James Forrest

I agree with the vast majority of this post and with most of what you’ve said in this thread, but Lustig was absolutely done for two years before he left, and hindered us hugely on several occasions in big games as a result of his lack of mobility and overall decline.

 

This contract extension won’t affect us in any way. We’ll sign jota, and then we have jota, maeda, Abada and potentially kyogo in front of Forrest in the first 11 wing positions. As we saw the other night. Forrest can play against the Dundee United etc when the others need resting and he’ll come up with some form of goal contribution. If we get another 20 games out of him for the next 3 years to benefit other players. Much rather that than an unknown squad filler or someone who could come in and completely disrupt the team because they aren’t playing week in week out.

paying Forrest 20-40k a week is nothing to us now when we’re willing to go out and spend countless 2.5mils on players like soro, shved etc.

 

We didn’t have a suitable replacement for him though then did we, there’s 4/5 players in front of Forrest at the moment so he’s only filling in. Not the only option we have

 

I've got a feeling he's got one great season left in him yet. It happens to a lot of players. Everyone writes them off then they pull off one incredible season before they retire. I can see that happening with Forrest. I have no evidence to back this up , its just a hunch. But I do believe he has one more great season in him yet

 

I said last night that this surely has to be to tick the home grown box for the champions league next season.

The stats show how Jameseys output has decreased year on year since Rodgers first season.

 

Who ever gave this 3 year contract must have been same person who gave Mccarthy 4 year deal.forrest has been great for us and I hope he proves me wrong but his best days are behind him crazy to give a winger a deal like this when he is injured most of the time and lost that bit of pace due to injury and age.i still hope we go and get another younger winger.

 

It’s been 12 years since James Forrest made his debut in the Hoops as an energetic 18-year-old in the May of 2010.

Coming off the bench and scoring against Motherwell, Celtic fans were excited about the prospect that was in front of them, however, most supporters in Celtic Park that afternoon would not have imagined what has followed since.

The one-club man has been rewarded with a new three-year contract that will keep him at Paradise until the summer of 2025, continuing his 12-year association by another three, which will further cement his position as one of the all-time club greats

Over those 13 seasons to date, Forrest has notched 96 goals in over 440 appearances, collecting 20 trophies along the way to put him fourth on the list of most decorated Celts.

Despite all the years of success, the 30-year-old was determined to commit his future to the club and try and create new memories to look back on.




Speaking exclusively to Celtic TV after signing his deal, he said: “I’m absolutely delighted, as soon as I spoke to the club I said I wanted to stay here and they were the same that they wanted me to be here, so it worked.

“I’m absolutely delighted and buzzing that I’m committed for another three years and hopefully I can keep adding to the success we’ve had since I’ve been here.

“The club’s massive and being back involved in Champions League football is a big thing as well.

'I’ve been here since I’ve been a wee boy and I’ve loved every year I’ve been here and I feel as though I’m ready to keep playing at this level and keep working hard.'

“It’s not till I finish my career that I’ll look back on it and it will really sink in. For now, I just want to take a game at a time and look forward to the next trophy and playing for Celtic and that’s what I want to keep doing in the next few years.”

The deal comes less than 24 hours after the Hoops reclaimed the Scottish Premiership title on an emotional night at Tannadice, which was then capped off by a midnight celebration party with the fans back at Celtic Park.




It marked Forrest’s 10th Premiership title as a Celtic player and also secured Champions League group stage football for next season, a competition that the Scotland international is excited to be part of again.

He added: “Winning the league at Dundee United and coming back to the stadium and seeing thousands of fans turn up was special.

“I want to still be part of that for as long as I can and that’s why I’m delighted.

'I think it was a really special one to be part of and you saw it with the celebrations back at Celtic Park late at night.'

"It’s good for everyone, even the boys that have been here for a while they were saying the atmosphere was unreal and you’ll never forget that.

“It’s unreal, for players, staff and fans and it’s going to be great to be back in the Champions League. The added bonus of not having the qualifiers will get us a good pre-season and then straight into the group stages and we will see who we can get.”

 

I think Forrest & a few other players will benefit from having the extra time off and a proper preseason. Ange has us playing & training with such a high intensity. It takes longer for some players bodies to adapt to this

 

I'd like to think that the injuries he's had in the past couple of seasons are the types that can heal fully, and not keep coming back or permanently limiting a player.

If that's the case and he can get back to full fitness for a couple of seasons, then he can have an important part to play.

 

I love Gump, but three years for me is too much.

Im not saying he won’t offer something but if it hampers us getting someone else in then it can be a problem.

