Ruud Gullit had a rather forgettable stint as manager of Newcastle United in the 1990s.
The Dutchman was brought in as the replacement for Kenny Dalglish, who had been sacked just two games into the 1998/99 season. Despite a poor run of results, Ruud Gullit guided Newcastle United to the FA Cup final and retained support from the fanbase.
Gullit believed Newcastle played well in the 1999 FA Cup final, despite being well beaten by a Manchester United side that went on to win the treble. Gary Neville was shocked to hear Gullit’s claim recently. The former Man United star was part of the side that beat Newcastle at Wembley that year.
However, it would all come crashing down next season. Gullit resigned after five games during the 1999/2000 campaign following an altercation with Alan Shearer and Duncan Ferguson.
Gullit has claimed Shearer cost him the Newcastle job, despite resigning on his own accord after the incident. The Magpies went on to hire Sir Bobby Robson to replace Gullit, with the legendary manager able to bring good fortune back to Tyneside.
While the spat with Shearer was a big reason why Gullit left, he has since revealed what truly went wrong during his stint at Newcastle.
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Ruud Gullit opens on on failings at Newcastle United
Gullit joined Newcastle as a manager with a lot of pedigree. The Dutchman had a wealth of experience playing for the likes of AC Milan, Feyenoord and PSV before becoming player-manager at Chelsea in 1996. Gullit guided Chelsea to an FA Cup win in 1997, so the feeling around Tyneside was positive when he was named manager.
However, it did not work out on Tyneside, even with the FA Cup final appearance. Gullit had bad blood with Shearer and Rob Lee, which were well publicised. The latter even saw Lee lose his number seven shirt to new signing Keiron Dyer at the time.
Speaking on a recent episode of the Overlap’s Stick to Football, Jill Scott asked Gullit about his experience with Shearer benching him for an important game against bitter rivals Sunderland.
“Alan and I became friends after (he was benched for the derby). It was funny because Alan wanted to protect himself and I think that Alan got the wrong information, because I wanted him. The only thing is, I don’t know if he had the same thing with me.
“I think he was loyal to Kenny Dalglish, who was coach there. Therefore, it was not easy and of course, the lesser players are close to him because he has so much power. But these lesser players didn’t need to play.
“I had this battle about how I have to do this, and eventually I couldn’t win this battle. I didn’t want to have a battle, but I wanted to do the same thing. For me, one of the key players was (Gary) Speed.
“He was a midfielder going (box to box) and I said to him, ‘No, you’re not gonna do that again. You’re gonna be a holding midfielder. You have the technique, passing ability, everything, intelligence.’ He played like this for me. He was fantastic. All of a sudden, because of him, we started playing how we wanted to play.
“Eventually, I saw how it’s not working. I went to the board and said I’m not gonna get the chance to change it.”
Ruud Gullit’s stint at Newcastle United ruined his managerial career
After leaving Newcastle, it was clear that Gullit had brushed too many people the wrong way and it had left a bad impression on other teams looking on.
Even after he left Chelsea, chairman Ken Bates admitted he ‘never liked him’. (The Mirror)
It took Gullit a staggering five years to find another job in management after leaving Newcastle. Eventually, Gullit was appointed manager of Eredivisie side Feyenoord in the 2004/05 season. However, he quit at the end of the season having won no trophies while finishing a disappointing fourth behind Ajax, PSV and AZ.
In 2007, Gullit was appointed manager for MLS side LA Galaxy on a three-year deal, managing David Beckham for a brief period. While he had a lot of big names in the squad, like Landon Donovan, Gullit failed to pick up any noteworthy finishes. He resigned as head coach following fallout with Donovan and other members of the team.
His last job in management was at Russian Premier League side Terek Grozny in 2011. In an interview upon joining, Gullit subtly admitted that he joined the club because of how much he was being paid to do so. He lasted last than five months before leaving.
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