Welcome back to Footballers That Time Forgot, a weekly feature on Balls.ie that takes a look at former professional footballers who are the type of player you had endless duplicates of in your Premier League stickers swaps pile, but all of them made a name for themselves at a high level, and most of them now have quite an interesting occupation or are up to something different.
This week we will be looking at former Celtic and Nottingham Forest hero Pierre Van Hooijdonk.
Breda Beginnings
Van Hooijdonk signed his first professional contract with his boyhood club NAC Breda, after joining from amateur side RBC Roosendaal, and instantly found his feet in the the professional game. Pierre netted an impressive 81 goals in 115 games over four seasons with NAC, helping the club to promotion to the Eredivisie in 1993. In his last season with the club, Van Hooijdonk set a league record for goals in consecutive games at 11, and in December 1994 was called up to the Dutch national team. He was catching the eye of a number of clubs around Europe.
One Of The Bhoys
On January 11, 1995, Pierre Van Hooijdonk made his Celtic debut against Hearts and had an instant impact by scoring a brilliant goal. Celtic fans loved him, and why wouldn't they? The big Dutch striker bagged 44 goals in 69 appearances. Van Hooijdonk scored the only goal in the 1995 Scottish Cup Final win over Airdrie, which was Celtic's first trophy for six years. The next season the Dutchman top scored in the SPL with 32 goals, but things soon turned sour after a falling out with Celtic owner Fergus McCann resulted in his departure after he famously said:
The £7000 a week I earn may be good enough for a homeless person, but not for an International striker.
Yikes.
Nottingham Enigma
Pierre Van Hooijdonk joined Nottingham Forest from Celtic in a deal believed to be worth around £4.5m, and he joined with Forest deep in relegation trouble in the 1996/97 season. Van Hooijdonk only scored one goal in the eight games he played as Forest were relegated, but he pledged his future to helping the club back to the top and he delivered at the very first time of asking by bagging 34 goals in a successful promotion campaign, but things weren't going as planned. Van Hooijdonk had been promised top signings that had not arrived, and as he was worried about the lack of investment, he asked for a transfer. When his request was denied, Van Hooijdonk made a decision that would be the most memorable of his career, he decided to go on strike. After being ridiculed in the British press, and as Forest were refusing to sell him, Van Hooijdonk agreed to return to the team in November, although Forest were deep in relegation trouble again. He couldn't keep the club afloat, and his time in English football was finished.
Back To The Homeland
After a brief stint with Benfica in Portugal, Pierre Van Hooijdonk returned to Holland to join Feyenoord, and was instrumental in the side's 2001/02 UEFA Cup win, scoring a number of great goals along the way including this trademark free-kick against Freiburg:
And this absoltue beaut against Galatasaray:
A Hero In Turkey
Van Hooijdonk joined Fenerbache at the beginning of the 2003/04 season and scored 24 goals in his first season on the way to back to back Championship wins, the first (and second) of his career. He was given the nickname "Aziz Pierre" or "Saint Pierre" by the Fener fans who still hold him in high regard to this day.
He moved back to Holland to see out his playing career and retired as a NAC Breda player at the end of the 2006/07 season.
His strike record is truly impressive, he got goals everywhere he went.
Life After Football
In 2008 a story broke in May 2008 it was reported that Pierre Van Hooijdonk had become a victim of fraud. Apparently he invested in a Chinese textile company that did not exist, and Dutch police said that he is believed to have lost millions of Euro as a result.
He now works as a football pundit for Eredivisie Live and has a major personal beef with Robin Van Persie.
