Ruud Gullit: Portrait of a Genius

‘We knew we were certainly not making him the best financial offer. Ruud could have gone to Japan and earned £3 million a year. But he was interested in the football side rather than the money. And our biggest advantage was that he got on so well with Glenn. There was a mutual respect there. So, even though we knew he could earn a lot more money elsewhere, we always felt fairly confident of signing him.’

Gascoigne, meanwhile, had not made up his mind where to go after Italy. Gazza said: ‘I have spoken to Chelsea, Aston Villa and Glasgow Rangers. I’ve heard rumours about Leeds and I think I will speak to them next week.’ He eventually opted to switch to Scottish football, accepting a mega-offer from wealthy Rangers.

With Gullit available on a free transfer, there were clubs all around the world interested in his signature. Bryan Robson and Ray Wilkins entered the battle with their old England pal Hoddle. Wilkins said: ‘Don’t believe all this clap-trap that he is over the hill. Gullit is a very fit man. I had the privilege of playing against him for AC Milan when he was with PSV Eindhoven. Ironically, when he arrived at AC Milan, he took my place!’ Gullit’s preference to return to the sweeper role he made famous at the start of his career did not bother Wilkins: ‘I don’t care where he plays, he can even have a turn out in goal if he likes, I just want him here at this club.’

Hoddle knew Gazza was Glasgow Rangers bound, which made him all the more determined to land Gullit, particularly as Graeme Souness, then the newly installed manager of Turkish side Galatasaray, moved in for Gullit, with an offer on the table of £1 million-a-year in wages.

But Gullit turned his back on all of these offers, with the moment the whole of Chelsea had been waiting for coming on Bank Holiday Monday, 29 May 1995. Colin Hutchinson recalls: ‘I was just settling down to watch the Bolton-Reading play-off final, when Ruud called. By the time we had finished talking, Reading were 2–0 up and Gullit had agreed to sign. One of the reasons behind his decision, he said, was that Chelsea played in white socks – and he had always won things playing for teams who wore white socks!

‘Glenn was halfway across the Atlantic at the time, on his way to Florida for a holiday. I had to ring his hotel and leave a coded message for him saying, ‘The man from Italy has said, yes’. He was delighted.’

Hoddle left the final details to Hutchinson. ‘The second time we went over, the deal was done,’ says Hoddle. ‘We discovered Ruud wanted to play in English football and he wanted to play for Chelsea. Every side needs someone like Ruud Gullit, a player who can win a game with one pass, a player who is a cut above the rest and a player who can hurt the opposition by doing what comes naturally.’

Hutchinson made one of the most fruitful, exciting and profitable journeys of his life when he travelled to Milan to complete the deal for Gullit on Tuesday, 30 May 1995. He said: ‘I flew out to Genoa to meet Gullit’s lawyer and draft the contract. The following day I met up with the lawyer and Ruud once again. Within ten minutes he had said ‘yes’. I had just completed arguably the biggest deal ever done in British football. I took out my camera and asked the lawyer to take a picture of me with Ruud to capture the moment. We went out for lunch and while we were eating an agent rang Ruud on his mobile phone and said that Tottenham and QPR were interested in signing him. I had a smile to myself because I already had his signature.

‘Then I flew home via Frankfurt. At Frankfurt airport I sat next to a Leyton Orient fan and we got talking and he asked me what I did. I told him and said I had just signed Gullit for Chelsea. Then two English bricklayers came and sat by us and one was saying how he had just telephoned a friend to pick him up at the airport. He said his mate was an Arsenal fan and was winding him up that Chelsea had signed Ruud Gullit. And the Orient fan turned to him and said, “That’s no wind-up – and here’s the man who has done the deal”. I just sat there grinning and feeling absolutely fantastic.’

Chelsea had successfully fought off counter-bids from Galatasaray, Bayern Munich, the club Jurgen Klinsmann joined from Spurs, Hoddle’s former French club Monaco, and Gullit’s old club Feyenoord, plus a number of Japanese teams which offered him a fortune, notably Yokohama Flugels.

Diplomatically Gullit would not divulge why he rejected the other offers. He explained: ‘I enjoy life every day and I never take decisions for a long period. I always follow my instinct, which has rarely misled me. My old club Feyenoord would have liked to have me back. But the city of London appealed more to me than the port of Rotterdam. But the real reason for not joining Feyenoord, Galatasaray or any of the other clubs who knocked on my door this summer, I will not tell. Whatever I say will be wrong in the fans’ eyes and in the opinion of people who play for those clubs. As soon as Chelsea turned up on my doorstep and I had met Glenn Hoddle, I knew I wanted to go an play at Stamford Bridge.’

