I stand by my Forest strike, but I love the club and will be cheering them on vs Huddersfield, says Pierre van Hooijdonk

PIERRE VAN HOOIJDONK will be digging out his Nottingham Forest scarf and hoping for a big celebration tomorrow — just like he had 24 years ago.

Then it was on the City Ground pitch as he was mobbed at the end of their final home game.

Forest had clinched promotion to the top flight powered by his incredible 29 league goals.

While things would turn sour the following season he has never forgotten that 1997-98 campaign, the last time Forest fans had anything to really shout about.

Van Hooijdonk said: “It was a great season and what’s happening now reminds me a lot of that time.

“The atmosphere in the ground is fantastic just as it was then. They also have a great team as we did.

“It was an incredible race to get over the line then with ourselves, Middlesbrough and Sunderland all pushing each other. We clinched the second promotion spot but it was a real tough run.”

The following season was their last in the Premier League. They have not been near a return, not even a play-off final, until now.

Van Hooijdonk, 52, said: “It is unbelievable for a club of that size and history. I remember growing up watching their two European Cup final wins.

“I still remember the song We’ve Got The Whole World In Our Hands with the players names put in the lyrics.

“When I was there I could always sense that history from Brian Clough’s days.”

Glory days for this club seem, and are, a very long time ago.

Which is probably why there is this outpouring of emotion in Nottingham now as they are finally on the verge of being back among the big boys.

They are in tomorrow’s play-off final against Huddersfield courtesy of a tense semi-final second leg penalty shootout win over Sheffield United.

Van Hooijdonk, now a successful TV pundit in Holland, said: “I was watching it. Incredible! I love these end-of-season games.

“I still felt part of it because it was Forest. I just hope they can get the job done now.

“I watched Huddersfield’s semi- final first leg against Luton and did not think they looked as good as Forest.

"This is a very exciting team Steve Cooper has and up front Brennan Johnson is fantastic.

If I had been an ass I would never have stayed and helped the club get promotion

Pierre van Hooijdonk

“The only way they will lose is if they choke. It can happen.”

Talking so positively about Forest it is easy to forget Van Hooijdonk famously went on strike for the first three months of the season after they were promoted.

He wants people to understand why. He had arrived at the end of the 1996-97 season but could not stop them from going down.

The following season he stayed to get them up. But he did not enjoy the coaching under then-manager Dave Bassett and believes the club also reneged on an agreement to let him go after the promotion.

Van Hooijdonk said: “I realised in the December of that promotion season that I was not going to improve as a player.

“I always wanted to push myself and while the games were great there was nothing happening in training in between.

“Some of the players might have liked that and been used to it but I wasn’t.

"There was an offer for me from PSV Eindhoven in the December but the club asked me to stay to help them go up and then they would let me go.

“I kept to my side of the bargain but when Newcastle came in for me that summer with a £7million offer they asked for £10m and the chance was gone.

“Meanwhile our captain Colin Cooper was sold to Middlesbrough and Kevin Campbell was sold to Trabzonspor.”

Van Hooijdonk did eventually come back but the team was in a mess and heading out of the league.

He added: “When I came back I met with all the players, explained myself and said if anyone had an issue to speak up.

“Only Geoff Thomas said he did not agree with what I had done and we had a discussion.

“They all knew the sort of person I was. If I had been an ass I would never have stayed and helped the club get promotion.

“For some fans, of course, the relationship did not recover but I want them to understand and know I still remember that promotion season so fondly and I will be cheering them on this Sunday.

“They play good football and if they go up I believe they have the right structure in the way they play, similar to Brentford, to stay up. I hope it all happens.”

Van Hooijdonk will be at Wembley. Well, not Pierre, but his son Sydney.

The 22-year-old plays for Bologna, but like his dad, this weekend, he will be a Forest fan.