Scotland rugby star shares how James Forrest made the decision to quit Celtic easy

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James Forrest’s rise at Celtic is something of a fairy tale story.

Progressing through the Celtic Academy, Forrest is the original one-club man as he has spent his entire career at Parkhead.

Forrest was crowned Celtic’s most decorated player this season after the winger picked up his 26th major domestic honour this season after the Hoops’ runaway Scottish Premiership title win.

However, a former academy player has revealed how the legendary winger made his decision to quit Celtic easy after what Forrest used to do to him in training.

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Why Scotland rugby star Duncan Weir got ‘fed up’ with Celtic legend James Forrest

Scotland rugby star and Glasgow Warriors fly-half Duncan Weir was once on the books at Celtic as a youngster.

A central defender, Weir came through the Celtic ranks with James Forrest and here he shares how the iconic winger used to tear him to shreds in training.

When asked if it was tough to quit football for rugby, Weir joked on Superscoreboard [32m 57s], “Well, probably more at Kilmarnock than Celtic.

“I mean, James Forrest was in my team and I would get fed up with him nutmegging me every two seconds. And the calibre of player at Celtic was obviously a lot higher than Kilmarnock.

“I mean, my Kilmarnock team had Jamie Ness in it, who was an absolute Rolls Royce in the middle of the pitch. He went down to Man United for trials. So, I think at that time I probably would have gone away from Celtic if I was going to go down the route of football.

“I was a centre half back then. Obviously, I’ve not grown an inch since. So they probably saw that with a nice right foot, I’d have probably been a right-back or something like that.”

The Celtic line up when James Forrest made his first team debut

Forrest made his Celtic debut in a 4-0 goalscoring win over Motherwell at Parkhead in 2010.

Over 500 appearances later, that Celtic side looks far different from the one fans are used to seeing this season.

Here is how the Hoops lined up that day:

• Celtic starting XI: Boruc, Hinkel, Braafheid, Thompson, O’Dea, Brown, Zhi, McGeady, (Forrest 81), Samaras, Fortune, Rasmussen

• Celtic Substitutes: Zaluska, Wilson, McGinn, Ki, Keane, Kamara, Forrest