Focused Fraser Forster aims high at Celtic

HE ADMITS it might be difficult to keep his head down in the Glasgow hot-house, but new 6ft 7in Celtic goalkeeper Fraser Forster is also aiming to act the big man in a two-way tussle for a first-team jersey.

• Fraser Forster, who has joined Celtic on loan from Newcastle, is buoyed by his exploits during previous periods away from St James' Park Picture: SNS

Forster has not left Newcastle United on a year's loan to spend a season planted on the substitutes' bench. While he has been given no guarantee that he will usurp present incumbent Lukasz Zaluska, the pressure is on the Pole.

Indeed, Zaluska will be very conscious of the long shadow hovering over him as he keeps goal tomorrow night in Utrecht, with Forster unable to play in the second leg of the Europa League play-off. But, confirmed Forster yesterday, the new goalkeeper is in the travelling party and will train with the team this evening.

Zaluska's recent burst of three successive clean sheets has come at exactly the right time, for the 22-year-old Forster has a good record of dislodging rivals for the first-team gloves. He has done so when on loan at Bristol Rovers, Stockport County and Norwich City, where he helped former Celtic midfielder Paul Lambert's side to the League One title last season. He also lifted the players' player of the year award.

It goes without saying that he elicited Lambert's thoughts on a move to Parkhead when the deal was first mooted at the end of last week. "I spoke to him twice last week, including on Saturday night," Forster said. "He obviously told me a lot about the club and said I should get straight up there and sign the papers."

Which is what Hexham-born Forster, who signed a five-year contract with Newcastle just 12 months ago, did. Now he is setting his sights on something he has become used to doing - playing first-team football. The prospect of a season spent sitting on the bench at best at Newcastle, where another local boy, Steve Harper, is currently first-choice and former Falkirk loanee Tim Krul is understudy, did not appeal. He is relishing the security and opportunity which a year's loan provides, with Newcastle unable to call Forster back in the event of injuries.

"Obviously there are keepers here already," said Forster. "Lukasz has already got the shirt and I have to get that off him and prove to the gaffer that I am worthy of the shirt. The only way I can do that is by doing it on the training pitch. I spoke to the manager (Neil Lennon] briefly before I came up here, and obviously again since I have been up here. It is just about providing competition. Me and the other keepers will work and push each other and it will hopefully benefit everyone and make us better players.

"I said all along that I wanted to be playing games," he continued. "I have sat on the bench for Newcastle. I had about 50 games on the bench before I went to Norwich, so I feel I have done that. There's nothing like playing for a team that's doing well and in front of a crowd. That is what I hope to do here. You want to test yourself. I had a season [playing regularly] last season and that was fantastic. This is another level. You have to push yourself and see where it takes you."

There was some talk of Forster going back to Norwich, but talks between the clubs broke down. Forster was also on the verge of joining Burnley. "I met Brian Laws," he said. "But it did not come to anything in the end. There were a couple of injuries at Newcastle. That's football really. Things come and go."

Forster jumped at the chance to sign for Celtic, despite growing up a Newcastle fan and being associated with the St James' Park club since the age of 17. This is when he first played a trial for the club, his chances of making an impression having been improved by a growth spurt midway through his teens. "I shot up quite late - about 15, 16," he recalled. "I started growing and kept on growing. I haven't seemed to stop growing. But hopefully that is me done now.

"There are pros and cons [to being so tall]. I work hard on the training pitch to make everything a pro. I am pretty agile for my size - hopefully I will prove that." He has other ambitions, such as catching the eye of England at a time when Fabio Capello has goalkeeper issues. Forster has been not been capped at any level so far. "My priority is to do well for Celtic," he said. "If I do that it's up to someone else whether they want to pick me or not [for England]."

He will travel with the team to Holland today and train with them tonight in a bid to get to know his new team-mates as quickly as possible. When he returns he will begin to engage with life as an Old Firm footballer, though one unlikely to be hassled in the way which helped drive Aiden McGeady from Glasgow.

"Even if I keep my head down I will be struggling [to avoid being noticed]", he said. "But I am not one for going out - I just keep myself to myself really."