we just got really busy. We managed to do a deal with Nike so we run soccer camps for them out here as well. It kind of all snowballed and I fell into it but I do love it.
“Rob came in a year after me and it’s just really worked for both of us. A lot of people don’t know this but we started off when we were six years old at Watford, we went all through the ranks together. I left and went to Villa, Rob went to Wigan and then we met up again at Brentford.
“Then obviously Warbs got us both back to Rangers then I moved out here and got him out here under my wing. I said to him, ‘You have to move out here, it’s a different lifestyle,’ and we love it.”
He may only be approaching his 32nd birthday but Forrester's decision to hang up the boots was an easy one, he admits.
“I stopped playing for 18 months because I had knee surgery,” he said. “I was just coaching then I decided to give it a go again and honestly, the level was nowhere near it so I was just wasting my time.
“I’m busy coaching so I knocked it on the head. I was at Los Angeles FC for a month or two. I just got back fit and then I was like, ‘This isn’t for me anymore.’”
Forrester joined Rangers from Doncaster Rovers in December 2015 during the Championship-winning season under Mark Warburton, initially on a six-month loan deal before signing permanently.
He says the former Brentford boss was pivotal in enticing him to Ibrox.
“He was instrumental,” he revealed. “I don’t think the move would’ve happened if he wasn’t the manager if I’m being honest.
“He had belief in me that I could come up there and do well to an extent. My contract was coming to an end where I was so it was a no-brainer to give it a go.
“It wasn’t going to cost Rangers a lot of money and, for me, it was a step up.
“He’s been instrumental throughout my career, he got me to Brentford as well so I’ve got a lot to thank him for.
“The way that Warbs played suited my game 100 per cent. I was never afraid to try and create. I was never afraid to try and make an opening and score goals and create goals which the fans want to see.
“I think when I was playing well and scored a few goals, that’s because I was allowed to be free and expressive.
“After we went up it changed a little bit. We were under pressure a little bit more so I couldn’t have that freedom as much.
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“Rangers was a club that I followed throughout my football career. It wasn’t until I got there that I was like, ‘Wow! It’s more than a club kind of thing, it’s a real big fish.’
“I loved every minute of it. I think my first game, I watched them against Hibs just after Christmas and the atmosphere was crazy.
“I was thinking, this is what you dream of when you’re a kid, playing in front of big crowds and scoring in front of big crowds. It was very exciting.
“When I got there I just tried to prove to everybody that I could wear a Rangers shirt and I think for the first six months it was good and then after that it kind of died off.”
It’s an honest assessment from Forrester. He would score vital goals in the second half of the 2015-16 campaign as the club sealed their long-awaited return back to the top flight. However, disaster would strike in the Challenge Cup final when he fractured his leg which would keep him out of the famous Old Firm Scottish Cup semi-final win seven days later and the rest of the season.
He looks back at that moment with a tinge of regret.
“I didn’t even realise I fractured my leg until four days later,” he admitted. “I remember doing an interview with the press about the Old Firm game coming up and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to be fit,’ then I got an X-ray and it was fractured so there was no way of me playing.
“I think at that point I was flying if I’m being honest. I think the fans took to me. I was scoring, we were winning, it was a great time but stopped my season.
“We came back the following season and I started well but I was dropped for the first Old Firm and that was one of the turning points for me. I was voted Player of the Month alongside Kenny Miller when we first went back into the Premiership.
“Then I got dropped for that game and it really affected my confidence because I was like, ‘What more can I do?’
“Niko [Kranjcar] came in and Joey [Barton] came in and I was a bit gutted because it was the occasion where I really wanted to prove I was capable of playing at that level and I got dropped for it.
“At the time, it was tough to take but I like to look on the positives of my time there and I know for the first six months I had a great time and I connected with the fans.
“Maybe things could’ve been different but you can’t look back too much.”
Rangers’ return to the Premiership would prove tougher than many expected as the club struggled. A run of poor results would see Warburton dismissed before the little-known Pedro Caixinha was appointed.
