Opportunity didn't knock at Blackburn but the striker has been excelling since and is getting ever closer to the top flight
Promising forward Joe Garner came through Blackburn's youth system,
although he's no relation to Rovers' striking legend Simon. He joined
Carlisle on loan in January 2007 after struggling for first team
opportunities at the Premier League side. Five goals in the second half
of the 2006/07 season – including the goal of the season away at Port
Vale – convinced the Blues to offer him a permanent deal for a club
record £140,000.
The decision proved to be a wise one: although an Achilles injury ruled
him out of the second half of the 2007/08 campaign, he still finished
as the side’s second top scorer with 14 League One strikes. That, in
turn, was enough to convince Colin Calderwood to take Garner into the
Championship with newly-promoted Nottingham Forest for a presumably
clause-triggering fee of £1.14m.