Chelsea knew that gates would soar and commercial spinoffs would follow. Hutchinson said: ‘We wanted a player who would put bums on seats and we have certainly got that. And, remember, he has not cost us a single penny in terms of a transfer fee.’ In London, Gullit mania was instant. Hutchinson said: ‘On the day of the announcement, the reaction from the fans was incredible. The switchboard at Stamford Bridge was jammed, there was a queue of thirty-five people at the club’s shop that morning when it opened. People wanted to buy shirts and have Gullit’s name put on them. Requests for membership forms and season tickets are coming in thick and fast so his magic is already working.’

The Chelsea players, much the same as their fans, were staggered by the signing of Gullit. Scott Minto was sunning himself in Gran Canaria, when he caught up with the news. ‘A couple of days before we actually signed him, a few people had been coming up to us and talking about it, saying we were going to get him. We had read a few things in the papers but it sounded a bit ridiculous and we didn’t take much notice of it at the time. Then I rang home and my mum said: “Did you know they’ve just signed Ruud Gullit?” Because she doesn’t know anything about the game or who he is, I knew she wasn’t making it up. Then someone else rang home to check and we found out it was true. It took a little while to sink in but we all thought it was brilliant.’

When Chelsea club captain and England international Dennis Wise escaped a three-month jail sentence on 2 June, he talked about his relief that he will be teaming up with Gullit rather than starting the season in jail. A judge overturned his convictions for attacking a taxi driver and damaging his cab. Wise said later: ‘I want to put it all behind me and get on with the rest of my career. I am happy and am going on holiday fairly shortly. I will be all right for the beginning of the season, when we’ve got Ruud Gullit to look forward to.’

Brian Glanville devoted his Sunday People column to Chelsea’s new player. He wrote: ‘Ruud Gullit’s signing for Chelsea is a tremendous coup for the Stamford Bridge club. Even today, at the age of 32, after all those fearful operations on his right knee, Gullit is among the few great players in the world. Fans will come to see him. There’s no doubt at all about his ability to play as sweeper as he demonstrated in his early years with Feyenoord. It’s really just a question of whether the Chelsea team will be able to adjust to the somewhat unfamiliar tactics … He shouldn’t find it too hard to work with Hoddle, and the younger Chelsea players will surely learn from him. Let’s just hope he stays longer in London than Jurgen Klinsmann.’

The boardroom split between chairman Ken Bates and the late co-director Matthew Harding even managed to involve Gullit. Bates pointed out that he authorised the acquisition of Gullit without Harding’s millions to back him up. Bates said: ‘We proved what a solid financial concern Chelsea is with the signing of Ruud Gullit, one of the biggest names in world soccer. It was all financed from within the club’s budget, without having to ask Matthew Harding or anyone else for a single penny.’

In the first week of June, Gullit fulfilled his final commitments with Sampdoria on a tour of Hong Kong and China, a popular destination for many leading clubs in the summer. It also enabled Gullit to combine the football with four days of highly lucrative promotional work in Japan. Back in London, Ken Bates was airing his plans for a floatation of Chelsea. With the signing of Gullit on a reputed £16, 000 a week, Mr Bates joked: ‘We need a flotation to help pay his wages!’

The Dutch revolution in English football continued when Dennis Bergkamp signed for Arsenal. Bergkamp became hooked on Spurs, and in particular their midfield maestro Glenn Hoddle, from the moment he saw them on Dutch television as a five-year-old. Bergkamp revealed: ‘I had only one idol when I was young and that was Glenn Hoddle. My family went on holiday to England one year and we visited White Hart Lane. My dad bought me a Spurs strip and a mug with the crest on it. Every year after that I would get a new Spurs strip and it always had to have Glenn’s number on it. He was the reason I supported them. He was such a wonderful player. When I played football with my mates out on the street it would always be an FA Cup Final with Tottenham in it and I, of course, would be Hoddle. I still have a soft spot for them and look for their results every week.’

