As Celtic continue their preparations for the new season ahead at their training camp in Portugal, Brendan Rodgers took time out to praise James Forrest as the Celtic legend’s testimonial date approaches.
The Celtic manager paid tribute to Forrest and urged fans to fill the stadium on the 1st of August and after speaking about Forrest’s future on his return to Celtic, Rodgers reaffirmed that the 32-year-old winger will still have a huge part to play in his squad moving into the new season.
Rodgers said [Celtic FC], “James has been an absolutely brilliant ambassador and player for the club.
“I think that sometimes when you come through the system you maybe don’t quite get the accolades of some others, but when you play the number of games he has for Celtic, win the trophies that he’s won and still be as humble as he is, that’s a great testament to James and the type of person he is.
‘He was absolutely brilliant for me in my first time here, a very important member of the squad and he will be that again this time.
“So I really hope for his testimonial game we get as many people there as we can, because you won’t see it too many times in the modern game – someone being at the club for so long.
“I think he’s worthy of getting that stadium full, and hopefully we can do that and that will be a great thing from every Celtic supporter and fan to him. And I think he’ll have a really good impact for us this season as well and going forward.”
Celtic will face Athletic Club at Parkhead as they honour a player who has spent his whole career at the club.
Over his 21 years at the club, Forrest has become one of the most decorated players in our history and was involved in every one of the second nine-a-row seasons.
And as the Celtic manager touched on, Forrest was also a major player for him during his first tenure at the club.
Tickets for the game are still on general sale and there is plenty of availability for supporters who want to go along and pay tribute to one of the longest current serving players.
In other news, “Maybe Celtic’s that place for him” – Neil Lennon on recent links with Donny van de Beek
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