Well almost. The evergreen Celtic winger has actually scored for Celtic in every season over the past 15 years except this one and he’s well aware that the clock is ticking…
Six or seven games for Jamesy to find the back of the net
Celtic has five Scottish Premiership matches left to play, plus one or possibly two Scottish Cup matches for Jamesy to reach another landmark in his incredible Celtic career. He is already set to overtake Lisbon Lion Bobby Lennox as the most decorated player in Celtic history and it would be mad to bet against him reaching his scoring target over the next month or so.
It looked like it was going to happen when he came off the bench McDiarmid Park but there was just no beating Saints keeper Andy Fisher last weekend. Jamesy is now looking forward to a re-match this Sunday at Hampden in the Scottish Cup semi-final.
James rues missed chance at McDiarmid Park
“That’s probably been my best chance this season that I’ve had,” James Forrest said via Daily Record, after the 5-1 victory over Kilmarnock at Celtic Park on Saturday afternoon. “It’s one of the days that can hit off my heel and go the other way and go in.”
Jamesy is well aware of his goalscoring record but states that he’s not desparare enough to reach his personal target by going onto penalty duties. Didn’t he score a penalty that gave Celtic a win over Ajax in the Champions League earlier in his career? See photos below.
“It’s a great stat I’ve had for so many seasons”
James added: “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.
Sixes and Sevens
“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,” the Celtic winger stated.
On his reluctance to take any penalties, it’s going to be heard to resist the encouragement from the fans and his teammates if the situation arises. “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.”
Forrest clearly appreciates the significance of a title win
James Forrest clearly appreciates the significance of a title win, as he reaches the final stages of his Celtic career with maybe just a season or two left in his legs. When he’s finished at Celtic he’ll hang up his boots for good as he wants to be a one club man, having been at Celtic since he was a boy.
“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.
‘When you’re older, you definitely do think about it more’
“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.”
So next up for Jamesy is a trip to Hampden where he’ll not, unlike the rest of us, have to worry about the Hampden app which will be getting loaded onto smartphones today. I’ve just done mine and it was relatively straight-forward. The ticket comes later via a barcode apparently so remember to have a full charge on your phone before heading to Hampden on Easter Sunday.
Hampden has been a fortress for Celtic
Forrest, like the entire Celtic family, enjoys our days at Hampden more so since Brendan Rodgers arrived the first time and changed the collective mentality about the national stadium. Since then it’s been a fortress for Celtic and on Sunday St Johnstone will find out that it’s an entirely different proposition playing Celtic on that big pitch instead of their own at McDiarmid Park.
“Since the manager’s been at Celtic his record at Hampden is really good’
“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. 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.”
Let’s hope Jamesy gets his goal this weekend. He likes a goal against St Johnstone at the National Stadium you will recall.
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