Fraser Forster was a fan favourite during his two stints at Celtic Park. Having signed from Newcastle for around £2 million under Neil Lennon’s first spell in charge, the football club made a huge profit when they sold the England international to Southampton several years later for three times that amount.
A goalkeeper remembered by most for his heroics in the famous win against Barcelona in 2012, when goals from Victor Wanyama and a young striker named Tony Watt put Celtic into dreamland. Barcelona pounded the Celtic goal that glorious Champions League night but were thwarted continually by The Great Wall; or La Gran Muralla as the Spanish press dubbed him.
Forster was one of the best ‘keepers Celtic Football Club have had in any era to be quite frank about it and was rightly poached by the riches of the English Premier League. His time at Saint Mary’s however, was up and down after a good early start to life at the South Coast club. When Ralph Hassenhuttl came in he preferred Alex McCarthy and Angus Gunn to the big Geordie and he subsequently found game time hard to come by.
That would change in 2019, when a returning Neil Lennon brought him back to Paradise on a season-long loan with teammate Moi Elyonoussi. Both were great during Lennon’s first full season back in the Parkhead dugout, but Forster was sensational in helping the Hoops grab their ninth league title on the bounce and top a Europa League group consisting of Italian giants Lazio and French cracks Rennes. Both his performances against Lazio were pivotal in our table topping display in Europe that year and left us all feeling like his signature was a necessity.
Fast forward to that summer and the deal for Forster never really appeared to be in the offing as we signed the forsaken Vasillis Barkas from AEK Athens. We all know how that signing and the ensuing season went and eventually finished. The less said, the better.
Now the astounding figures of the Englishman’s salary has been revealed as he has been the club’s top earner until James Ward-Prowse signed a new contract last August. Saint’s Extra posted on Twitter that a report from publication The Athletic confirmed the eye-watering wages Forster is picking up for being their third choice goalkeeper! Really quite gobsmacking when you consider the financial disparity between England and Scotland.
Celtic would never have been able to get anywhere near the players wages if we had the opportunity to sign him full-time again. It’s just a really sad reality that players would rather sit as third choice pick on gargantuan money as opposed to coming to a lesser league to win trophies and the adoration of millions of loyal football fans.
🚨 Fraser Forster’s salary at Southampton is believed to be around £90,000 a week, and the 33-year-old had been the club’s highest earner until James Ward-Prowse’s new terms were agreed last August #saintsfc [@TheAthleticUK]
— SaintsExtra (@SaintsExtra) February 23, 2022
Paul Gillespie
