He's man marked in every training ground move these days by a Chinese translator who calls himself Jimmy. Even for Gordon Forrest - a man who has now coached on FOUR continents - this is new territory.

The former Hearts coach has swapped Gorgie for Guangdong as the assistant boss of Chinese Super League side Shenzhen Peng City. And as far removed as his new job is from what he was used to at Tynecastle and before that Tannadice, the 47-year-old Scot insists he is right at home. Almost 6000 miles from home.

Incredibly Forrest was only out of a job at Hearts for 24 hours following Steven Naismith’s sacking back in September when the call from furthest flung Asia arrived.

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Shenzhen sporting director Daniel Stenz, a former colleague at Vancouver Whitecaps, was keen to add Forrest’s coaching expertise to the expanding skillset at Peng City.

Only seven years old the club were in relegation bother with three games remaining in their first ever season as a Super League team. Forrest jumped at the opportunity to join up with Christian Lattanzio, former assistant to Roberto Mancini at Manchester City, and after drawing two and winning the last of their three game run the duo had quickly achieved the challenge put before them.

That interim arrangement has now been made permanent and Forrest finds himself at one of the youngest clubs in the global powerhouse that is the City Group.

It’s a far cry from his first port of call with the New Zealand FA back in 2011 which saw his young family pack up and head to the other side of the globe before moving to Vancouver and then back to Scotland in the space of eight years.

This time he’s headed out to China alone with wife Claire teaching in Fife while son Jamie is making his way with Dundee United and daughters Carly and Katie are at school with the latter also on the books with Hearts girls.

Speaking to Record Sport, Forrest revealed how he’s broadening his horizons not only in a travelling sense but a footballing one too.

He said: “I think in Scotland we think we know everything. But it's a different world out there. There's 22 million people in Shenzhen alone. It's a fantastic city. Warm all year round. And the people are very, very welcoming. I love a challenge and this is a fantastic one. I got a taster for it with a six-week spell at the end of the season.

“I obviously didn’t want to lose my job at Hearts but these things happen in football. Incredibly I left my position at Hearts on a Sunday and the sporting director here phoned me on the Monday and I was in China by the Wednesday. It happened so quickly.

“We had a job to do to try and keep them in the Super League. We did that and they offered us to go out permanent. It’s worked out great and it’s now all about preparing for the new season. I’ve been used to working in different environments. But this is a whole new challenge.

“I’ve got a full-time translator, he's on my shoulder every minute of the day on pitch and off pitch. He’s great. His name is Mulan - but he calls himself Jimmy!

“He actually studied in Edinburgh for four years and went to a few Hearts games when he was there. We had him in for Christmas when I was back in Scotland. A great guy and crucial to how I get across to the players.

“How we put sessions together, how we do our video sessions, how we do our on-pitch sessions, how we do our reviews, is quite similar to back in Scotland. It's all football.

“But there's obviously a lot more that you need to prepare to get that information across to the players because of the different languages and the different culture. Within your squad in this league you’re allowed five foreigners and the rest have to be Chinese players.

“The quality can vary. It’s a bit like the MLS where you have your designated players, your young players below that. It's trying to piece together that squad. We've got a Serbian, an Israeli, we've got two Brazilians and a Spanish player. That's exciting, I’m really into that kind of development of players and young players as well.”

It’s been some journey over the past 14 years for Forrest with varying successes in New Zealand, Vancouver and Scotland. His four-year stop off in Edinburgh saw him help Robbie Neilson then Steven Naismith lead Hearts back into Europe three years running with two third places sandwiching a fourth spot finish.

There was also a Championship title and two Scottish Cup Final appearances in 2020 and 2022. But it all came to an abrupt end in September after a winless run that took everyone by surprise.

Forrest said: “Three European qualifications and two Scottish Cup finals - but it's the way football is. You've got to deal with that decision and you move on, that's it.

“What happened this season? It was a good summer and you can see the players that were signed, Penrice, Spittal, Dhanda, they're good players and sometimes it can just take a wee bit of time to settle in.

“The first game of the season we drew with Rangers but then we had a run of five league games where we never picked up the results and in between that we had two Euro games against Viktoria Plzn, they're a decent team, we were close in those games as well.

“Unfortunately in football the pressure sort of mounted and the club had to make a decision. You take it on the chin.

“We put a lot of work into what we do and a lot of pride into what we do and a lot of detail. But unfortunately it just didn't work out in those games.”

Luckily for Forrest that phone call that was to see him packing his boots again was only 24 hours away.

Mention the City Group to the average football fan and they will immediately think of Manchester City and Pep Guardiola. But Shenzhen are just one of 13 clubs now under the umbrella.

And Forrest said: “It’s a huge organisation. They invited me down to the City training ground where I met all the staff.

“There's obviously New York City, Melbourne City, Mumbai City, a team in Belgium, a team in France, a team in Brazil. Obviously Shenzhen is the Chinese team so it's great to be part of because you get good access to a lot of other ideas, a lot of other coaches a lot of good information in terms of recruitment.

“No, I’ve never seen Pep! They’re on a different level, those guys.

“But it's been exciting because the head coach here, Christian, he assisted Mancini at Man City and he assisted Patrick Vieira at New York.

“The last 13 years has been some journey. In 2011 I was working on coach education for the New Zealand FA. I coached at the London Olympics in 2012 and we were establishing ourselves in New Zealand but then I got a call from the Vancouver Whitecaps where Martin Rennie was manager and Paul Ritchie assistant.

“I was head coach of the 18's and 23’s, and coach development manager. But it changed quite quickly and Carl Robinson ended up taking the manager's job. He asked me to be his assistant and I had six seasons in the MLS which was fantastic.

“I think maybe three or four seasons out of the six we finished second in the Western Conference, we got to the semi-final of the CONCACAF Champions League.

“We sold Alphonso Davies to Bayern Munich. We had him as a kid from 13-years-old and gave him his debut. He's won the Champions League and a lot of things now. A great young kid and very talented.

“It’s been some journey, The family moved with me to New Zealand - when the kids were two, three and 12-weeks! They came with me to Canada and then back to Scotland, they've been everywhere.

“But now they're at that age and settled place in terms of how they're developing as young adults, but they'll come out to China. The club will get them out and they'll spend maybe the school holidays here.

“There’s been a few accents in their lives! But for now they’re best back in Scotland.”

Meanwhile, Forrest has no doubt Steven Naismith will bounce back from his Hearts sacking to prove he is a top young manager. The former Scotland striker stepped up from B team boss to replace Robbie Neilson two years ago at the age of just 36.

Having guided the Tynecastle club to a fourth place finish as interim he was handed the reigns on a permanent basis last season and secured a third place finish as well as two semi finals.

The former Hearts, Rangers and Everton striker was handed a new deal at the start of the season. But after a poor start that saw the Jambos take just one point from their opening six league games he was bulleted along with assistants Frankie McAvoy and Forrest.

Naismith has refused to jump straight back in but has spent time studying other coaches and preparing for his next chance. And Forrest said: “Naisy’s a top young manager, 100 per cent he will bounce back.

“You can see that from his record. He finished fourth in the league after taking over but then to finish third in his first season as a young manager, I can only be quite biased on it, but it's fantastic.

“He’s got good experience in the game, very passionate, good with the players and good ideas.

“There was not a great run at the start of the season but it was six league games. We drew with Rangers in the first game, there was a lot of players settling in, all that kind of stuff.

“But, as you know, maybe that is a wee bit different in Scottish football compared to what I see in the MLS, in China and abroad is that the time comes quite quickly to you if you're losing games which you kind of get it

“But Naisy will bounce back well because he's very good at what he does.”