Former Nottingham Forest forward Pierre van Hooijdonk has spoken about his displeasure playing under Dave Bassett during his spell with the club. The Dutchman spent two seasons with Nottingham Forest, and despite his goals he will be best remembered for going on strike.
In an interview with FourFourTwo, van Hooijdonk was asked about the reasons why he went strike. The forward said he didn’t like the set up at Nottingham Forest, and revealed they didn’t nothing in training despite winning the Division One title in 1998.
However, van Hooijdonk refused to give credit to Bassett, and suggested winning the league was down to the players.
“We were doing F*** all in training. People say we became champions, but so what? If you were to change all the managers in the league for cats, at the end of the season there will still be one champion and three will get relegated,” said the ex-Holland international.
Following their promotion to the Premier League, van Hooijdonk went on strike after claiming Nottingham Forest had promised to listen to offers from other clubs.
Van Hooijdonk did return to action later on the season, but couldn’t help prevent Nottingham Forest dropping back down to Division One.
