Kevin James

24-year-old forward Kevin James was signed on a free transfer from Gillingham by Joe Kinnear after turning down a contract offer from the Gills. He put pen to paper on a three-year deal, which he described as a "massive opportunity" for himself.

In his four years at Gillingham (after a spell with Charlton as a trainee) he made 18 starts and 30 substitute appearances, but only managed four goals. However, in this time he was blighted by injuries.

After the 2003/04 season, having scored just one goal as his team tried to avoid relegation, he decided to look for a new club. Joe Kinnear had had his eye on him for a long time and he had been Man of the Match when Gillingham drew at the City Ground that season.

Upon signing for Forest he said: “It’s a massive opportunity for me to be joining a club like Nottingham Forest. I’ve had a good look around the place and the manager or nobody else had to sell Forest to me. I was thrilled that a club like this were interested in signing me.

“I just can’t wait to pull on a Forest shirt and get playing for them next season. Things happened very quickly for me, but once I knew that Forest were interested I just wanted to come here and sign.” 

James faces a tough task getting into the team ahead of David Johnson, Gareth Taylor and his former Gillingham team-mate, Marlon King. However, he is a versatile player who has also been known to play in midfield or even at full-back.

He was born in Southwark, London and grew up playing in the same local league as King. Keith Pestell, of unofficial Gillingham website Gills Connect, says James is a squad player at best: "He can score some superb goals but those moments are far out-weighed by his inconsistency. His biggest fan is himself - that says it all about him. He scored a superb goal for us against Millwall this season, but he is a squad player who thinks he can cut in the first team. I can't see him making any impact at all at Forest."

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