Graft and dedication behind Forster meteoric rise
Every Celtic fan will be delighted Fraser Forster was included in the England World Cup squad. Fraser joined Celtic on loan four years ago, becoming a permanent member of staff in 2012. His transformation over that period has been remarkable, which is no fluke.
He is the most dedicated footballer at the club. First in each morning, around 2.5 hours before official start time, he’s also last out of Lennoxtown almost every day. He is possibly the most complete 365-day-a-year athlete we’ve ever had. This is a player who has set high personal achievement goals and has allowed no distractions to get in his way.
Enormous credit also has to go to the man who has guided him through his meteoric rise in recent seasons, goalkeeper coach Stevie Woods. Without the focus, technical development and remedial work Stevie has added to Fraser’s development we would not have nearly as effective a goalkeeper between the sticks.
It is never good to see anyone lose their job but surely the decision for Hearts to sack Gary Locke was one of the easiest to come out of Anne Budge’s 120 minute review (which was more productive than one 120 day review). Hearts early and late season form, where they comfortably recorded victories against most of their peer group, told a tale of what happened for six months of the season, when the team failed to show up.
Locke had the resources to keep his team in the league this season but found every excuse available to ensure they finished bottom.
I’m less sure Danny Lennon deserved to be hooked. The gap between St Mirren’s 8th placed finish with 39 points and Hibs on 35 points is narrow, but when he needed to dig deep, Lennon was not found wanting. St Mirren might not be so fortunate with their next guy.
Tommy Gemmell
We are going to have the one and only Tommy Gemmell on the blog on Friday afternoon between 13:00 and 16:00. He’ll be available to take your questions and talk about life, football and anything else you care to bring up. Tune in.
Issue 20 of CQN Magazine, CQLisboN, is out and enjoying great reviews. Click here to read for FREE.
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