Rodgers is key factor for Forrest
JAMES FORREST last night credited the appointment of Brendan Rodgers as being key to his decision to stay at Celtic. The 25-year-old forward put an end to speculation over his future by signing a contract extension until 2019. Although Forrest is adamant he never wanted to play his football anywhere else, the fact his previous deal was due to expire in December led to an acceptance that he would soon be moving on. He admits he is unsure if he would have committed had Ronny Deila remained in place as Celtic manager but any uncertainty was removed when Rodgers placed a phone call to him before pre-season to say he was a big part of his plans. ‘I’ve always wanted to stay here,’ said Forrest. ‘I made the club know that straight away. ‘We have a top-class manager. When he came in, everyone had a clean slate. I’m impressed (with him) and just want to keep going.’
THE moment James Forrest knew the best days of his career lay at Celtic came not when a fresh contract was put under his nose on Wednesday morning but moments after accepting a call from an unrecognised number in early June.
‘We were due back in a couple of weeks’ time — I was here when I got the call,’ he recalled of his first dealing with Brendan Rodgers.
‘He said he’d seen me play before and liked the way I’d played.
‘It was obviously good to hear him say that as I knew I’d only six months left on my contract.
‘He said that pre-season was going to be hard so to come back in good shape and to show him what I had.
‘Basically, it was a clean slate, so I knew I was going to get my chance to at least show what I could do.
‘If it didn’t work out, it didn’t work out. But I’m glad I’m staying here. That’s what I was wanting to do.
‘As soon as I came back, I said I wanted to stay — and I’m glad that six or seven weeks on, we’ve got it done.’
Elaborating on his motivations for extending his commitment to Celtic until 2019 for the first time yesterday, time and again the winger stressed that at no point did he say he ever wanted to leave the place he’d been at since the age of nine.
Strictly speaking, that may be true. But the fact he came within four months of becoming a free agent suggests he was at least keeping his options open.
Notwithstanding the niggling injuries that have continued to curse him in his mid-20s, Forrest rarely thrived under Ronny Deila’s tutelage. The vast potential remained unfulfilled.
The 25-year-old is adamant that he might well have stayed had the Norwegian remained in the post but that appeared highly unlikely. Rodgers’ arrival brought some much-needed clarity.
‘I can’t say that (if I would have stayed),’ Forrest admitted. ‘I don’t know. Different managers play different players. We’ve had a lot of players here and there’s been a lot of chopping and changing.
‘We’ve a top-class manager here as well. When he came in, everyone had a clean slate. I’m impressed (with him) so far and just want to keep going.
‘Now I want to get my head down, keep working hard and look to the future.’
He knows how it works, however. In the minds of most, one out-off-avour player plus one soon-to-be expired contract equals an imminent departure. Justification — in the eyes of some — to make plain their feelings on the perceived lack of loyalty.
‘It’s hard — it wasn’t nice then,’ he added on the occasional cat call. ‘Folk have maybe read things and think that’s what happened but I knew different myself and was hoping I’d get a chance to show that I wanted to be here.
‘That’s the thing; there were always rumours but I never said I wanted to leave the club. People close to me and inside the club knew that as well.
‘We can all read stuff but I never had it in my head that it was definitely done and I was definitely away. I knew in April that there was going to be a new manager and I was kind of hoping then that when he was in there was going to be a clean slate and I could show him what I could do — I am just glad that happened.
‘I told the manager that as soon as he came in that I wanted to stay. I’ve never said anything different.
‘I knew I’d get my chance to show everyone and I feel I’ve done that this pre-season.’
You suspect Rodgers wasn’t just gilding the lily either when he placed that phonecall two months back. Pace throughout the team was a feature of tenures at Swansea and Liverpool.
The re-signing of Forrest, together with the arrivals of Moussa Dembele and Scott Sinclair, gives Celtic a potency on the counter-attack that just wasn’t there under Deila.
As Motherwell found to their cost on Wednesday, when it’s combined with inch-perfect passing and bewildering movement off the ball, there’s little any opponent can do.
‘It was really good. We scored five but we easily could have scored much more,’ added Forrest.
‘It is really enjoyable to play in when you have got a lot of the ball and a lot of chances. It was good for everyone.
‘We’ve signed a good few players and that will be good for the squad and everyone to work off. It’s attacking football with an aggressive style of play and it’s been good for everyone so far.’
The contribution of Tom Rogic — another talent who committed to the Rodgers’ era this week — was the best of the evening but Forrest also began to repay the faith the Northern Irishman has shown in him.
At last, the fitness issues that have dogged him so greatly for the past six years now appear to have faded from view.
‘I’ve had a good pre-season,’ he explained. ‘It’s been really hard and from the start we’ve had a lot of games. I definitely feel good, strong and fit.
‘Nothing was ever majorly wrong before, it was always niggles. It was never serious, so I’m glad the last 18 months have been a lot better and I’ve been training and been available for squads.’
As a consequence, he now has no excuses. Not that he was ever one
for making them, it has to be said.
But did that rush to judgment from the naysayers in the stands when he wasn’t previously fully fit exasperate him?
‘Everyone has their opinion,’ he said. ‘You just need to work hard.
‘It’s not about proving people wrong but doing it for yourself. That happens with every player.
‘Sometimes you will feel something in certain games.’
Barring a miraculous recovery by Patrick Roberts, Forrest will be central to Rodgers’ plans when Hapoel Be’er Sheva visit Celtic Park on Wednesday.
Whatever enticements potential suitors south of the border may have been able to offer the winger, few will ever possess the trump card of being involved in such occasions.
‘It was good that we got through the Astana games,’ he said. ‘We are looking forward and you want to play in the Champions League.
‘If you look at a lot of the Scotland internationals, not a lot are playing European football and to get the chance to do that was a big part (of re-signing).
‘I’ve played in a lot of European games before and I have the experience of that.
‘We have two games to get into the Champions League, so we’re going to give everything to get into it.’
The appetiser comes in the form of this evening’s final International Champions Cup engagement against Inter Milan in Limerick.
Rodgers is likely to minimise exposing his key operatives to the risk of injury but the chance to give game time to those who need it most is welcome all the same.
‘In a lot of our pre-season games so far, we have played against big sides and top players. That’s got us ready,’ Forrest added.
‘A lot of our boys are internationals, so they have played against that type of calibre of player before. We are looking forward to it.’