Kevin Campbell has recalled to The Athletic the very moment that Nottingham Forest left him absolutely shellshocked.
The former striker was a cult hero at the City Ground and struck up a tremendous partnership with Pierre van Hooijdonk.
Campbell scored 32 goals in 80 appearances and helped the team win promotion back to the Premier League.
The talisman was keen to sign a new contract with the Reds but instead, he found himself being farmed out to Turkey.
He was sold to Trabzonspor for £2.5 million as Forest bizarrely decided to decimate their promotion-winning squad.
Campbell claims the whole situation left him feeling somewhat upset given that he wanted to stay on Trentside.
He told The Athletic: “I was told that an offer had been accepted for me. I was told it was in my best interests to go; that I didn’t have a future.
“In the space of a week, it went from them wanting to give me a new deal, to selling me. It still feels remarkable. There are not many things that baffle me in football. But that always did.”
Campbell still speaks fondly on his time at the City Ground. Ultimately poor ownership at the time left his position out of his hands.
Campbell deserves praise for Forest efforts
For anyone who saw Campbell in his prime at the City Ground, they’d consider him as one of the best strikers of that generation.
These days players like Robert Earnshaw, David Johnson, Britt Assombalonga and Lewis Grabban get praise as supporters’ favourite strikers in recent memory.
Campbell often gets overlooked. Van Hooijdonk earns most of the praise from that era but the former Arsenal man was just as important.
As a result, it’s perhaps disappointing that Forest treated Campbell the way they did all those years ago.
He clearly had a lot of love for the football club and hopefully, the modern-day ownership won’t make similar mistakes as the Reds embark on a bright new future.