Fraser Forster couldn’t hide his joy as Celtic came up on the official Tottenham Hotspur podcast.
The ex-Hoops goalkeeper was the special guest on the ‘Off The Shelf’ show hosted by Paul Miles and former Spurs player Michael Dawson.
Forster is currently on the books of the Premier League side and got to run through the exceptional career that has brought him to this point.
Inevitably, the subject of Celtic came up. And we got some talking up as host Miles volunteered, “I always say to people you can’t underestimate the size of Celtic Football Club”, before asking Forster to speak about us.
“Yeah, massive,” the England cap then said. “Like you say, I think until you go and see that football club for what it is you’ll never believe it.
“It’s massive and then some. You’re going into an environment where you have to win every game. You’ve got Rangers across the city — if they win you have to win.
“I walked in the door there. Obviously, I was still quite young in goalkeeping terms. You’re going in and playing with international players, so it was tough to find that bit of confidence. I had to go from being a young lad to being a number one.
“But yeah, a huge club and I obviously loved my time there. The fans are so passionate and you build that connection with them.” (Tottenham Hotspur)
Forster loved his first spell in Glasgow so much that he returned for a season-long loan in 2019/20. That later stint was cut short by the pandemic before we endured a horror season in the keeper department and eventually arrived at Joe Hart the following summer.
On his day, Forster was genuinely world-class. There’s a fair old debate to be had about whether he was even better than Artur Boruc, but the pair are certainly our best shot-stoppers of the 21st century.
He was never particularly loud or brash in either spell. He just made incredible save after incredible save, with his two best performances undoubtedly Barcelona in 2012 and the League Cup final against Rangers in 2019. We wouldn’t have won either without him.
It’s a shame that he isn’t getting much game time under Ange Postecoglou this season. He’s far too good a keeper to be sitting on the bench.
In other news, Giakoumakis vs Celtic star, Lennoxtown bragging rights; three international matches to watch
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