Rodgers hails Parkhead ‘father’ figure after his late-season renaissance
CELTIC boss Brendan Rodgers christened James Forrest “a last remaining father” as he toasted the winger superb return to form.
The 32-year-old rolled back the years with a vintage display as he notched a crucial brace to help
Celtic to a vital 2-1 Scottish Premiership success over Dundee at Dens Park hot on the heels of a superb performance against Aberdeen at Hampden in the Scottish Cup semi-final triumph on penalties last weekend.
Forrest opened the scoring with a peach of a volley on the half-hour mark and then added the clincher in the 67th minute.
The victory kept Rodgers’ defending champions three points ahead of Rangers at the top of the table with four games left to play.
Rodgers said: “James is just a brilliant player. He’s one of the remaining fathers of the success this club has had over the last decade or so. There are very few of them left, but he’s definitely one of them.
“His creativeness, mentality and quality over the last decade have been so important.
“I’m so pleased for him. His first finish is sublime – what technique. His second one, he’s made it look easier than it actually was. He may not quite have the legs he had years back but the quality doesn’t diminish. He was our matchwinner today. He wasn’t only demanding the ball, he looked after it. If he can’t beat a man, he secures it.
“That’s his game, looking to take people on, passing and shooting – everything you want in a winger to be effective in the game. That’s something he’s delivered many, many times for this club. It definitely helps at this stage of the season.
“I hadn’t thought about Scotland, to be honest. I certainly know when I was here the first time James was a key player, scoring goals.
“My only interest is in Celtic, we have four matches to go and a cup final. If he keeps producing that quality of performance it will be a big help to us.
“I said to the players afterwards that we are top but we keep climbing. Let’s not settle on just being top of the league. We keep climbing, we want to achieve more, score as many goals as we can and be as strong as we can defensively.
“I am excited about next week against Hearts at Celtic Park. 60,000, the atmosphere will be amazing, the pitch will be amazing and hopefully we can play a level of football and get another really good result.”
Forrest’s blistering finish to the season has seen him touted in some quarters for a late call-up to Steve Clarke’s Scotland squad for the Euro 2024 Championships being held in Germany this summer.
Forrest insists that he has not even thought about gatecrashing the national side but he was delighted with his volley.
Forrest said: “I haven’t thought about it once. I wasn’t in the squad in January/February time and I have been buzzing being back in about it with the boys. I have managed to get on the scoresheet and help the team a few times. I just want to take it game by game and keep helping out here.
“I’ve not got a holiday booked! You never book a holiday early in this game, it’s always last minute. If you ask any Scottish player, you’d want to be involved. I went to the last Euros and it was a great experience from the first day of camp to the end.
“My last cap was at the Euros but I need to concentrate on what I am doing here.
“We have always won trophies here. Sometimes on the outside people might talk about pressure games. Every game is a pressure game at Celtic. Even at the start of the season, there is pressure on every game. We have the manager, coaches and players with the right mentality.”
Forrest even laughed off the manager calling him a father figure.
He said: “That does make me feel old. I don’t mind that! At Celtic as a forward player – not just an experienced one – you need to be able to take the pressure off the team but scoring goals and having assists. That’s how it is, no matter what age you are.”