On Thursday, 22 June, Gullit arrived in London, jet lagged from his worldwide travels. The formalities of his Chelsea signing were completed, including the routine medical which he passed with ease. The next day he breezed into the Bridge at precisely 11:04 am to a barrage of cameras in Drakes restaurant, which snuggles neatly inside the new £5 million stand.

A year earlier Jurgen Klinsmann had re-launched his career and re-established his worldwide reputation in English football. Gullit arrived with the same steely-eyed approach. He said: ‘I’m hungry for this new challenge. My ambitions at first are quite simple, they are to get along with the lads and adapt to my new environment, a different lifestyle, different customs, a different way of life. I’m not thinking about any end result yet. I am very satisfied that I have done the right thing. My knee problems are a thing of the past. I know there were plenty of rumours about my knees last year but I feel frustrated that I couldn’t prove them wrong with Sampdoria. All those problems are in the past. Milan said I couldn’t play three matches in a week. But they never gave me the chance. Right now, I have never felt fitter.’

Gullit is synonymous with extravagant goals but revealed he never had any intention of playing attacking roles. He said: ‘When I got to Milan, the coach, Saachi, wanted me to play as a striker. He just told me, “Go out there and just do your best”. But it’s not natural for me, and it’s not somewhere I prefer to play, although I learnt a lot from doing it. I don’t have a striker’s instincts. A true striker kills every ball and wants to score every time. Sometimes I’m sloppy and try to do too much and miss the chance. A true striker has to be egocentric.’

From the moment Gullit arrived he charmed his audience in his typical relaxed mood. He never even faltered when he mistook Wimbledon for Wembley! Asked what he thought about the prospects of playing at Wimbledon he said: ‘I’m looking forward to it, it’s one of the most important stadiums in the world.’ When his error was pointed out by Hoddle, who was sitting next to him, he laughed loudly at himself and said: ‘Perhaps I should talk about tennis as well!’

Gullit answered every conceivable question, no matter how obscure or personal. It was hard to know whether to take him seriously or not when he gave a bizarre reason for why he chose Chelsea – the reason being that he’d always won things playing for teams who wore white socks! Finally, he politely paraded in a No 4 Chelsea shirt on the pitch where there were a succession of television interviews. He said: ‘I had the choice between the number 4 and number 14 shirts. It’s strange to see players wearing 18 or 19 because I don’t think the public can identify with them, or know where they’re really supposed to be playing. I prefer numbers that correspond with a player’s position.’

There was also a first in Gullit’s big unveiling to the Chelsea fans. Never before had one of Gullit’s media introductions been sidetracked somewhat by the shock announcement of the signing of another player, Mark Hughes from Manchester United. But it was the surprise factor, more than anything else, that had the media contingent gasping.

Colin Hutchinson made the Hughes announcement just as Gullit was concluding his radio interviews. The Dutchman was immediately effusive. ‘I’m delighted Hughes is coming,’ he said. ‘I think he’s a great player. I know all about him, I played against him when he was at Barcelona. I knew that Glenn Hoddle wanted to sign him from the very start … but I can keep a secret!’

I suggested to Hoddle that Hughes and Gullit, both into their thirties, are truly Chelsea pensioners. The Chelsea boss smiled and said: ‘Both these guys are fit lads who have the right habits and attitudes. I found out myself, when I hung up my boots at the age of 37 going on 38, that people tell me it’s too early. It’s about quality, not about age, and these two guys certainly have the right pedigree. Perhaps I’d better sign a few fifteen year olds to balance it up!’

In fact, Hoddle believed that the capture of Gullit was a watershed in Chelsea’s fortunes and helped to recruit Hughes. ‘When you sign somebody like Ruud Gullit after all that he’s achieved, it is sending out the right signals, to our own supporters first and to his team-mates. It says that people here are trying to build something, that they are serious. It says that we want to be one of the leading sides, that we want to win something. I’ve been here for two years and we’ve come close. But I’m not into transfer coups, I’m into trying to win trophies.’

In the light of the British record of £8.5 million splashed out on Stan Collymore, £6 millionon Les Ferdinand, no spring chicken himself, and £4.5 million on Chris Armstrong, the capture of Hughes was an absolute steal. Hoddle said: ‘Compared to the fees that are knocking around at the moment, it makes an awful lot of economic sense to sign Gullit on a free transfer and Hughes at the end of his contract for £1.5 million.’

