As well as being an official member of the 100 goals club, James Forrest is the longest serving Celt with over 500 appearances to his name. In turn, he’s also the most successful, having been given his debut by Neil Lennon during the Irishman’s first spell as manager in 2010.
He will go down as one of the most decorated Celts of all time, with the one club man lifting twelve League titles, seven Scottish cups and five League cups so far.
Having signed a contract extension with the club until the summer of 2025, Forrest was part of the team that recorded a record eighth domestic treble in 2022/23 and a Scottish Cup and League title double in 2023/24, the season which was his fifteenth in a row as a goal scorer for the Hoops.
Forrest joined the Celtic Youth Academy at the age of nine and worked his way through the ranks to the senior side. Replacing Aiden McGeady on his debut against Motherwell at Paradise on May 1, 2010, Forrest, then 18-years-old, repaid the faith Neil Lennon had shown in him with a goal after just six minutes on the pitch.
The winger has barely looked back since, and in 2010/11 and 2011/12 was named as the club’s Young Player of the Year. After the latter campaign, he was also named the Scottish Football Writers’ Association Young Player of the Year, the PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year, and was named in the PFA Scotland Team of the Year.
In January 2012, Forrest was recognised by FIFA as one of the most exciting young players in world football. In 2017/18, he made the PFA Scotland Team of the Year once more, and again made the grade the following year – while also winning SFWA Footballer of Year, the PFA Scotland Player of the Year, the Scottish Premiership Player of the Year, and the SFWA International Player of the Year for 2018/19.
COUNTRY BHOY
Capped at all levels throughout his career, James Forrest made his senior international debut for Scotland under Craig Levein, starting in a 1-0 friendly defeat to Ireland in Dublin in 2011. The winger scored his first goals for the national side with a brace in a 4-0 away win over Albania in the UEFA Nations League in November 2018, before netting a hat-trick three days later in a 3-2 home win over Israel. Going into the 2023/24 season, Forrest had collected 38 Scotland caps while scoring five goals for his country and the winger was also part of the Euro 2024 squad which travelled to Germany.
