The Celtic clock is ticking on 15 year James Forrest run (2025)

The winger has scored in every one of his seasons as a top team player - until this one. So far...

Much has changed in the 15 years since a fresh-faced James Forrest thrashed a debut goal high past Motherwell goalkeeper John Ruddy to open his account for Celtic.

Managers, team mates, trophy counts... in fact about the only thing that’s remained the same is the winger’s fresh face. And his reliability.

Forrest could never have dreamed of what lay ahead of him when he latched onto Marc-Antoine Fortune’s flick to hammer home his first Hoops goal just six minutes after climbing off the bench for his first taste of top team action on May 1, 2010.

Nothing will top becoming the most decorated player in the club’s history. But another personal accolade is pretty impressive too. Forrest has scored in every one of his 15 seasons with the club - up until now.

There’s still five league games and a Scottish Cup semi final and perhaps final to come but the 33-year-old is running out of time to keep his impeccable run in front of goal going.

With 108 Hoops strikes to his name he’d absolutely love to net number 109 before the fat lady sings on the season. In true Forrest fashion the selfless winger knows picking up prizes with his team are far more important than any individual honours.

But there’s nothing wrong with grabbing both. And he’s kicking himself it’s even still in the balance after he failed to beat St Johnstone keeper Andy Fisher when clean through in last week’s defeat in Perth.

Forrest said: “That's probably been my best chance this season that I've had. It’s one of the days that can hit off my heel and go the other way and go in.

“It's a great stat I've had for so many seasons. Obviously in my position you want to assist and score, so I want to do it for that reason as well.

“We've got five or six games left of the season, so hopefully I can manage to do that. It just shows consistency throughout the years. Obviously I'm still digging in and keep coming back year after year.

“If it happens, great. If it doesn't, it's still good up to now. Obviously I'll work hard to end the season and hopefully try and contribute and get a goal.

“I don't want to get to that stage that I’m put on penalties though! As I said, the main thing is getting the league done.”

This latest title - when it is finally secured - will be the THIRTEENTH of Forrest’s Celtic career. Added to seven Scottish Cup wins and six League Cup triumphs it’ll be 26 major trophies - edging him clear of Lisbon Lion Bobby Lennox as the most decorated Celt of all time.

The first of those gongs came as a late sub in the 2011 Scottish Cup Final win over Motherwell. And as the silverware piled up over the years Forrest admits he has began to appreciate exactly what it means more than when he was a starry-eyed kid.

He said: “Everyone knows how hard the players and staff work towards it. But maybe as you're older you actually think about it more and realise what you're doing more.

“Maybe when you're young, you're just taking everything in your stride and not really thinking about it, just enjoying playing.

“But I feel as though when you're older, you definitely do think about it more and realise how big a club this is, how much it means to everyone as well.”

The title can be bagged with a win in the first Premiership game after the break. Then Forrest will be hoping another chance of adding to his sensational silverware collection will come at Hampden on May 24.

First Brendan Rodgers’ side have to get past St Johnstone in next week’s semi final. And Forrest knows it will take a performance of the levels that blew away Kilmarnock to make sure there’s not another slip-up against Saints.

He said: “Definitely. Since the manager's been at Celtic, I think his record at Hampden is really good.

“We know because of last week that St Johnstone is going to be a hard game. We’re going to have a majority of fans there as well. So I think for us it's important that we start like we did on Saturday.

“It's a good marker how we started and we have to take that into next week.”

Saturday’s turbo-charged performance came after a rare blast from Rodgers at his players for coasting towards the title and being too comfortable after the defeat in Perth.

Forrest has seen it before. He knows better than anyone that coming off the levels simply won’t cut it at Celtic.

And he reckons Rodgers’ rant was perfectly timed to ensure there’s no more slacking in the hunt for the Treble.

He said: “If you're not at it, the fans can be right on you.

“It can turn dead quick. So I think that's why it's important to have a big squad, players that can come in and freshen up the starting team as well and keep it competitive within ourselves.

“Seeing that on Saturday, it's important that we do that and that we keep working hard every game because we don't want that to happen again.”