See also Jack Lester (disambiguation)

Jack Lester
Personal information
Full name	Jack William Lester
Date of birth	8 October 1975 (1975-10-08) (age 34)
Place of birth	Sheffield, England
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Chesterfield
Number	14
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1994–2000 1996 2000–2003 2003–2004 2004–2007 2007–	Grimsby Town → Doncaster Rovers (loan) Nottingham Forest Sheffield United Nottingham Forest Chesterfield	132 (17) 011 0(1) 099 (21) 044 (12) 076 (13) 093 (53)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:05, 12 December 2009 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Jack William Lester (born 8 October 1975 in Sheffield, England) is an English footballer, currently playing for League Two side Chesterfield. He plays either as a striker or an attacking midfielder.

Contents 1 Career 1.1 Grimsby Town 1.2 Nottingham Forest 1.3 Sheffield United 1.4 Nottingham Forest (second spell) 1.5 Chesterfield 2 Honours 2.1 Grimsby Town 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Career

[edit] Grimsby Town

Lester started his career with Grimsby Town and signed his first professional contract in 1994. Lester was nurtured into the first team role at Grimsby by manager Alan Buckley and his assistant John Cockerill, after a brief loan spell with Doncaster Rovers in which he played 10 games (4 in the starting lineup) and scored one goal, Lester became a regular at Blundell Park. During his time with the club he notably formed strike partnerships with the likes of Clive Mendonca, Steve Livingstone, Lee Ashcroft and Jamie Forrester. It was during the 1997-1998 season when he had arguably his best season with Grimsby. Lester was a regular fixture in the first team and helped the club succeed in an impressive double final win at Wembley Stadium. The Mariners aided by Lester defeated A.F.C. Bournemouth in the Football League Trophy before beating Northampton Town in the Division Two Play Off Final, only a few weeks later. Lester stayed with Grimsby until mid way through three 1999-2000 season when he was controversially sold just after the turn of the millennium. He made over 90 league appearances and scored 17 league goals in his time with The Mariners, and still holds cult status at the club.

[edit] Nottingham Forest

David Platt signed Lester for Nottingham Forest in 2000 for £300,000, incidentally it was only three weeks previously that Lester had lead the Grimsby attack in beating Forest 4-3 in the League, it was from that game that Platt became interested in signing the player.. It took some time for Lester to get settled in at the City Ground but when Platt left the club, new manager Paul Hart moved Lester to an attacking midfield role in which Lester flourished, making over 70 starts for Forest and scoring 24 goals. In 2003 he was released by Hart in an attempt to reduce debts.

[edit] Sheffield United

He was signed by his hometown club Sheffield United at the start of the 2003-2004 season. Lester played alongside Steve Kabba amongst others at Bramall Lane. He remained a first choice striker at the club throughout the entire season and in total he made around 50 appearances for United until his exit in November 2004.

[edit] Nottingham Forest (second spell)

Lester was offered the chance to return to Forest and he was re-signed by Joe Kinnear in 2004 for £50,000. He scored in his first game back, but in his third game he damaged ligaments in his knee which kept him out of action for almost 9 months. Upon making his return to fitness Lester went on to play over 30 games in his second spell with Forest, most of them as a substitute. After Nottingham Forest failed to get promoted in the 2006-07 season, Lester was released by manager Colin Calderwood.^[1]

[edit] Chesterfield

After his release from Forest, Lester had numerous clubs after his signature, one noted club who moved for him was Grimsby Town, but in June 2007 he signed for Chesterfield F.C., on a 3 year contract.^[2]. Jack Lester finished the 2007/08 season as Chesterfield's top scorer, with 27 goals in all competitions. He was also the 3rd top scorer in League Two, with 25 goals in the league, 4 league goals behind Aaron McLean of Peterborough. In the 2007/08 season, he became the fastest post-war Chesterfield player to 20 goals in a season, getting his 20th (and 100th career goal) live on T.V. against Hereford United. In the 2007/08 season he was third in Europe of goal to game ratios. He finished behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Fernando Torres. He scored his 100th League career goal in the 2-1 win over Exeter City on 28 January 2009. Lester also set a club record in becoming the first striker at the club to score 20 goals in consecutive seasons for 82 years and despite scoring fewer goals than in his first season at Chesterfield, he finished the 2008/9 term as joint-top scorer for League 2, with 20 League goals. This has given him the status of legend by the Chesterfield fans and with the Spireites moving to a new stadium in July 2010, part of their End of an Era merchandise included a "Saltergate Legends" plate, on which Lester was included. In the 2009 summer transfer window, it was reported that Notts County made an offer in the region of £50,000 for Lester. However this bid was quickly turned down by the Chesterfield board, with chairman, Barrie Hubbard describing the offer as 'derisory'.

[edit] Honours

[edit] Grimsby Town

• Second Division play-off winner: 1997-98
• Auto Windscreens Shield winner: 1997-98

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Jack Lester career stats at Soccerbase

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