BOTH were born in Ayrshire. Both made their Hoops debut at 18, both played their first full season at 19, both passed the 350-appearance mark in a green and white jersey, both made history for the finest team in Scotland. Despite playing at Paradise decades apart, the parallels between James Forrest and club legend Bobby Lennox, both wingers, are tangible.

In 2017, Celtic broke their own 100-year-old record by playing 69 games without defeat. In 2019, they clinched a third successive treble – a feat never before achieved in Scottish football – and lifted the Scottish Cup with the numbers 5 and 9 emblazoned on their shorts, in memory of the late Billy McNeill and Stevie Chalmers. Better still, the Treble Treble was secured on May 25, a date synonymous with Bobby Lennox and his fellow European Cup-winning Lisbon Lions.

Now, Neil Lennon’s men have won nine consecutive league titles, equalling the Scottish football record first set by those legendary Celts five decades ago. Of the current crop, only club captain Scott Brown and James Forrest have played in all nine of the current multi-triumph run, similar to Billy McNeill, Jimmy Johnstone and Bobby Lennox of Jock Stein’s great team.

For Bobby Lennox, James Forrest embodies everything that Celtic stands for, and everything that sets the club apart from the competition. James is exciting, he’s direct and he’s entertaining. He reminds the Lisbon Lion of the type of winger he was, and, ultimately, he’s the type of player that Hoops fans will gladly pay money to see play.

“James is a player who’s always impressed me,” said Lennox. “He’s aggressive, direct, and he plays with the attacking style that our team always tried to play with. We talk about players who can get bums off seats, he’s the type of player who does that, and he’s also the type of player who gets them through the turnstiles in the first place.

"He does his job very well, and I really like him. He looks a threat in every game he plays now, every time he gets the ball.”

Another boon, as for as Lennox sees it, is Forrest’s Ayrshire roots. Forrest was born and raised in Prestwick, while Bobby grew up in nearby coastal town Saltcoats. The highly-decorated European Cup winner, of course, welcomes world-class players to Celtic from far and wide, but nonetheless will always have a soft spot for those from his neck of the woods.

“We’ve got big Roy Aitken, wee Mark Reid, Jamesy and myself all from the same part of the world, so we must be doing something right!” Lennox added. “It’s nice for us Ayrshire boys to get into the Glasgow lot and show them how it’s done!

“And listen, if any of the Glasgow mob want a beach or a boat trip for the day, where do they go? Largs, Troon, Saltcoats. You get good air and good lungs in Ayrshire, and James proves that on the pitch every week. He never stops running!

“I think the great thing about James is his commitment to the club. He’s been here from such a young age, and, not long after he broke into the senior team, he decided to move nearer Lennoxtown. That commute wasn’t workable for a professional player, but to move out of home at such a young age, that’s not easy. He was committed to the club and to his football, and he deserves all the credit he gets for that.”

Bobby Lennox hails fellow winger and Ayrshire boy James Forrest