The arrival of the two players was extremely well received by the media. Neil Harman, Daily Mail Football Correspondent, wrote: ‘Not a dreadlock on his head turned when the Ruud Gullit interview was interrupted by news that Chelsea had signed Mark Hughes. His thunder might have been temporarily stolen but, in the best tradition of a world superstar, his stride-pattern remained unaffected.

‘When you’ve spent the best part of 20 years as a supreme, sublime talent and cost a then world record transfer-fee of £5.5 million eight years ago, the small matter of a free to Chelsea is nothing to get seismic about. After a week in which London rivals Tottenham and Arsenal between them splashed out £12 million on strikers, Chelsea’s double coup looks fair business … His enticement from Italian football must be the best bit of business for many summers, even though there are those who say so much damage to priceless limbs has left Gullit with knees of glass.’

World Soccer reviewed the Gullit press conference. ‘He made an impressive entry onto the platform, partnered by his new boss. Cracking jokes with the press, he was clearly confident in a foreign tongue. Rewind a year and this could have been Jurgen Klinsmann’s debut before the British media.’

Chelsea reaped immediate benefits from their summer signings. Season ticket sales had beaten the previous year’s figure. Usually, demand drops during the summer holiday period but sales were up with a steady flow of renewals and new applications. The club was forced to introduce a waiting list for fans wanting to pre-book tickets for forthcoming glamour matches. All but two of the club’s twenty-four executive boxes had been sold and there had also been an increase in applications for the family section.

Hughes finalised his £1.5 million move from Manchester United on 5 July and confirmed that Gullit’s arrival had convinced him to sign for Chelsea.

Hughes had met Gullit briefly on holiday a year earlier and they had faced each other in the international arena several times, but he never dreamed he would be lining up alongside him. ‘The fact that Chelsea signed Ruud showed they were intent on raising their profile and I have always been at big clubs. It might have been difficult for me not playing to large crowds every week, but it looks as though we will be attracting the big gates home and away. Gullit is the complete footballer. Genuine world class, a player you can put anywhere in the side and he plays with presence and stature. A superstar.’

Gullit and Hughes were missing when Chelsea began preseason training on Wednesday, 12 July. Hoddle agreed to give his new signings an extended break following club and country commitments. Gullit and Hughes turned up for training for the first time on Wednesday, 19 July, and the rest of the Chelsea players were in awe of their arrival. Scott Minto said: ‘It was a bit like being at school when they were introduced. We were half way through the warm-up in training when Peter Shreeves came over with them and said: “I’d like to introduce you all to Ruud Gullit and Mark Hughes.” That was all he said, really. They stood there, we looked at them and gave them a round of applause.’

CHAPTER THREE (#ulink_251fee5a-1a81-5537-a50e-d10c17112f84)

Gullit Mania (#ulink_251fee5a-1a81-5537-a50e-d10c17112f84)

Stamford Bridge was a building site. The underground car park was under construction and planks of wood were used as a walk way to cover the dirt, nails and general debris. Hardly the San Siro. But Gullit had now swapped Italian football for the Bridge. It was certainly a culture shock.

Ruud had no concept of the impact his arrival would have. It began to dawn on him on Friday, 28 July when nearly fifty fans waited for hours to catch a glimpse of Gullit as Chelsea held a photo-call followed by a training session. They were not to be disappointed. Even a little old lady managed to overcome the ‘building site’ and waited for five hours to find herself among the throng stationed patiently outside the dressing room area. Coach Peter Shreeves took the players through their paces in glorious sunshine with Gullit teaming up with his manager Glenn Hoddle, other new boy Mark Hughes and midfielder Nigel Spackman in one training group. ‘It was nice and tough, quite hard, that’s because Mark Hughes and myself started a week later than the rest,’ said Gullit, ‘I can tell I still have some catching up to do.’ When Gullit emerged, the fans surged forward pleading for him to sign shirts, photographs, autograph albums or any piece of paper. He signed them all.

Carrying a bright coloured rucksack over his shoulders, under his arm the Italian Gazetto dello Sport and the Dutch Telegraph, he was perfectly relaxed as he surveyed the rebirth of the Bridge. He observed: ‘Brilliant, isn’t it? The place is really buzzing. I mean, the whole of English football is exploding and blossoming. Stadiums are being expanded, the fans turn up in their thousands, all the stars want to play in the Premier League. It could not be better for English football. That is why I want to enjoy what is happening here.’

