Former Celtic striker Pierre van Hooijdonk recently appeared on ‘The Lockdown Tactics’ where he shared the reason behind his departure from the Hoops in March 1997.
Van Hooijdonk scored a total of 52 goals in 84 appearances for Celtic during his time at the club, however, he departed from the club in March 1997 with reports at the time claiming that ‘a bitter pay dispute’ resulted in his departure from Parkhead. An article from The Independent quoted the Dutchman as saying that the money that Celtic had offered him to extend his contract “might be enough for the homeless but not for an international striker”.
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Van Hooijdonk addressed his departure from Celtic during a recent appearance on The Lockdown Tactics, where he said: “I was not playing in the starting 11 for three weeks and just before that, I’d scored two goals for Holland against Wales to qualify for the World Cup ‘98.
“So actually, I’d just got back in the squad of the national team and then I was left out, so I called Guus Hiddink, who was our head coach, and I said ‘there’s interest’ – at that time I think it was West Ham and Nottingham Forest.
“I said ‘I’m here at Celtic, I’m not playing, what do you think is the best thing to do?’ He said, ‘if you play, it doesn’t matter if you go to Nottingham Forest,’ – their chances of going down were up big – ‘even if you go down to the Championship, if you play regularly and do your job, then I’ll take you to the World Cup in ‘98’.”
Van Hooijdonk went on to explain the importance that he placed upon playing in the 1998 World Cup, listing the names that would be a part of that Dutch squad, before stating: “I had to move on if I wanted to be a part of that squad in France ‘98.”
Do you believe that this is why Van Hooijdonk left Celtic in 1997?YES, I BELIEVE THIS
NO, I DON'T BELIEVE THIS
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TIF Thoughts…
Van Hooijdonk was ultimately included in the Netherlands’ squad for the 1998 World Cup and with that in mind, as well as his claim that the team’s manager Hiddink informed him that he needed more regular minutes than he had been getting at Celtic, it may be understandable if this played a part in the former striker making the decision to leave Celtic in 1997.