Ruud Gullit: Portrait of a Genius
First published in 1997 and now available as an ebook.Two years after arriving in London, Ruud Gullit took English football by storm, not only revolutionising Chelsea Football Club but helping to transform the image of the Premier League so that it now attracts the best footballers from all over the world.Not that it was plain sailing for Chelsea’s player-manager throughout his career. In between winning European Cups with AC Milan and a European championship with Holland, Gullit experienced a succession of bust-ups with former managers and fellow players, disputes with his clubs and personal distractions off the pitch, suggesting that there is a harder, ruthless side to his character.What are the pressures involved in being a player-manager for a top London club? Who, in 1997, were the best players in England? How did Chelsea’s foreign stars such as Zola, Vialli and Di Matteo adjust to the demands of Premiership football? The answers can be found in Harry Harris’s profile of Gullit which includes Chelsea’s memorable 1997 FA Cup triumph and a review of the club’s 1996/97 Premier League season.
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First published in hardback 1996 by CollinsWillow
First published in paperback in 1997
Copyright © Harry Harris 1997
Harry Harris asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Source ISBN: 9780002187817
Ebook Edition © JUNE 2016 ISBN: 9780008192068
Version: 2016-06-03
To Linda ⦠a true Chelsea fan
Contents
1 âIâm Not A Foreigner â Iâm a World Travellerâ
4 A New Season, a New Challenge
9 Italy â the Dream that Turned Sour
My thanks to close Dutch friend and colleague Marcel van der Kraan for his expert views on the young Ruud Gullit; Godric Smith at the Conservative Party Press Office; and to former Prime Minister John Major for offering his views on Ruud. Plus all the other MPs, celebrities and people in the game who contributed their opinions. My thanks also go to Chelsea chairman Ken Bates, chief executive Colin Hutchinson, Ruudâs UK advisors Jon and Phil Smith of First Artists Corporation, and Sky TV press officer Chris Haynes. The Daily Mirror provided a number of pictures for the book, and it was nice to get so much co-operation from my âFleet Streetâ colleagues, notably Michael Hart and photographer Frank Tewkesbury for the snap of Ruud winning the Evening Standard Footballer of the Month award for January 1996, for which Ruud insisted all his team-mates appear! At publishers HarperCollins, praise too for Editorial Director Michael Doggart for recognising straight away my conviction that a biography of Ruud Gullit would make such fascinating reading; Tom Whiting for his patience and helpful suggestions; and Andrew Clark and David Williams for their diligent sub-editing.
Finally, a special thanks to Dutch photographer Peter Smoulders for his excellent portfolio of Ruud Gullit pictures.
The first non-British manager to reach the FA Cup Final is none other than the charismatic Dutchman Ruud Gullit. This is all the more remarkable considering that he achieved this distinction in his very first season in football management.
When he was informed that he had made English football history after Chelseaâs FA Cup semi-final demolition of Wimbledon at Highbury in April 1997, it was a moment to savour, a special achievement even in his distinguished career. âI have just been told that I am the first foreign coach to take a team to Wembley in an FA Cup final and am very proud of that. But it is important we win it, as first place is the only thing that matters in any competition.â And win it they did, in true style.
Gullitâs first season in charge produced a whirlwind of activity at the Bridge. Witnessed by thousands of fans were a kaleidoscope of spectacular goals, famous victories and disappointing defeats. Winning at Old Trafford and beating mighty Liverpool twice at the Bridge would be etched forever in the memories of Chelsea supporters â including that epic 4â2 win in the fourth round FA Cup tie after being two goals down, a match seen by millions on BBC TV.
English football has been a graveyard for foreign managers. Their track record is a litany of disaster. In recent years Dr Joe Venglos at Aston Villa and Ossie Ardiles at Newcastle and then Tottenham have flopped. Gullit broke the mould, as has Arsene Wenger at Arsenal.
But Chelseaâs managing director, Colin Hutchinson, explained that Gullitâs management role is not typical. âEnglish football is entering the era of the coach. It is the Continental way and Chelsea are pioneering this with Ruud working in a classic Continental set-up. He identifies the players he wants and I try to get them. We were fortunate that Ruud had a year in the Premier League as a player to get to know the English game and fellow Blues before taking over as player-manager. It would have been too much to have asked him to play, coach and manage when he first arrived in London from Sampdoria.
