Yahoo Sport 
James Forrest reveals secret Celtic exit plan hatched by Scott Brown and the unfinished business he still has at Parkhead
James Forrest ignored the call from one Celtic legend because he’s more determined to catch up with a couple of other Hoops heroes.
The Celtic star revealed he had old pal Scott Brown on the phone chancing his arm by trying to tempt the winger to sign for his Ayr United side before the contract extension came up at Parkhead instead. Forrest told Broony to hold fire for a while yet as he still has unfinished business with Celtic – like equalling incredible records held by legends Paul McStay and Jimmy McGrory.
The pair of them netting in 16 consecutive seasons for the club – and Forrest can hit that target by opening his account this term. The wide man from Prestwick could have been up the road at Somerset Park instead if Brown had his way. Forrest said: “Aye, he actually phoned me, I think he asked me last January, February if I'd go down! What was my answer? Just no yet! I don't even think he said I would get a game, he said I could compete for a place!”
Forrest is still well in the mix at Parkhead and fans were willing him to hit the net in Saturday’s 5-0 stroll against Ross County. It didn’t come but the 33-year-old admitted he’s keen to hit another incredible landmark.
Forrest said: “Has it been on my mind? Maybe just recently. A few folk have mentioned it but it's one where obviously as an attacking player you want to be scoring and assisting.
“But I've been really enjoying this season, the minutes I’ve got, the games I've been involved in. It's not in my head as a stat, it's more to help the team as a fellow player.
"Obviously it's a good start to the season overall, but I need to get my finger out and make sure I score this season! It's class when you're put in a bracket with those names with different stats, but hopefully we can have another conversation after I've done it.”
There would be no better time to do it than at Pittodrie tonight where Celtic can blast seven points clear of the Dons in the Premiership title race. Forrest has a habit of scoring big goals and no one would put it past him.
The attacker – who has over 100 goals and 100 assists for Celts – said: “Definitely, it would be a good one. I'm in December now and as I said, I've just probably started thinking about it in the last couple of games that I haven’t scored.
“But I'm feeling good and as I said, if you were missing chances then that would be more worrying. So, hopefully it will come against Aberdeen, that would be good.”
Forrest is also used to huge goals against the Dons – like last season’s stunning strike in the Scottish Cup Final that helped spark his revival towards the end of the Double winning campaign. He said: “Aye, I think I've scored against Aberdeen a couple of times at Hampden.
“It's a big game so hopefully if I get a chance to make an impact then I can try and score. I think I'd come on in a few games before the semi-final, but I think that was the real turning point.
“It was a semi-final at Hampden and then the run-in to go in the league after that as well. So, for me personally and I think for the team as well, I think after that we kind of kicked on from there and it was a really good end to the season.”
It’s been going great guns this term and Forrest is playing his part again. It was no surprise to see him rewarded with another year on his deal that was due up at the end of this campaign.
The wide man’s numbers in terms of speed and distance covered are still as high as they ever were – and he’s still give rockets like Daizen Maeda and Nicolas Kuhn a run for their money in a sprint.
And that means Forrest is not thinking too far ahead about the prospect of maybe dropping down the levels once he reaches the end of his new contract. He said: “I can remember talking to older players in the Scotland squad at times, I think there can maybe be certain stages, somebody's maybe felt at 31, 32 that they maybe didn't feel as great and then at 34 they started feeling a bit better.
“I think you can feel that in your career at different times, even late 20s you can sometimes feel different seasons you can feel better than others as well. As long as I'm feeling good, I want to keep going. If I wasn't feeling good or I wasn't contributing, the club and the manager and the staff would be quick to tell me as well.
“It's hard to put an age on it when I think I'll play to, I think you just kind of see what happens. I think I saw Aiden McGeady a couple of years ago and he still looked sharp at 35, 36, so you never know to be honest.
“I've thought about that as well, but I've heard other players say that too, that they just think they want to stay at a certain level and they don't want to drop down, but then it's maybe that one where you feel as though you can still give and still play.
“I'm not at that stage yet, and hopefully not for a wee bit, but I don't think so. But as I said, I'm not sure! I want to just give everything I've got to Celtic and see what happens.”
