However, he never made an appearance for Stoke, and spent time on loan with Bristol City, Tiverton Town, Stafford Rangers, Kidderminster Harriers and Wrexham.

He signed a one-year contract with an option for a further two years; the "five-figure" fee was undisclosed, and RC Warwick would benefit from the inclusion of a sell-on clause.

[6] During his time at Stoke, He had loan spells at Bristol City,[7] Tiverton Town,[8] Stafford Rangers, Kidderminster Harriers[9] and Wrexham.

[12][13] After his recovery, He was awarded the number 14 shirt and received his maiden call up to the Potters' first team for a First Division match versus Wimbledon on 17 January 2004.

United had been struggling for several years to replace former goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, and Ferguson decided to move for the young Foster, making a bid of £1 million for the player.

[27] In June 2007, it was announced that Foster would undergo surgery on a cruciate ligament injury in his right knee, forcing him to miss the start of the 2007–08 season.

With Edwin van der Sar injured and Tomasz Kuszczak suspended for a red card against Portsmouth in the FA Cup sixth round the previous Saturday, Alex Ferguson had to shelve plans to ship Foster out on loan again, and the young goalkeeper was started for the away match against Derby County.

[33] After being selected as a substitute for Manchester United's opening match of the 2008–09 Champions League against Villarreal on 17 September 2008,[34] Foster then played for the reserves against Blackburn Rovers the following day.

After keeping a clean sheet in normal time, Foster then made a save from Tottenham's Jamie O'Hara in the consequent penalty shoot-out.

However, he had been attempting to play with a ruptured ligament in his right thumb, which became aggravated, necessitating surgery which ruled him out of United's title run-in, the Champions League final against Barcelona and England's 2010 World Cup qualifiers in June.

[42] Following speculation that United were in the market for a new goalkeeper to replace the soon-to-retire Edwin van der Sar, Foster signed a new four-year contract with the club.

Alex Ferguson commented that Manchester United "genuinely see him [Foster] as a successor to Edwin van der Sar".

[50][51] He was displaced from the first team in Van der Sar's absence by Tomasz Kuszczak,[52] and on occasion, reserve goalkeeper Ben Amos took Foster's place on the substitutes bench.

[54] After accepting that in order to play regularly he needed to leave Manchester, whether on loan or permanently,[55] Foster signed a three-year contract with Premier League club Birmingham City on 19 May 2010.

[57] The club were seeking a replacement for Foster's fellow England international goalkeeper Joe Hart, who had returned to Manchester City after a successful 2009–10 season on loan at Birmingham.

[59] On his home debut the following week against Blackburn Rovers, he saved a penalty from Morten Gamst Pedersen as Birmingham won the match 2–1.

[60] Criticised for an error in England's 2–1 defeat to France,[61] Foster produced a man-of-the-match performance on his return to League duty on 20 November as Birmingham beat reigning champions Chelsea 1–0.

Though Chelsea had 32 shots at goal, Foster made a series of excellent saves,[62] including one described by BBC Sport as "staggering" to deny Didier Drogba's "fierce close-range downward header".

[63] He made a "horrendous blunder" in the televised League Cup semi-final, allowing a soft shot from Carlton Cole to slip underneath him, which gave West Ham United a 2–1 lead after the first leg.

[78] After West Brom's relegation to the Championship, Foster re-signed for Premier League club Watford on 5 July 2018 on a two-year contract, with the option of an additional year, for an undisclosed fee.

[90] On 20 August, following a 5–5 draw at home to Swindon Town, Foster announced his retirement from professional football, believing he was no longer able to play at his best and that it was costing his team to concede goals.

[85] On 26 May 2006, Foster was named on the stand-by list for England's 2006 World Cup squad, because of Robert Green's injury in a "B" international against Belarus.

[95] Inconsistent performances in Manchester United's first fixtures of the 2009–10 season, as well as bruised ribs, meant that Foster was left out of Capello's initial squad for their final two World Cup qualifiers.

He intended to "prolong [his] club career for as long as possible" by allowing his body "a proper rest period between games" to reduce "niggling" injuries.

With England unable to advance to the last 16, he played the whole 90 minutes of the last group match against Costa Rica, and kept a clean sheet in the 0–0 draw in Belo Horizonte.

He posts cycling videos and matchday vlogs, including GoPro footage of the games in the back of his goal;[107][108] he occasionally wears an Insta360 camera fastened to his chest to provide a first-person viewpoint.