Best birthday wishes to CPD Porthmadog all-time great Mike Foster

The great Mike Foster in action for Porthmadog

Happy birthday Mike Foster – Porthmadog FC legend and a player who earned respect far and wide in an illustrious career.

Born on September 24, 1973, Mike is 48 today.

Primarily a left-back, he is Porthmadog’s record appearance-maker in the Cymru Premier with 371 starts and six as substitute.

A local boy who emerged through the youth ranks at Port, Foster was a trainee at Tranmere Rovers early in his career and also represented Wales Under-21s.

He possessed a sublime left foot which served all his teams well through top-class crosses, free-kicks and from the penalty spot.

Mike made his League of Wales debut for Porthmadog as a 19-year-old in 1993-94 and soon became a regular in the side.

Porthmadog FC 1998. Back row – L/R: Bob Havelock, Lewis Coady, Tony Merola, Rich Hughes, Mike Foster, Kenny Dixon, Phil Dixon, Jason Joyce, Ollie Hall, Ivor Roberts, Chris Lawler
Front: Colin Hawkins, Chris Banks, Gary Coady, Geraint Jones, Aled Owen, Robert Williams, Steven Pugh, mascot Delwyn Parry.

In his first five seasons at Y Traeth he played in 183 LoW games, scoring seven goals.

He then spent the next two campaigns at fellow LoW club Aberystwyth Town, making 38 starts for the Park Avenue outfit, who he also represented in Europe.

Foster was in the Aber side which lost 4-3 on aggregate to Floriana of Malta in the 1999-2000 Inter-Toto Cup.

A short stint at Bangor City followed before Foster returned to Port midway through 2001/02.

In 2002/03, he was a major force in the Porthmadog side which won the treble of Cymru Alliance title, League Cup and NWCFA Challenge Cup.

Port returned to the Welsh Premier and Foster was a pivotal figure in the club’s ensuing seven top-flight seasons, starting 190 games and netting nine times.

When Porthmadog were relegated from the WPL at the end of 2009/10, Foster had made a club record 371 national league appearances (plus six as substitute), grabbing 16 goals.

His overall WPL outings total 412 (+ 13 sub) puts him right up there among the league’s top servants.

During the 2009-10 season, he had briefly left Port to join Holyhead Hotspur, but soon returned to Y Traeth to assist in the club’s fight against the drop.

Mike celebrated his testimonial match against former club Tranmere by scoring the only goal in a 1-0 victory for Port in August 2006.

With Rovers having started their Football League One campaign that day, it was mainly a young side which the Prentonians sent to Port which included future Bangor City star Michael Johnston.

It was still a great occasion with Foster fittingly grabbing an early winning goal, finishing off a cross from a young Les Davies.

Foster later played for Welsh Alliance League club Penrhyndeudraeth before hanging up his boots in 2015/16. He also had a short spell as manager at Penrhyn.

Keeping the family tradition going, Mike’s 18-year-old son Carwyn now plays for Porthmadog.

Penblwydd hapus Mike – Gobeithio gei chdi ddiwrnod dda