Despite leaving Leeds United a year ago, Adam Forshaw has only just truly closed that chapter of his life.
The day before he speaks to The Athletic, the 32-year-old’s family packed up their family home and moved back to his home city in Liverpool, all while he was putting in the hard yards during pre-season training at Plymouth Argyle.
It was the definitive end to a period of his career that saw him win promotion to the Premier League and make 91 appearances for the club.
Forshaw had hoped to stay at Elland Road beyond the end of his contract last summer following Leeds’ relegation from the top flight but it was not meant to be.
“Most players will say that they have a period in their career where their family feels most at home, you feel most settled and you have a good relationship with the fans,” Forshaw says.
“I’ve been quite lucky in having that at a few clubs, especially Leeds but also at Middlesbrough and Brentford. Last summer, I was all but done and going back to Leeds. I had an option in my contract that I didn’t trigger but I’d negotiated a deal to stay at Leeds. At the time, I was really hoping to stay there but unfortunately for other reasons, it just didn’t happen.”
Forshaw came close to staying at Leeds but was unable to (Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)
Following a brief stint at Norwich City, the midfielder has found a home at Plymouth Argyle where he is ready to take on the new season under the guidance of manager Wayne Rooney.
“The summer ended up being quite long and frustrating. I didn’t sign at Norwich until the fourth game of the season, with me going on a free. So I was catching up, didn’t have a full pre-season with the team and I was living away from my family. It’s a fantastic club, I loved it and loved the people but I was so far away from home and not playing much that I made the decision (to leave in January) when I ended up speaking with Plymouth.
“I want to enjoy football as much as I can at my age and if I’m living away from my family, I want to play as much as I can and that was the basis for the decision.”
One manager under whom Forshaw really loved his football was Marcelo Bielsa. Forshaw joined Leeds in January 2018 and was part of the side that pushed for promotion in Bielsa’s first season in 2018-19 before securing the Championship title in 2019-20.
While Forshaw missed most of that promotion-winning season — and 697 days in total due to a hard-to-diagnose and painful hip injury — he still considers Bielsa as a major influence should he move into management. Forshaw counts his time at the club as among the best memories of his career.
“He made me think more than anyone (about going into management), as I was starting to get to an age where I was thinking about coaching more and more,” he says. “His elite mentality in terms of the environment and the rules was like I’d never seen.
“It was hard at times, mentally and physically, but I wouldn’t have changed it for the world. Success for me was just getting back to playing at one point. That’s no secret. I would never have given up, I had five or six hip surgeries at that time and I was struggling. A couple of people, radiologists and specialists were edging towards saying they didn’t know what else to try with me, so just to get back playing and sign a new contract after all the injuries were progress.
Forshaw struggled with injuries at Leeds (Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images)
“I knew I was never going to give up, football is my passion. There were dark days but I had my family there and I managed to get through. It’s all behind me pretty much, I get the odd niggle here and there which is normal as a player at this age but it’s behind me, I’m playing football and loving it.”
Forshaw’s injury ordeal was brutal to the point that even being able to play again looked out of sight at one stage. After his return for Leeds in a Carabao Cup game against Crewe Alexandra in August 2021, he managed a further 34 league appearances. Forshaw also played a role in a challenging final season at the club which saw him work with four different managers and ended in relegation. Managerial churn is something players get used to but, even in challenging circumstances, Forshaw used his experiences to learn and he relished the chance to be a Leeds player.
He continues: “Jesse Marsch was a lovely fella and he had his own style coming from the Red Bull model. I took a lot from that time with him, we were really at good counter-pressing. I’ve learned from every manager, there are things you can take from everyone and if you could take all the best parts of every manager then you’d like to think you could do OK. His man-management was really good. It’s just unfortunate, some managers have had tough times at lots of places and he probably feels like he was hard done by when he got sacked. Sadly, that’s the nature of the beast with that job title.
“The passion of the city is what makes Leeds special. The people inside the club, I made friends for life and I still play golf with physios and fitness staff who were there before me and are still there now. The people make the club and it’s got a lot of history. It’s a matter of time before they get promoted again. They weren’t far away last season and they’ll be right up there again this season.”
Forshaw is now among the steady flow of former Everton academy graduates to find a new home in Devon, following on from his former head of academy Neil Dewsnip (now Argyle director of football), former Plymouth managers Ryan Lowe and Steven Schumacher and current boss Rooney. After cutting short his time in Norwich, which lasted five months and six Championship appearances, he joined Argyle as they entered a tough second half of the season fighting to stay in the Championship.
“We ended up in a bit of a dogfight as everyone will have seen but the main thing is we secured Championship status and can carry on,” he says. “It’s onwards and upwards, I’m looking forward to getting a full season here, I’m feeling really settled and I’m enjoying living down here. My objective is to help the club. I’m not going to play forever because I’m nearly 33 but I want to be a part of it and help to drive standards, lead by example and give my experience from what I’ve learned in my time as a professional.”
Forshaw is preparing for the new season with Plymouth (David Rogers/Getty Images)
This season, Forshaw will return to Elland Road for the first time since leaving the club when Plymouth make the long trip north in November. There is also the juicy prospect of the return leg at Home Park on the final day of the season. Having hit a personal milestone of returning to football and playing long enough for his children to see his career, every match now is about enjoyment.
“My eldest now really gets it and is football-mad,” Forshaw says. “When I first got back from my injury, he was only three and a half, which is the same age as my youngest son now. It’ll be nice for my youngest son to see me playing for a few years now and be part of that.
“The goal this season is to just enjoy playing, play a big part for the club in as many games as possible. We want to show progression from last season and see where it takes us. We want to make Plymouth an established Championship club.”
(Top photo: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
