The Sheffield Wednesday academy graduate, who is currently on loan at League One club Ipswich Town, spent one season in Belgium with OH Leuven.

When Hirst was in Belgium he was playing for Pearson, who is now in charge at Bristol City, and admits the manager took good care of him.

Hirst admits that he had known Pearson for some time and hailed the Robins boss for being a big influence on his career.

Giving his opinion on the spell in Belgium, Hirst was quoted as saying by the Ipswich Star: “It took me out of my comfort zone.

“It was my first time living away from home and half of the lads in the team didn’t speak English.

“It helped that I’d known Nigel Pearson for a long time because he played with my dad at Wednesday.

“He looked after me and was a big influence.

“I enjoyed every second of that year.”

It turned out to be a productive spell for the forward as he ended the season with eight goal contributions in 23 matches.