Source: Team_Talk
Hooiveld confident of success at Celtic
Hooiveld became Tony Mowbray's first signing of the month after penning a three-and-a-half-year contract at Parkhead earlier this week.[LNB]The 26-year-old, who joined from AIK Solna, has played in Scotland before, having featured in a behind-closed-doors friendly for Livingston in 2005.[LNB]The West Lothian club did not need a second look, shipping him straight back to parent club Heerenveen.[LNB]But a move to Finnish club Inter Turku proved to be the wake-up call Hooiveld needed.[LNB]"I had to grow up a bit and I guess I did," he said.[LNB]"That's the thing in my head I had to change, a way of approaching things.[LNB]"I knew that I could play football but, mentally, I knew I had to become more like a winner."[LNB]He added: "When I was in Holland, I lost a match in training and I was all right by it.[LNB]"I went home, I went to my friends', we had laugh there.[LNB]"But as soon as I started living on my own, I had to be more focused.[LNB]"If I was losing games in training, for the rest of the day I felt silly.[LNB]"So I had to make sure I didn't lose any games any more."[LNB]The contrast between the Hooiveld of 2006 and the Hooiveld of today could not be more marked, with the player now expecting as much of his team-mates as of himself.[LNB]"I'm a player who always demands a lot of himself and lot of the people around me, a player who always goes up front in the battle," he said.[LNB]"I don't back down."[LNB]Hooiveld's new-found maturity allowed him to win back-to-back league titles in Finland and Sweden but he knows completing a hat-trick in Scotland will be more difficult.[LNB]But he scoffed at suggestions he will be under more scrutiny as an Old Firm player than he was at AIK.[LNB]"A lot of people underestimate the intensity of playing for AIK," he said.[LNB]"Go there once, especially the first game of the season.[LNB]"When the bus arrives, around 20,000 fans are there waiting for you, just to welcome you.[LNB]"The press is everywhere, constantly on AIK.[LNB]"Last year, we were champions but the year before Kalmar were champions.[LNB]"One week after Kalmar became champions, AIK fired their coach and it's the only thing they wrote about."[LNB]He added: "You put yourself under pressure. I don't get stressed if I play two bad games.[LNB]"I know that I can play football and it will come out one day.[LNB]"If the first two games are s***, the rest will be good.[LNB]"I always have two bad games in the season![LNB]"For me, it's a privilege to play in front of a big crowd.[LNB]"I'm looking forward to it in a good way and I don't see it as a burden."[LNB]Neither does he feel the pressure of replacing Gary Caldwell, who was sold to Wigan this week.[LNB]"Somebody has to do it, eh?" said Hooiveld, who has compared himself to Johan Mjallby.[LNB]"I'm almost ready. I had a long holiday.[LNB]"The last game I had was the 9th of November, so I have to be a bit more fit before I can play a game.[LNB]"But I'm really fit between my ears."[LNB][LNB]
