This article was first published today in our bespoke Sports newsletter The Fixture. You can sign up in seconds to receive it straight to your inbox every weekday here.  

The first and, from memory, only testimonial The Fixture can recall attending was George Best's at Windsor Park in August 1988. The teams that gathered that summer's night in Belfast played under the titles of, predictably, the George Best XI and an International XI. It was a night redolent of something from same-era Roy of the Rovers with Ossie Ardiles, Rudi Krol, Pat Jennings, Liam Brady, Paul Breitner, Emlyn Hughes, Johan Neeskens and Trevor Francis all lining up.

It had all of the hardy perennials of staple testimonial fare: a goal for the chief protagonist, an obligatory penalty at six goals each, a number of recently retired stars (some still capable of kicking a ball and others utterly incapable), a few party tricks such as the former Rangers winger Willie Henderson trapping the ball with his bum and a guest appearance from someone who would not normally be allowed anywhere near a pitch: Best's long-standing agent, the Glaswegian Bill McMurdo.

The above description neatly sums up the anachronistic nature of the testimonial football match and, yet, it is something far more prevalent to the modern game that really hammers home the sense that they belong in the annals of history. Traditionally, the testimonial was a device to reward a veteran player with a healthy payment as they neared the end of their career: it was both a chance for supporters to say thank you and for clubs to write a cheque as a form of payment for services rendered or missed transfer fee for remaining loyal to the one club. Often the testimonial coincided with a player's retirement or came in the aftermath of their careers. Today, they are far more scarce chiefly because players no longer tend to stay at clubs for the requisite 10 years – yet last night a Celtic player, James Forrest, played 49 minutes in his: a pre-season warm up against Athletic Bilbao.

Celtic have a rich history of providing the opposition in testimonials and have done so for such luminaries as Bobby Moore, Ron Yeats, Bobby Charlton, Jack Charlton and Alfredo Di Stefano over the years. But it says something about how rarely these matches occur that the last time they hosted one of their own was for a match honouring the late Tommy Burns in May 2009 with the proceeds going to charity.

The problem with scheduling a testimonial in the week leading up to the start of the SPFL Premiership season is that all the pantomime element of the testimonial is removed: well, except perhaps Forrest receiving the man of the match award for a match in which he contributed little.

The Herald:

It was to be the only element of scripting in the favour of the eponymous hero whose name was emblazoned on the tickets for last night's game at Parkhead – and so it proved when Athletic Club took the lead through Unai Gomez after only three minutes. There was an element of uncertainty contained in Celtic's starting line-up, not least with the headline act, Forrest – making only his second start of pre-season – stationed on the right wing. It used to be said that Celtic did not play friendlies but when they equalised through Reo Hatate only to concede an Iker Munian goal seconds later it was a maxim that did not hold up to much scrutiny. 

In the second-half, Brendan Rodgers brought on Liel Abada and Yang Hyun-jun, two players who will have a greater say than Forrest over who occupies the wide berth for Celtic this season, especially if the South Korean's contribution to Celtic's comeback from 2-1 deficit to 3-2 advantage – with Alex Bernabei and David Turnbull on target – is a marker of things to come in the season ahead.

This is not to downplay Forrest's contribution as a whole, though. Anyone who plays more than 450 games for Celtic – placing him among the top 15 appearance makers in club history – and wins 22 major trophies has done something right over the years.

Also on that list is Callum McGregor – whose recent new contract at Parkhead could take him to 18 years of first-team service at the club and will trigger a testimonial for the captain. It will likely be a similarly long time before a Celtic player's next testimonial is due – if such a thing even exists in the football of the future.