Since 1920, Cheltenham Town and Forest Green Rovers have intermittently battled it out for promotions and league titles with the Gloucestershire rivals going head to head for over 100 years. The North Gloucestershire League saw numerous battles between the Robins, FGR, and Gloucester City with a clear winner in the historical success of each club as Cheltenham are in their third spell in the third tier, Rovers have arrived for the first time, and Gloucester can barely cope with being full time.
It’s hard to find a player more hated than one who leaves for your arch rival, but Cheltenham have greatly benefited from such transfers, bringing in those contracted to the Nailsworth outfit and using them to achieve greatness. Here are the five most recent transfers and how they rank.
5: JAMES JENNINGS
Was this a necessary transfer? Not really. Was it a good signing? Probably not? Was it done to annoy our title rivals are making up a nine point gap to run away with the league? Absolutely. James Jennings played three times for Cheltenham Town after arriving form Forest Green following the 2015/16 season after making the team of the season in the last year of his two year contract with Rovers. Gary Johnson brought him across the county but Jennings failed to make a real impact with five appearances in all competitions and one goal in the EFL Trophy. He was sent on loan to Morecambe and Wrexham before joining the Welsh side permanently following his release.
4: TAHVON CAMPBELL
The first of the free transfers in 2019, Tahvon Campbell failed to find the net in league action but earned a maiden assist in a 3-0 win over Oldham Athletic in April 2020. Campbell now plys his trade for League Two Rochdale after loans from Cheltenham to Gloucester and Halifax saw him fall into the non-league system but for The Dale to bring him back to the EFL from Woking in 2022. His form at Woking was a great improvement on his time at FGR, Gillingham and Cheltenham as he found the net 14 times in 23 games having only managed that total between 2014 and 2020 combined.
3: REUBEN REID
The second arrival in the summer of 2019, Reuben Reid was part of the 2020/21 League Two title winning squad but departed mid season to rejoin National League side Yeovil Town. Reid scored five goals in 21 games for Cheltenham, seeing his debut come later rather than sooner due to injury problems in a spell that failed to make any real impact. Reid did, however, score five more times than Campbell.
Reid did find the net twice in a 2–0 win over former club Plymouth Argyle in his only real worthwhile contribution with his league goals coming against Scunthorpe, Oldham, Carlisle, Leyton Orient and Mansfield.
2: KAYODE ODEJAYI
A summer signing in 2003, Kayode Odejayi moved from Forest Green on the back of one of their best ever seasons at the time with Odejayi scoring 13 times en route to a ninth place finish. Bobby Gould brought him across the county where he would score 34 times in 174 games in all competitions in a four year spell at Whaddon Road. His first two seasons weren’t as prolific as hoped as he scored six in 62 league games across the two but 2005/06 brought a huge improvement as he played 41 times, scoring 11 goals as we progressed through the play-offs to beat Grimsby and win promotion to League One. He’d find the net 13 times in the third tier as Cheltenham finished 17th. This form earned him a £200,000 move to Barnsley, with Rovers making some money from the transfer, as Odejayi stepped up the the Championship.
33% of Odejayi’s league goals would come at Cheltenham as the striker struggled to find the form that saw him impress so much in Gloucestershire.
1: STEVE BOOK
One of the greatest ‘keepers to ever play for Cheltenham, Steve Book arrived form FGR for £8000 in 1997 where he would go on to win the FA Trophy, the Conference title and the third division play-offs before returning as goalkeeper coach to win the National League and League Two titles. He’d play over 300 times for the robins before departing for Swindon Town in 2004 having written his name into the Cheltenham Town history books with other legends from the turn of the century such as Michael Duff and Steve Cotterill. Owner of an interesting record, Book was named on the bench for a League Cup game against MK Dons while GK coach in 2011 and subsequently earned the lowest ever FIFA Ultimate Team rating with a score of 42.
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