Before heading back to preseason with the Premiership winners, the 32-year-old will be playing for Scotland at the Euros.
James Forrest acknowledges that life was difficult while he wasn’t at Celtic.
To be honest, there’s no assurance that when he gets back to Parkhead following the Euros, he won’t have to fight the same opponents. For the second most decorated player in club history, though, that’s all good because he hasn’t known life any other way. The team’s victories in the Scottish Cup and Premiership were greatly aided by Forrest’s comeback in the last few weeks of the campaign.
The 32-year-old shimmered and sparkled to help secure the silverware, as his experience and ability showed through the run-in. Compared to the stretches early in the season when he was hardly seen, this was a far cry. After Luis Palma, Yang Hyun-jun, and Marco Tilio joined the team last summer, Forrest was thrown into his most recent battle. Nicolas Kuhn had came to maybe fill the void left by Jota and Tilio when they left Glasgow in January, along with Liel Abada.
Forrest was reportedly forced to weigh the possibility of quitting his childhood club in order to play. He said it was difficult to accept. However, he had battled for Celtic opportunities ever since joining the first team and would continue to do so.
The club’s constant search for improvement will mean more new faces are likely to arrive in the coming weeks. Forrest will most likely have the same scrap on his hands again at the start of next season. But that won’t be a problem. It’s in his Parkhead DNA.
With 24 winners’ medals in his pocket, he has proved capable in the past of proving himself a key figure and there’s every chance he’ll do so once more. Forrest doesn’t want to be anywhere else bar Celtic and is ready to rise to the challenge.
He said: “I’ve always said that I’ve loved being here and have enjoyed working hard here. We have always signed new players and I don’t think I have ever felt comfortable being here.
“The amount of attacking players we sign, it keeps you going. I’d love to stay here as long as I can, I’ve always said that. I’ll go and enjoy the Euros and then come back to pre-season and take it from there.
“That spell in January and February, I’m still not 35 or 36 and it was the first time in my career that I’ve been fit enough and not been in squads. That was difficult because I knew if I stayed I’d potentially be ruling myself out of playing anywhere.
“You miss playing. When you train all week and don’t get a game at the weekend, it’s hard to take. It was a hard one. But when I knew I was staying after January I kept working hard every day in training and I knew I would get that chance. Once it came, I didn’t look back and helped the team.”
Forrest did just that and the one positive from sitting out so many matches through the campaign is that he was fresh and firing when the chances came during the run-in. He admitted: “You could say that. It’s hard because you’re training all week, putting it all in every session and making sure you’re ready. I maybe had that bit more adrenaline and was a bit more buzzing because I was back involved.”
Forrest’s ability to keep battling back and maintain his levels has seen him continually ascend up the ranks of Celtic medal winners. When you consider the list of players that has passed through the doors at Parkhead, his achievements are stunning.
Forrest now sits just one behind Lisbon Lion Bobby Lennox, who is the all-time leading medal winner at the club with 25. He said: “It’s unbelievable. I don’t read too much into milestones but I always get told them and it’s really good. It shows that you are working hard and getting rewarded for it.
“I’ve really enjoyed the last couple of months. Around January and February I wasn’t making it into squads or getting any game time. I have been taking everything in during games in the last couple of months. It has been a pleasure.”
Forrest’s latest medal was one of the most memorable of his career as it was secured by beating Rangers in a Scottish Cup Final. The winger added: “It’s class. It’s the first time we’ve played Rangers in a cup final in a long time.”
Now it’s down to Forrest to make sure he’s around for the 25th and more. He said: “In football you can’t look too far in front. The last few months have shown that and sums it up. In January I hadn’t been in the squad for a few months and didn’t know what the future held for me. I’m just going to keep working hard and keep enjoying my football.”