 

The departure of Rogic and Bitton makes the retention of Forrest all the more welcome. If Forrest wasn't here next season, then there is no longer any thread back through the 4x treble years in our squad. A one club man with a gigantic trophy cabinet. I don't care if he's lost a yard of pace. We've got no business pushing him out

 

This makes more sense to me now. Definitely need senior squad members around to help pass on winning qualities and traditions.

 

LAST ONE STANDING!








&Calmac

 

Just need to sign mikey johnston on a long term deal now

 

Forrest must be taking the Rogic news bad today.....probably why we softened it by offering him a 3 year deal..

 

See this homegrown excuse

what a load of pish

can easily register one of the youths for europe if that’s the case

 

It will be interesting to see how Forrest does next season after a real rest and a proper pre-season. I think the fact that Abada made such a great impact this season but yet is still so young and inexperienced it will be great for him to have Forrest there to learn from and with Abada already contributing so much that will hopefully allow us to see Forrest back at something close to his best given he won't be the needed to play all the time.
Rogic and even McGregor were written off by many heading into this season so hopefully we see Forrest do something similar next season as well.

 

It's not *
Academy players don't take up a place in your squad. But even if they did who in our academy is better than Forrest? If you want him out the squad you then only have 22 senior players allowed.

 

James Forrest signed a new three year contract with Celtic the day after ensuring that he would add a 10th league winner’s medal to an already hefty haul of silver.

It’s a deal that could see Celtic’s longest-serving current player move even further up the ranks in a pair of very prestigious club records

Let’s look at the accolades, the ones written down in green and white, and that show the company that James Forrest keeps when it comes to club heroes and Celtic legends.

In the history books he rubs shoulders with club legends such as Lisbon Lions Billy McNeill, Bobby Lennox and Jimmy Johnstone – and that’s just for starters, as you can add long-time historical heroes such as Jimmy Quinn, Patsy Gallacher and Jimmy McGrory to the list as well.

The names mentioned above would easily rub shoulders with each other in positioning for a place in the greatest Celtic team of all time, and the reason the current Celtic winger runs in these esteemed circles is twofold.

For the first batch, the most decorated current Celt would have to use just as much silver polish as McNeill, Lennox and Johnstone to keep his medals shining, as this week he has overtaken Jinky in the medal-haul tally, moving up to 20 trophy wins, one ahead of the Wee Man’s 19.

Bobby Lennox with 25 and Billy McNeill with 23 top the table while only former captain, Scott Brown can better Forrest’s silverware collection in recent years with 22 – with his new contract, Forrest must have Broony’s tally in his sights, and who’s to say what he could achieve following that.

So, from well over 900 players to have turned out for Celtic, only three have won more medals than Forrest who sits fourth in the table (at the moment). In fact, in domestic terms, the Celtic winger has won a medal for every 16.8 games he has played!

The secondary batch are the Celts who scored league goals for the most consecutive seasons, and considering he isn’t an out-and-out striker, Forrest’s inclusion here pays testament to both his longevity and his eye for goal.

After scoring in each of the last 13 league campaigns, Forrest is once more level with Jimmy Johnstone, while only Bobby Lennox and Patsy Gallacher on 14 seasons and Jimmy Quinn and Jimmy McGrory on 15 seasons are ahead of the current Celt

Again, his new contract could well see him move up that list and, with the winger currently sitting on 96 goals in all competitions, that magical century figure is well within reach

Many of those goals have helped maintain his medal haul, with those 20 trophy wins not only including the aforementioned 10 league wins - only Alec McNair (12), Bobby Lennox (11) and Jimmy McMenemy (11) have more (Scott Brown is equal on 10) – but also five Scottish Cup wins and five League Cup medals.

Looking at that make you realise just how successful the recent years have been for Celtic as there are scores of club legends who only have a fraction of Forrest’s success.

James Forrest is a modern-day Celt who not only stands on the shoulders of giants – he rubs shoulders with them as well.



JAMES FORREST

• Position: Winger
• Squad Number: 49
• D.O.B: 07/07/91
• Born: Prestwick, Scotland
• Height: 5’9’’
• Signed: 01/07/09
• Debut: v Motherwell (h) 4-0, (SPL) 01/05/10
• Previous Clubs: Celtic Youth

TROPHIES

• League 10: 2011/12, 2012/13, 2013/14, 2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20, 2021/22
• Scottish Cup 5: 2010/11, 2012/13, 2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19
• League Cup 5: 2014/15, 2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20
• 
  STATS
  
  Apps Subs Goals
  League 210 65 62
  League Cup 18 9 11
  Scottish Cup 29 6 9
  Europe 81 26 14
  Total 338 106 96

 

4 more goals and he joins the exalted company of Henrik and Jinky for being the only players to score more than 100 goals for is and set up more than 100 goals.