IT wasn’t so long ago that the prospect of staggered training sessions, daily temperature checks and twice-weekly virus tests would have been looked upon as alien concepts. That is the new normality for Celtic’s players though, not that they mind one bit.

If jumping through such hoops is what it takes to get back to doing what they love best, then according to James Forrest, that is exactly what they will do.

The winger and his teammates have been looking on with envy as other leagues around the world start to emerge from the coronavirus shutdown, albeit behind closed doors, and he can’t wait to get back to something like the real thing once more once the SPFL Premiership finally gets underway once more in August.

Forrest has given an insight into what life is like for the Celtic players in the meantime as they adjust to the changes around their Lennoxtown training ground, and prepare for the long-awaited opportunity to get back playing competitive football once more.

“It’s positive when you see football in Germany, Spain and England starting back again,” Forrest said. “I think when you see other countries playing it’s encouraging.

“We are taking slightly more time in Scotland, but rightly so. Making sure everyone is safe is the most important thing. But it’s good that clubs are starting back training now.

“We have been back in over a week and other clubs are now training as well. It has given everyone a boost, the players and obviously the fans as well.

“We haven’t seen each for so long. Everyone was buzzing to get back to training. It is obviously social distancing training just now and we are all training in different groups. But everyone is just so delighted to be back at the training ground and back out on the pitch.

“Because it is pre-season it has actually worked fine. They have put a lot of thought into it. We are in four or five different groups of four or five players.

“It has gradually got harder every day. The boys have been enjoying it and I am sure it will just keep getting better. Hopefully we can do more as the different lockdown phases get released.

“They have worked it out well. There are different times for different groups – there is morning, midday and afternoon. The boys have been changing groups, so you are training with different personnel. It has also been position based as well. Everyone has adapted to it.

“Everyone has their own slots. We all get our temperature checked. There is security at Lennoxtown as well. Everything has been really strict. We are getting tested twice a week as well. But everyone knows that is what we need to do, and we are all buying into it.”

Given the length of time that Scottish football has been placed into a state of suspension, it isn’t only the players who are desperate to get going again. But Forrest fully understands why the start of the next campaign has been pencilled in for August, giving the players time to get back to full fitness.

Although, he admits that his rather unique running style wasn’t best suited to some of the challenges laid down by Celtic’s sports scientists.

“If you ask anyone they will all tell you the same thing – you can keep fit but when you come back in to training it is totally different,” he said. “You need a good few weeks of proper training to get up to speed.

“But the sports scientists and training staff have been really good. We were away for 10 to 12 weeks and they kept us up to date and were constantly freshening things up. They kept putting wee challenges into our programmes. That was good.

“They gave us running schedules. They would do 5k challenges and the staff would get involved as well. Greg (Taylor) and Ryan (Christie) were always up at the top. Me? It’s not my type of running!

“Everyone has come back in great shape. We can kick on now and hopefully start contact training and training in bigger groups.”

Another man who returned to training with Celtic ahead of the imminent expiry of his loan deal at the club is Southampton winger Mohamed Elyounoussi, and Neil Lennon has said that the prospect of both him and St Mary’s goalkeeper Fraser Forster both returning north to the club for next term is not unrealistic.

Despite the increased competition for a place on the flank that would bring in the case of Elyounoussi, Forrest is hoping that his club can pull the deals off.

“We have got a big squad full of big players,” he said. “We see the players in training who are looking to get into the team and they are quality.

“That keeps you on your toes, makes sure you perform in both training and in matches. We know we have players who are ready to come in and take your place and raring to go.

“There are usually new signings who come in during the summer and it freshens up the squad and keeps everyone energised. But if that doesn’t happen because of the current situation then we have still got the squad that we need to do well next season.

“The manager brought in a few players last summer and we know the quality of the players who can come in. Obviously, Fraser and Mo were great for us last season and it would be good to get them back if the club can sort that.”