Forman played youth football for the local village side before moving up to Beeston Town, where he was spotted by Derby County.

In the 1898 FA Cup Semi-final between Southampton and Nottingham Forest, the first match at Bramall Lane, played on 19 March, ended in a 1–1 draw.

Southampton's goalkeeper George Clawley had his eyes "choked with snow" and conceded two goals, from Tom McInnes and Charlie Richards, in the final minutes of the game.

Forest scored first after 19 minutes when Willie Wragg's free-kick fell to Arthur Capes whose shot gave Jack Fryer in the Derby goal little chance.

County now began to exert pressure on the Forest defence and Forman, "who was performing splendidly at the back"[2] had to clear efforts from John Goodall and Steve Bloomer.

Just after the half-hour point, Derby were level after Forman gave away a free kick on the edge of the penalty area which was whipped in by Joe Leiper for Steve Bloomer to score with a header off the crossbar.

[3] Forman's first international appearance had come shortly before the FA Cup semi-final when he was selected (together with his Forest teammate Charlie Richards) for the British Home Championship match against Ireland to be played at The Solitude Ground in Belfast on 5 March 1898.

The Scots were defeated by a fast and powerful England side who ran out 3–1 winners and took the trophy, with goals from Steve Bloomer (2) and Fred Wheldon.

He was not selected for the 1900 British Home Championship, his place going to Harry Johnson of Sheffield United, but he was recalled for the match against Scotland on 30 March 1901 which ended in a 2–2 draw.

After retiring from football, he went into business as a building contractor[14] with his nephew Harry Linacre, who had joined Forest in 1899 as a goalkeeper and played twice for England in 1905.