Jamie Searle (Eastbourne Borough | England)

FGR (3rd) travel to Fylde (23rd/2nd last)

https://us.soccerway.com/matches/2025/03/22/england/conference-national/afc-fylde/forest-green-rovers-fc/4414444/

Searle 29 sub appearances over 38 league games. Looks like FGR's 1st choice keeper left during the season, but yet again Searle overlooked this time for a 21 yr old Polish GK.

Searle good enough to come to the Nix and push AKH if Josh Olu left early? He'd be cheap.


Wonder if at only 24, Searle is already trying to set himself up as a future GK coach. Been at FGR for nearly 2 seasons now, and he's barely played. In that time numerous younger keepers have come in over him to start in goal.

Searle was at the OFC WC qualifying tourney in March 2022, with Sail and Matt Gould. Searle got his only AWs cap there. But he would have beem around Matt Gould who's gone on continue to have a career in the English lower leagues, but mostly as a back GK/coach. Maybe Searle has worked he's not really good enough to carve out much of a career as a player, and is already looking at coaching??

Jamie obviously really likes Somerset, Cider and the West Country. Can’t think of any other reason he’s still their unless his other half is from there and is really attached to their parents.

Thought I'd dust this one off.

🧤 Searle takes the gloves
🤒 Cann misses out through injury
©️ Inniss has the armband#WeAreFGR💚 pic.twitter.com/q8otVFOaOL

— Forest Green Rovers (@FGRFC_Official) April 26, 2025

Only took 45 rounds of the National League season to get his start. Full 90 and a clean sheet in a 1-0 win too!

I honestly thought he'd left the club.

Last game before the playoffs and FGR (3rd) travel to Hartlepool United (12th).
Another game for Searle?

https://us.soccerway.com/matches/2025/05/05/england/conference-national/hartlepool-united-fc/forest-green-rovers-fc/4414712/

English mate and QPR fan tells a story back in the day, of visiting Hartlepool, and post game having to shelter with other QPR fans under a train station roof as the plattform was being pelted with bottles from the locals above. 

Not much care for those soft Home County types up north!

Nope, no Searle in the match day squad in a 1-1 draw.

FGR (3rd) get a few weeks off before playing the winner of Rochdale (4th) v Southend (7th).

Southend win 4-3 in ET at Rochdale quarterfinal playoff

Forest Green will host Southend in one semi final.
York City to host Oldham Athletic in the other.

Winners of the 2 semis to meet at Wembley in the playoff final.

Forest Green (3rd) two games away from a return to League Two.

They host Southend United (7th) in a one off semi final.
https://us.soccerway.com/matches/2025/05/21/england/conference-national/forest-green-rovers-fc/southend-united-fc/4648031/

In the other semi Oldham Athletic won 3-0 at York City. Playoff football is brutal. York (2nd) finished 23 pts ahead of Oldham (5th) in the regular season.
https://us.soccerway.com/national/england/conference-national/20242025/regular-season/r81456/

Playoff final is at Wembley.

Bugger for the vegetarians.

FGR lose on pens (2-4) to Southend. Another season in the National League.

1-1 end of NT. Forest Green went up 2-1 early in ET, but conceded late at 116 mins, to force the shootout.

24 yr old Searle watches it all from the pine.

Who knows what his plans are. He's been in the UK now about 6 years, and by my maths played about 5 games of senior football! Basically not playing at all since leaving Villa and then Swansea youth levels.

I guess he's having a bit of a UK OE and getting paid to do not much. 

Maybe like player-coach Matt Gould who also plays in the National League (5th tier), his aim is to work on his GK coaching quals or something. They were the backup GKs to Sail at the 2022 OFC WC qualifying tourney in 2022. NZ's men's GK stocks have changed massively since then!

https://www.friendsoffootballnz.com/2025/06/24/all-whites-goalkeeper-signs-with-english-club-eastbourne-borough/

New Zealand international goalkeeper Jamie Searle has joined English sixth-tier club Eastbourne Borough.

coochiee

https://www.friendsoffootballnz.com/2025/06/24/all-whites-goalkeeper-signs-with-english-club-eastbourne-borough/

New Zealand international goalkeeper Jamie Searle has joined English sixth-tier club Eastbourne Borough.

And so ends his AWs career....

Wasn't Crocombe playing in the English 6th tier a few seasons back?

Still young for a keeper, but yes Searle looks well overtaken now by the likes of Paulsen, Gray, Sims & AKH.

Future trivia question who were the 3 AWs keepers at the OFC WC qualifying tourney in March 2022 (so only 3 years ago)?  Sail, Searle & Matt Gould

coochiee

Wasn't Crocombe playing in the English 6th tier a few seasons back?

Still young for a keeper, but yes Searle looks well overtaken now by the likes of Paulsen, Gray, Sims & AKH.

Future trivia question who were the 3 AWs keepers at the OFC WC qualifying tourney in March 2022 (so only 3 years ago)?  Sail, Searle & Matt Gould

Geez, we've put out some shark teams.....

7 games in and Eastbourne are dead last of 24 teams in the National League South (6th tier). 

Searle in goal for the first 4 games, but then relegated to the pine.

Josh Redfearn's Maidstone are also in this league

Niche Cache. Might be better to try his hand at coaching like Matt Gould

Over in the adjacent Southern division (National League South - English 6th tier), Jamie Searle started the first four matches for Eastbourne... but they lost as many games in the month of August as AFC Fylde have lost all season thus far and Searle got benched. Doesn’t look like we’re ever going to see him add to his lone All Whites cap, oh well.

The 24yo has been over in England for six years where he’s spent time with five different clubs starting with the Premier League academy of Aston Villa and steadily moving down to where he’s now in the sixth tier... and still barely playing. He’s made senior seven league appearances in those six years.