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Forster in the dark about Newcastle recall

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Fraser Forster Celtic newsFraser Forster is in the dark about his future.

The giant keeper is on loan until the end of the season but Newcastle have an option to recall him in January.

Newcastle’s first choice keeper Steve Harper hasn’t played since September after injuring his shoulder but was back on the bench for the recent 3-1 win over Liverpool.

Harper’s injury has given Tim Krul the chance to establish himself with new boss Alan Pardew vowing to stand by the young Dutch keeper.

“Tim performed well for me against Liverpool and made a couple of crucial saves and he has the jersey,” Pardew admitted.

“That is how it will stay until such time as Steve (Harper) has a bit more under his belt and Tim’s form dips, but at the moment he is OK.

“The policy is players will be picked on their contribution and not on reputation. That has to be the policy, because if I was a player here that is what I would want to see.”

Harper’s recovery from injury should leave Pardew with enough cover to see out the remainder of the season.

Forster spent last season on loan at Norwich and would rather stay at Celtic than go back to St James Park for a three way fight for one place in the team.

Pardew hasn’t  spoken to Forster yet but the big keeper is hoping to see out his season long loan in Glasgow.

“I don’t know for sure what’s going to happen to me,” Forster admitted. “ It depends on whether there’s another injury to a Newcastle keeper.

“I haven’t spoken to the new manager. He will be busy enough down there without thinking about me. I’ll speak to him soon.

“It has been a strange few weeks at Newcastle but nothing surprises me about the club any more. They’ve had something like 10 managers in the past five years.

“Chris Hughton was superb as manager and Paul Barron was a great goalkeeping coach. I’m sure both will go on to do great things.

“I’m sure Pardew will also do well. He has brought in Andy Woodman as goalkeeping coach and I’ll be speaking to him too.

“I’ve met Andy before and he will have seen me play. He may have a say about my future.

“I’d definitely like to stay at Celtic until the end of the season. There’s nothing better than playing every week. I’m fairly happy with my form but it’s not really for me to say.”

Barring injury Forster will start the new year in goals for Celtic against Rangers at Ibrox.

The derby match is already looking like a defining moment for Celtic’s season.

An unproven group of players have stuttered to three back-to-back home draws and face St Johnstone and Motherwell before their Ibrox test.

Neil Lennon is striving to get his side back to the winning ways that saw them win their first eight matches of the season with Forster desperate to hit the winning trail.

He added: “We need to put a run together and focus on ourselves. Rangers will have the Europa League to think about in the new year and we need to be ready to take advantage. It’s all about winning games.

“It may just take a couple of wins in a row to get our confidence high again. We need to do that in our next two games before we play Rangers at Ibrox.

“Both of the matches are at home and we must fancy ourselves to pick up points.”

Below, select your ten outfield players to face St Johnstone today assuming Fraser Forster is in goals.

[poll id= “12”]

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