Whilst Celtic fans await transfer news about their own club, a huge transfer story involving Liverpool and Newcastle has dragged the Parkhead club’s name into it.
Alexander Isak has taken a hard-line stance with Newcastle United after the club blocked a £110m move to Liverpool.
Since then, The Standard has reported that Isak has told Newcastle he will never play for them again and it reminded Jim White of a story involving a former Celtic player back in the late 90s.
Speaking about Isak’s stance with Newcastle, the talkSPORT host was taken back to a story involving ex-Celtic striker Pierre van Hooijdonk and how he tried to force a move from Nottingham Forest.
And it’s one Isak really should listen to.
CELTIC PHOTOCALL
1995: PORTRAIT OF PIERRE VAN HOOIJDONK TAKEN AT THE 1995 – 1996 CELTIC PHOTOCALL. Mandatory Credit: Allsport UK/ALLSPORT
Newcastle’s Alexander Isak sent warning about former Celtic star Pierre van Hooijdonk
Celtic fans will fondly remember Pierre van Hooijdonk for the goal he scored in the 1996 Scottish Cup final that ended a six-year trophy drought.
However, it was the big Dutchman’s antics at Nottingham Forest that made White send the want-away Newcastle man a warning.
White told talkSPORT, “Do you know something? This took me back, and I think Isak’s got to be careful.
“Because it took me back to, I think it was 97/98 I had just gone to Sky. Pierre van Hooijdonk, once of Celtic, then at Nottingham Forest, he was successful initially at Forest.
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“He said he’d been told previously he could leave the club and that the club’s owners had failed to deliver on the promises in regards to strengthening [the team].
“Forest played hardball. Refused to allow him to be transfer listed again. But he went back over to Holland and trained with NEC Breda, virtually, saying, ‘Tell me when this is all sorted’.
“It wasn’t sorted and the club won the day. He had to come back, and he played for them again. Not for long. But he had to come back.”
Jordan: “I would suggest the dynamics have changed. Players have got more control of their own destiny 27 years after that event.”
White: “It’s a very similar situation, isn’t it.”
What happened to Pierre van Hooijdonk after forcing Celtic exit
Van Hooijdonk left Celtic as a 90s icon for Nottingham Forest after burning his bridges with Fergus McCann over a new contract.
After Nottingham Forest, the Dutch striker then moved to Vitesse Arnhem in 1999 and in 2000 joined Portuguese giants, Benfica.
Van Hooijdonk left Benfica for Feyenoord where he spent two seasons scoring 52 and two goals in the 2002 UEFA Cup final win against Borussia Dortmund, beating Rangers on the way to the final.
After Feyenoord, Fenerbahçe beckoned in 2003 where he won back-to-back league titles. In 2005, NAC Breda took van Hooijdonk back to the Eredivisie where he spent just a single season before heading back to Feyenoord in 2006.
Van Hooijdonk retired in 2007 after winning a Scottish Cup, the English First Division, a UEFA Cup and the Turkish Super Lig.