Forrester admits the squad wasn’t strong enough to sustain a title challenge.
“I think, on our day we felt we could beat anyone, we proved that when we beat Celtic,” he said. “When we lined the teams up we knew we could beat them all but can you do it over a season after playing in a season where you’ve been playing against much lesser opposition?
“I think that’s where we fell short. Maybe we negated what we had the previous year a little bit. We couldn’t play as expansive football and that was our strength. I think in the Premiership you got punished more than you would do in the Championship.
“If you look back on the Championship there were probably times where against better opposition we might’ve dropped a few points but they didn’t punish us. I think in the Prem, that happened a lot and all of a sudden it’s now when you’re at a club like Rangers and you’re not winning, it doesn’t matter where you’ve come from its pressure, you need to be winning.
“It was a big learning curve for everyone involved and credit to the players that are still there like Tav who have risen to the occasion and really dealt with that pressure.
“I’ve always rated Tav. Obviously, going forward we know what he can do. I think he’s had to improve defensively and it looks like he’s done that. He’s a great guy and he’s a good friend of mine. I’m happy to see him still there and leading the club forward.
“He’s one of a few that have managed to stay for the whole time and he’s dealt with his criticism along the way. It’s hard to live in Glasgow and be under the cosh so credit to him.”
The appointment of Caixinha would spell disaster for Forrester’s Ibrox future. The Portuguese would jettison him from the first-team squad, accusing him of having a bad attitude.
Forrester admits it was a hard pill to swallow. “At first when he came in he was very complimentary of me behind closed doors and I thought I had a chance,” he said.
“Then out of nowhere he turned on a few of us and that’s when we were training with the kids and we were in early. We couldn’t go and eat with the first team, there was a load of different things. I don’t know where that came from.
“It’s one thing we say to our kids out here who are trying to be pros that there’s no loyalty so you could be the best thing and the next thing it’s, 'See you later!'
“That’s part of football. It’s hard to take when you feel like you have got something to give or you feel like you’ve been unfairly treated but Pedro’s Pedro. I left and really didn’t take an interest when he was there, to be honest.
“The staff, the players, the kitman, everyone was supportive and were like, ‘Listen, we don’t know what’s going on but we’ve got a job to do,’ and they didn’t want to get themselves in trouble.
“They sympathised with us, they talked to us but at the end of the day, they’re not going to jeopardise their future as well so it was a tough one where they didn’t agree with it but they also had to get on with the job in hand.
“I had decisions to make outside of it. I was 27 and I was thinking if I ride it out, am I going to get back in? or if I ride it out, am I forgotten about? Am I going to get another club? Do I move? How long is the manager going to last?
“There are so many things that come into it at that stage but you’ve just got to do what’s best for you and your career. I felt like I needed to just keep playing and maybe if I went out on loan and did well I’d get a chance but once I left the building I always felt it would be very difficult to get back in.”
Forrester would get back in but only momentarily as he was involved in Steven Gerrard’s first pre-season as Rangers boss, however, the writing was on the wall.
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“I came back for pre-season and I thought if I come back and give it a go I might have a chance but I think the decision was already made if I’m being honest before I got back.
“It was a case of just trying to keep fit for when something came up. Steven wished me well and that was it.”
A brief stint in Iran was followed by a move across the pond where Forrester certainly seems to be making his mark as a coach.
“I’ve just got my green card so that’s me 10 years that I can stay here and build the business,” he said.
“We’re growing rapidly. It's mine and Rob's dream to help the kids here who want to be players to bridge the gap to get over to the UK.
“There’s one player that might be coming out to Rangers soon, not because of us but someone that we know and he’s a good little player. He’s been training with us for a couple of years so it’ll be interesting to see how he does against the competition.
“We’ve got a pool of about 70 kids that train with us and there’s a couple there that have the potential to go to Europe. It’s just helping them on and off the field to do that.”
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