in their autobiographies Gullit felt threatened by the senior players in the squad, and they felt they were being sidelined to prevent them challenging him for the manager's position should it arise. Pearce claims also that he once kicked Gullit up in the air during a training session, and a number of other players sniggered at this due to Gullit's poor relationship with them. Pearce went on to play for West Ham United, a year after falling out of favour with Gullit. He made his debut on 7 August 1999 in a 1–0 home win against Tottenham Hotspur. His first goal came on 21 October 2000 in a 2–1 home defeat to Arsenal. He made 50 appearances in all competitions, scoring three goals and in 2001 he was named Hammer of the Year. In the summer of 2001, he was Kevin Keegan's first signing for Manchester City for what would be the final season in his career. He captained the club to the First Division championship and scored direct from a free-kick on his debut, against Watford. In the final game of his career, against Portsmouth, he had the chance to reach 100 career goals. He took a penalty kick for City four minutes into injury time, but missed it along with the chance to reach his target. Amateur football On 28 January 2016, at the age of 53 and more than thirteen years after retiring, Pearce signed as a player for non-league side Longford, a club from Longford, Gloucestershire. The club was dubbed as "the worst in the UK" as they lost all their games at that date with a single goal scored and 179 conceded and lying at the bottom of the Gloucestershire Northern Senior League Division Two, the 13th tier of English football. On 12 March, Pearce made his debut for Longford as a second-half substitute in a 1–0 loss against Wotton Rovers. Style of play Throughout his career, Pearce was given the nickname of "Psycho" for his unforgiving style of play. This was initially a tag afforded to him only by Forest fans, though later it was adopted by England supporters as well. Of the nickname, Pearce later commented: Roy Keane, who played with Pearce from 1990 to 1993, is quoted as saying that Pearce was "a man amongst boys" at Forest. Former England teammate Matt Le Tissier has since described him as his scariest opponent