Stern John

The Trinidad and Tobago centre forward joined Forest in late 1999. Dwight Yorke’s former striker-partner was chased by David Platt after an impressive spell with American Major League side Columbus Crew in which he broke top-scoring records. After much negotiations, Platt eventually secured his signature in a £2.5m transfer (to increase with performances) in November and Stern marked his debut with a goal against Portsmouth at the City Ground after just 6 minutes.

However, Stern didn’t carry on from this stunning start, hitting the post more times than the back of the net. As Forest continued to languish near the relegation zone, Stern was looking tired having joined the Reds straight after a full season with Columbus (the MLS play over the summer) and eventually he caved in, injuring a leg ligament at Grimsby Town with only two goals to his name.

He was dogged by injuries throughout the 2000/01 season, only showing scoring form in the last few games with a pair of goals. But with his fitness restored over the summer he had an impressive start to the 2001/02 season.

Stern was top-scorer with 14 goals in just 28 appearances (inlcuding a hat-trick at Millwall) when he was sold to Birmingham City for a nominal fee. Unfortunatly, the discovery on Stern's elusive form coincided with the end of his contract and a financial crisis at Forest. Paul Hart was forced to sell his best striker while he still could. It also emerged that for every goal Stern scored over 15, Forest would have to pay Columbus Crew a £30,000 bonus meaning the club could no longer afford his goals.

John joined Birmingham in January and helped Forest's midland rivals reach the Premiership through the play-offs.

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