August 24 2001

Crystal Palace

As Palace striker Dougie Freedman looks forward to this weekend's clash with his old club Nottingham Forest, he admits that he was wrong to leave Palace the first time around.

The 27 year old left Palace for Wolves in 1997 for a fee of £800,000, then moving on to Forest in 1998.

He told the London Evening Standard: "When I look back on it, I should never really have left Crystal Palace in the first place.

"I have played my best football here and the fans really seem to love me and the way I play. I have scored important goals in important games and that means we get on really well. So when I knew Palace were interested in me again I jumped at the chance to come back.

"They did not have to sell the club to me because I always kept an eye out to see what was happening here and I knew all about the potential there was."