CHRISTIAN IN ROVERS RETURN...

Steve joy as he finally nets striker

- Chris Dunlavy

FOREST Green Rovers boss Steve Cotterill says returning striker Christian Doidge is a player he has always wanted to sign.

Doidge, 31, scored 66 goals in 127 games for Rovers during a three-year stint in Stroud and was part of the side promoted from the National League in 2016-17.

After a loan spell at Bolton, he joined Hibernian on a permanent deal in 2019 and netted 24 times in 104 Scottish Premiership games. He also had a loan spell with fellow Scottish top-flight side Kilmarnock.

But with Forest Green rock-bottom of League Two and desperate for firepower, Cotterill has now persuaded the Newport-born hitman to return to the New Lawn.

“The first conversation I had with Christian, I actually said to him that this was a signing I’d wanted for years,” says Cotterill, who was appointed ten days ago. “When he was at Forest Green the first time round, I was recommending him to clubs all over the place. Even when they were in NonLeague, I was saying to people ‘Look, this lad has got something, there’s a player here’.