and his team reached the KNVB Cup final. In 1982, FC Utrecht was facing bankruptcy and were willing to sell Van Breukelen in order to raise funds. Initially, there was no sign of a transfer and he played two matches in the 1982–83 season. But in September, Van Breukelen was eventually signed by Nottingham Forest. In total, he played 142 Eredivisie games for the club. After Peter Shilton had left Nottingham Forest, coach Brian Clough went on to pick Van Breukelen as his new goalkeeper. The club paid £200,000 to FC Utrecht. In his first match, he immediately kept a clean sheet in the game against Brighton & Hove Albion. After thirteen league games, he suffered an injury which would sideline him for four months. After his recovery, Van Breukelen returned in the Nottingham Forest starting line-up and the team went on to qualify for the UEFA Cup. In the 1983–84 season, Van Breukelen played 36 league matches, keeping 11 clean sheets in the process. The team ended third, six points behind title winners Liverpool. In the UEFA Cup, Nottingham Forest were beaten in the semi-finals against Anderlecht. During the season, Nottingham Forest and Van Breukelen had increasing arguments about his frequent international call-ups. Not willing to sacrifice his spot in the Dutch team, he decided to leave England after the 1983–84 season. PSV Eindhoven Van Breukelen returned to his home country to play for PSV Eindhoven. In his first year, the team missed out on the Eredivisie title and were also eliminated by Van Breukelen's old team FC Utrecht in the semi-finals of the Dutch cup. But in the following two years, PSV did secured the league championship – Van Breukelen's first major trophies. In a match between Feyenoord and PSV in 1987, Van Breukelen was involved in an error that became known in The Netherlands as ‘het polletje van Van Breukelen’ (‘Van Breukelen's tussock’). When he bounced the ball from his hands on a clump of grass, it swirled in an unwanted direction. Van Breukelen rushed to collect the ball but this was deemed unlawful by the referee, as goalkeepers cannot repeatedly pick up the ball. The awarded last-minute free kick was converted by Feyenoord, making the score 1–1. The subsequent public (and media) mockery resulted in difficult times for Van Breukelen, but he recovered in time for the 1987–88 season; the high point of his career. That