In the club’s reception area, Gullit practised his colloquial English on the telephonist. ‘Can I make a phone call?’ he asked in perfect Cockney. He told a Dutch journalist who had made the trek from Holland on the off-chance of an interview: ‘I like the sound of the language here, I like to speak in English and I can pick it up quite quickly.’ Proud of his grasp of the. Cockney slang, he laughed out loud.

Once the crowd had dispersed, Gullit and one of the club’s member of staff strolled down the Fulham Road and stopped for a snack at the newly opened Calzone Pizza Bar. A local, upper crust sounding, elderly gent with white handlebar moustache and shorts, held out his hand and said: ‘Nice to see you here Mr Gullit, we are ever so glad you chose Chelsea.’ Gullit smiled and politely said ‘Thank you’, and swaggered down Park Walk feeling very much at home in the Royal Borough of Chelsea.

The attitudes and reactions of the fans helped Ruud to settle down instantly. He said at the time: ‘In Italy everyone is so obsessed about football that they try to own you and think nothing of coming up to you in a shop or in a restaurant in a group and crowding you for an autograph or a photo. In England, the people are much more dignified and they respect your space.’

As for the heat wave hitting London, he said: ‘They told me about England … so much rain, wet pitches. So far it’s been hotter than in Italy in my first few weeks here! I just love this weather.’

And, he was convinced that Hoddle was getting it right on the training ground. ‘Glenn Hoddle knows how Chelsea must play in the Premier League to become a hit. He has organised the club very well and is running things almost perfectly. I was surprised to see that our training sessions are almost a copy of the ones at AC Milan. We do exactly the same things. Before I came here, I did not think any English club would train like they do.’

On Saturday, 22 July, the little non-league club Kingstonian had seen nothing like it. Director Matthew Harding turned up in a Chelsea shirt with Gullit’s name on the back! Gullit and Hughes were presented to the King’s Meadow crowd and the duo waved to the supporters. They got a great reception on their first public appearance together. Unfortunately for the 5, 000 fans the club’s new signings took their places in the stand to watch their opening pre-season game – Chelsea winning 5–0. They were not quite fit enough to play as assistant manager Peter Shreeves said: ‘They are in the squad but haven’t done enough training.’ But the fact that they were there was enough, at half-time, for a Gullit lookalike to cause a pitch invasion of autograph hunters! Before the end Gullit left to avoid any crowd problems, with reserve team manager Graham Rix as his chauffeur.

Reminiscent of Jurgen Klinsmann’s first appearance in a friendly at Vicarage Road, Watford, exactly a year earlier, it was near hysteria at Gillingham for the welcome of Ruud Gullit, on Tuesday, 25 July. Gullit led out the team and took centre stage as he was chased by a posse of cameramen and eager autograph hunters who streamed on to the pitch. Four thousand Chelsea fans made the journey to watch Gullit and Hughes.

The gates were locked minutes after kick-off and hundreds of broken-hearted youngsters were led away in tears by disappointed dads. The luckier ones watched from windows and garage roofs overlooking the ground. Gullit was mobbed at every opportunity. The media interest overwhelmed a club that had finished three places from the bottom of the Endsleigh Third Division the season before. He tried to warm up as he signed autographs, and followed, like some footballing Pied Piper, by the adoring kids. He said: ‘It is the first time in my entire career that I have played without being able to warm up. It seemed as if there were hundreds of fans around wherever I went.’ And, with a flash of his wicked sense of humour he said: ‘The people seemed to go mad … I suppose that’s what the papers describe as Gullit-mania!’

The capacity 10, 425 Priestfield crowd witnessed Gullit strolling through his first 45 minutes in English football as Chelsea won 3–1. For the Kent club it was a massive pay day. Gullit might earn more in a week than a Gillingham player would earn in a year, but the club were loving the way the turnstiles never stopped clicking. The estimated £60, 000 receipts brightened the life of a club that had faced extinction. Only four weeks earlier Gillingham was saved from bankruptcy after six months in receivership. New chairman Paul Scally, the Sevenoaks businessman who rescued the club, was delighted with the evening’s takings. He said: ‘That will pay the wages for July.’

When Gullit left the spectacular surroundings of Serie A, he probably never expected to pull on a Chelsea jersey for the first time at a ground that can boast the oldest stand in the League, built in 1899 by dockers for beer and cigarettes on their summer break. It’s still there because the club cannot afford to replace it.