The news that James Forrest has snubbed a contract offer from Celtic is hardly surprising.
When Ronny Deila said, at a press conference a few months ago, that he hadn’t been able to get his agent on the phone the writing was on the wall.
James Forrest was once the most exiting young football talent in Scotland.
He had pace to burn and good quick feet. He could strike a ball, as he showed over and over again. With his eye for goal and his undoubted ability, most people would have said he was the sort of player we should have made one of the lynchpins of the team, for years.
Yet James Forrest has never fully emerged as the class act Celtic fans wanted him to be.
If it’s not the rash of injuries he’s been victim to it’s how absolutely frustrating he is to watch during games. At one moment he can look like lightning in a bottle … at others he’s more likely to bring back memories of a gin hangover.
We all wanted to see him become a star, but the more you watched him the more convinced you became that it was like waiting on the first appearance of jet-packs. It got you excited when you thought about it, but you never really expected to put one on.
For all the talent he had there were key elements missing, and they still are.
For one thing, his final ball …. Ugh.
Dreadful to say the least.
I cannot remember ever being more frustrated watching a winger. He has never been a great crosser of the ball. His passes more often than not go astray. In the modern game, pace is a great asset but you really need the rest of the package that goes with it … and he ain’t got half of it.
When John Collins announced last week that our midfield was going to be severely culled I don’t think a single Celtic supporter didn’t believe James Forrest was going to be on the list of players cut. Far from being disappointed that he’s turned down a contract offer, many fans are flabbergasted that the club had actually put a four year deal on the table.
He didn’t deserve it, frankly.
A perennially injured winger who can barely make a cross … we have one of those already in Derk Boerrigter, who’s allegedly cost us the better part of £4 million in salary and transfer fee for a return that’s virtually non-existent.
James Forrest is one of Scottish football’s luckiest young players, in that he was able to make a nice living at Celtic Park up until now. It’s disloyal of him for a start, especially when we’ve been supportive of him during his hard times. Doubtless his agent can do better for him than what we put on the table, but that’s not a reflection on us; for once the board’s stinginess is fully justified. Instead, it’s the reality of football, especially in England, where clubs now pay outrageous wages and transfer fees for guys who, twenty years ago, would have been on the average worker’s salary.
Forrest won’t be eagerly sought after, even in this era. The top teams won’t be falling over themselves for his signature as they once might have been, He’ll attract, at best probably, a decent Championship side and he’ll make a comfortable living., as long as he stays fit.
We’ll see him on the telly every now and again, but in fifteen years time when people are playing Remember When and someone asks “What happened to James Forrest, the ex-Celtic player?” no-one is going to laugh because he scored a Premiership winning goal or got an assist in a Champions League semi-final.
“Oh him,” someone will say. “Where did he end up again? St Johnstone, wasn’t it?”
Good luck to him, I guess.
We’ve not had our money’s worth so far; I don’t expect we’d have got it over the course of a four year deal.
I’m more worried that our manager thought he was worth that.