LEO FORTUNE-WEST

'Leopold Paul Osborne "Leo" Fortune-West' (born 9 April 1971 in Stratford, London) is an English professional football player (striker) currently playing for Cambridge United.
Fortune-West started his career with Tiptree United in the Eastern Counties League before having a varied and widely travelled early career with a handful of other lower league sides, including Dagenham, Dartford and Hendon before he eventually signed for Stevenage Borough, who were in the Football Conference. Within the same year he broke into the Football League when he moved to Gillingham for a transfer fee in the region of £5,000. Turning full-time professional necessitated giving up a degree course at the University of Greenwich.
After a three year spell at Gillingham which started off brightly but later became dogged by injury, Fortune-West moved on once more (after a loan spell at Leyton Orient) as he signed on a free transfer with Lincoln City in the summer of 1998. Lincoln saw fit to loan him out to Rotherham United in the same year and eventually Brentford dug deep to sign him for £60,000 in November 1998. However, 12 months at Brentford was only a temporary measure as Rotherham then paid half the initial fee that took him originally to Brentford, to sign Fortune-West in February 1999 for £35,000.
At the age of 29 Fortune-West moved once again, for his largest transfer fee yet, to Cardiff City in September 2000. Rotherham saw a decent return as the Welsh side parted with £300,000 to have him on their books.
He soon became a cult hero at Ninian Park, with City fans often exclaiming "Leo is Brazilian", but was released after Cardiff won promotion to the Championship.^[1]
Doncaster Rovers was Fortune-West's next club, signing in the summer of 2003.^[2] He netted 11 goals to help them win promotion.
The Doncaster fans never really took to Fortune-West, despite his athletic build (a commanding 6' 4") and obvious ability to cause upset in the lower division defences, his lack of pace and the signing of several other players made his appearances infrequent, although injuries to other players in the 2005-06 season did see Fortune-West hold down a regular front line position.
On the 10 May2006, at the end of the 2005-06 season, Fortune-West was released by Doncaster Rovers and made available on a free transfer. He signed for Conference side Rushden & Diamonds on June 23 2006 on a two-year contract.^[3] In September 2006 he joined Torquay United on loan as cover for the injured Mickey Evans,^[4] but was recalled by Rushden due to an injury crisis in early November.^[5]
Days later, Fortune-West signed for Shrewsbury Town, originally on a two-month loan deal,^[6] which was extended to the end of the 2006-07 season. Coincidentally, Shrewsbury had been his last opponents as a Torquay player. His first Shrewsbury match came as a substitute against MK Dons on November 182006. Shrewsbury fans initially failed to take to Fortune-West, seeing him as little more than a 'bench-warmer', but he was soon to become a cult hero amongst many fans after an impressive 2007. On February 252007 he hit two goals against local rivals Wrexham. Before then, Fortune-West had scored a goal in each of his two other starts for Shrewsbury, with another highlight being a spectacular 25-yard goal against Rochdale at Gay Meadow.
Shrewsbury manager Gary Peters was a great admirer of Fortune-West, and encouraged his fans to get behind him during his stay at the club. Peters once notably referred to Fortune-West as 'Ronseal' during a radio interview, because he does 'exactly what it says on the tin'.^[7]
Fortune-West played his final game for Shrewsbury at the 2006-07 League 2 Play-Off Final against Bristol Rovers at Wembley Stadium. Despite a couple of close chances, he was unable to score as a plucky Shrewsbury side lost 3-1. With the season over, Fortune-West returned to his home club Rushden & Diamonds. In August 2007, Fortune-West left Rushden & Diamonds by mutual consent.^[8]
Fortune-West signed for Cambridge United on the 9 August, 2007 on a free transfer. He made an excellent start to his Cambridge career, netting 4 times in the first 3 games including a hat-trick in Cambridge's 5-1 victory over Farsley Celtic on August 21 2007.

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External links

References

1. Cardiff release Fortune-West
2. Fortune-West joins Doncaster
3. Diamonds bag Fortune
4. Torquay sign Fortune-West on loan
5. Fortune-West to end Gulls stint
6. Fortune-West joins Shrews on loan
7. Peters hails battering ram
8. Diamonds sign Burgess and Howell

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