Celtic? Forrester knows the Hampden roar on that one
and staff that believe in me. I’ve got team-mates that have helped me settle in. Kenny Miller and Lee Wallace especially helped me to settle in to Rangers and know what’s about. It’s just been a combination of things and luckily it’s paid off.
“I owe him [Warburton] a lot. I wasn’t playing at Doncaster when I signed here and maybe there were a few questions, a few eyebrows raised. It’s paid off the last couple of weeks, but the job’s not done yet.
“I know he believes in me. That allows me just to go out there, relax and play my game. When you’ve got someone above you who’s not too sure about you, you tense up and try to impress too much, but I don’t have to do that to him.”
Forrester was tipped for a bright future in the game when he first burst on to the scene at Aston Villa and represented England at youth level, but it has taken a move to Ibrox to kickstart his career. He has been reunited with Warburton north of the border and has shown why he was once so highly-rated, and is so highly thought of by the Rangers manager.
“I also had a phase at Brentford when I was playing good football for a season and then I got my move to Doncaster,” Forrester said.
“Things didn’t really work out there, but that’s football and I was given a new lease of life here. I’m enjoying it, the fans have taken to me.
“It’s tough and if you look at Villa’s team when I was a youth player slash reserve it was one of the best they’ve had, fighting for the Champions League with guys such as Ashley Young, Heskey, Petrov, Milner, Downing – a good Premier League team. It didn’t work out there. That happens and you’ve got to go away and get your head around it.”
If all goes to plan for Rangers in the coming years, Forrester may yet make it onto the Champions League stage, but attentions don’t go beyond Sunday at present.
The 25-year-old is one of a host of players in Warburton’s squad who could make their Old Firm debuts at Hampden. The experience of victory over Peterhead will prove useful, but it won’t truly prepare Rangers for what lies ahead on derby day.
“I’ve heard a lot. It’s a global game and there will be a lot of people watching, but for us, it’s just another game,” Forrester said. “It’s a semi-final and we relish it.
“I watched a couple growing up, when I was younger and it was on telly. It’s an Old Firm game. Everyone knows about the Old Firm. When it was drawn, I got a lot of texts. There is a lot of anticipation about it, but for us, it’s just 90 minutes of football.
“It’s a game for everybody. If it is a 1-0 win the person who scores will be a hero. Football players normally get the limelight, but it’s just another game of football and we’ll do what we do.
“It was good for certain players in our squad who hadn’t played at Hampden to go there and get a feel for it, but it hasn’t given us an edge. We had a job to do at the Petrofac and we did it. The atmosphere was electric and it was brilliant to have 46,000 Rangers fans turn up for the final, unbelievable.”
I watched a couple growing up, when I was younger and it was on telly. It’s an Old Firm game. Everyone knows about the Old Firm