Explained: How Ben Foster passed Zoom test before joining Ryan Reynolds & Rob McElhenney at Wrexham
- Keeper was in retirement
- Answered SOS call from Wales
- Signed another 12-month contract
WHAT HAPPENED? The Dragons found themselves in need of a new goalkeeper back in March following untimely injuries to established options between the sticks. Ex-England international Foster was enjoying retirement at that stage, but the 40-year-old was talked into donning his gloves once more. Hollywood owners Reynolds and McElhenney reached out to the veteran shot-stopper, but it was Parkinson that he needed to win over before a contract was put in place.
WHAT THEY SAID: Foster has told The Athletic of how he ended up back in North Wales some 17 years after first taking in a loan spell at Wrexham: “We had a chat, it was over Zoom. An agent had got in touch initially, just to ask if I was interested. I ummed and aahed quite a bit before eventually saying, ‘Sweet’. This agent then says, ‘Good, because Phil [Parkinson] wants to give you a call and sound you out’. I came away thinking, ‘Am I on trial here or something?’. But I liked that. Anyway, we had the Zoom and Phil starts telling me this and that, what the club is about and a few other things.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Foster – who has spent time with the likes of Manchester United, Watford and West Brom during his distinguished career – added on his talks with Parkinson: “Then there was one point where he said to me, ‘This isn’t what you’re used to, so I need to know you’re ready for this and up for it’. I sensed he meant something when saying it, trying to read me. Test me out, if you like. Looking back, what he probably didn’t want was a throwaway remark, saying something easy like, ‘Yeah, sweet’. I sensed he wanted me to have the response of, ‘Yeah, let’s have it’. Which is exactly how I felt. That is my character anyway. If I say I’m doing something, I’ll give it everything I’ve got. There and then, I promised to give him everything I’ve got for the next six weeks/eight games. And that’s what I did.”
WHAT NEXT? Foster helped Wrexham to claim the National League title in record-breaking style – returning them to the Football League after a 15-year absence – and he has since committed to a new one-year contract that he will see him form part of Parkinson’s plans in League Two for 2023-24.
