Forest Green Rovers banking on Will Grigg to fire the National League outfit up the table

Will Grigg has scored goals wherever he has played, and Forest Green Rovers are hoping the experienced striker can bring that same threat to their National League campaign.

The 35-year-old has joined Rovers on a free transfer from League Two outfit Chesterfield, signing a contract at The New Lawn until June 2028.

Although Forest Green are not short of attacking options, injuries have left the club short of fit centre-forwards, particularly following the knee injury suffered by Ricardo Rees.

First-team coach Yan Klukowski confirmed ahead of Saturday’s trip to Barrow that Jose Marquez, who has mainly led the line in recent weeks, will also be sidelined for a short while, with D’Mani Mellor having also filled the role recently.

For exclusive stories and all the detailed Non-League news you need, subscribe to The Non-League Paper website, digital edition, or newspaper from as little as 14p a day.

WATCH THE LATEST NON-LEAGUE GOALMOUTH HERE

You can now listen to the Non-League Goalmouth on both Spotify and Apple Podcasts

Experience

Klukowski, part of the coaching team alongside Jonathan Gould and Josh Bowen since Robbie Savage’s departure, believes Grigg’s goalscoring record and experience make him an ideal addition to a young squad.

“We’ve got really healthy numbers currently in the squad but we only have one fit centre-forward, so we feel there’s a need to strengthen that area,” Klukowski told club media.

“We’ve also felt that we’ve created a lot of chances this season through our good play, good attacking play, and we felt that we might need an experienced, ready-to-go goalscorer in Will.

“He comes with bags of experience, scored goals at every football club he’s been at and he’ll bring that wealth of experience that a young group is going to need.”

Grigg arrives with more than 500 EFL appearances behind him, having also represented Walsall, Brentford, MK Dons, Wigan Athletic, Sunderland and Rotherham United.

He has scored 192 goals across his career so far, including 43 in 118 appearances for Chesterfield between 2023 and 2026.

He was the the Spireites’ top scorer with 25 goals during their National League title-winning 2023-24 campaign.

His time at Wigan brought one of the most memorable moments of his career, when he scored the only goal as the Latics knocked Manchester City out of the FA Cup in 2018.

Aura

Grigg also became a household name during Northern Ireland’s Euro 2016 campaign, when the chant ‘Will Grigg’s on fire’ swept across the tournament despite the striker not making an appearance.

“I think everybody remembers the song that was sang throughout that international tournament and that kind of went globally,” Klukowski added.

“I’m sure he was delighted to get that exposure.

“A highly experienced individual [who has] played at the top level – he’s naturally going to bring that wealth of knowledge and experience and level of quality to our squad and hopefully our centre-forwards and other players can learn off that.

“When you’ve played at the level Will has, you kind of have that aura about you and the way you carry yourself and how professional you are.

“And lads will see the way he prepares himself in the gym, how he trains daily with those daily behaviours to a really high level.

“He can be nothing but a positive addition to the squad here and we’re really excited to be working with him.”

Outstanding

Klukowski also praised the club’s hierarchy for backing the coaching team in their search for a new forward.

“The hierarchy have been absolutely outstanding with us,” the former Rovers, Newport County and York City midfielder said.

“We’ve highlighted the reinforcements in that area and they’ve backed the management team.

“We’ve had some really detailed discussions early in the week with potential targets and we all felt that this was certainly a target that would help the squad and make us more clinical at the top end of the pitch.

“Big thanks to Dale [Vince], Asif [Rehmanwala] and Mark [Bowen] for their hard work behind the scenes.

“Now it is up to us to get him up and running and get him in goal-scoring form.”

A recent slump in their league form, with no wins in their last five games, has seen Forest Green drop to 16th in the National League ahead of the weekend.

However, a 5-0 victory over Chesham United in their FA Cup fourth qualifying round replay in midweek has provided a timely boost as the Gloucestershire-based side look to reignite their campaign.

Grigg joins the squad immediately and will be available for selection for the Barrow game.

READ MORE: Which FA Cup first round ties will be shown live on TV? Full broadcast schedule