81: Ruud Gullit, Chelsea, Merlin’s Premier League 97 Official Sticker Collection

Today Richard Allinson takes a look at one of football’s most iconic figures who truly transcended the boundaries of the sport. Football in the 1990s wasn’t the slick operation we all enjoy today and, apparently, when today’s subject was being driven to the photoshoot to announce his arrival in West London the media team had to pop into Sydenham Soccer on my local high street to get their pristine Chelsea shirt printed with Gullit’s name and number. At least that’s what the geezer in the shop told me when I was spending my birthday money on some Sondico shinpads. Over to Rich and thanks to Peter Van Garderen for the suggestion!

When I decided to write about Ruud Gullit I didn’t know whether to focus on Gullit the Ballon d’Or recipient, Gullit the FA Cup winning manager or Gullit the pop star. What I didn’t realise was that I’d be writing about a fella who’s birth name was actually Rudi Dil. Gullit (his Dad’s surname) was adopted for football purposes only as it “sounded like a footballer’s name” but even to this day, outside of football he is just plain old Rudi Dil. In all honesty, Ruud’s achievements in all three of the above spheres can’t go without a mention so the 500 word limit of this piece is 100% going out the window. 

Let’s start with his playing career. As a child of the early 1980s, to me, Gullit was an absolute icon. Alongside Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard he formed a trio that had an almost ethereal quality. They were so good, and so cool looking (despite the moustaches) that they just seemed to come from another planet. Put them in that Dutch Euro 1988 winning Adidas kit and they basically completed football. Interestingly, the story of Gullit and Rijkaard goes back further than their world domination at AC Milan. Their fathers arrived in Holland at the same time as migrants from Suriname and young Rudi and Frank learned their trade playing street football alongside each other in old Amsterdam. The fact that they went on to enjoy such excellent careers together is literally the stuff of childhood dreams. I can confirm that neither me or any of my friends that used to enjoy a kick about on our cul-de-sac went on to win the Ballon d’Or. We barely deserved a tub of Carte d’Or in fairness. 

Gullit’s introduction to professional football came at HFC Haarlem under the guidance of Barry Hughes, a Slazenger pullover wearing man from Caernarfon. Gullit made his debut at 16, becoming the Eredivisie’s youngest ever player at the time. After helping guide Haarlem to European football, Gullit was soon to move on, almost to Ipswich Town. However, having decided that the lure of the Suffolk countryside wasn’t quite strong enough he plumped for Feyenoord where he was to take to the pitch alongside Johan “father of Jordi” Cruyff. Things on the pitch went swimmingly for young Ruud, in his second season he won the league and cup double and was named Dutch footballer of the year. All this despite him allegedly being racially abused by his own manager. Next up was a move to PSV Eindhoven where he scored 46 goals in 68 games. Not quite as prolific as future Middlesbrough star Alfonso Alves, but not bad.

After winning back-to-back titles with PSV, Gullit’s career shot into the stratosphere when he became the world’s most expensive player upon signing for AC Milan as a replacement for the great Ray Wilkins. Whilst with the Rossoneri, Gullit swept the board picking up three Serie A titles, two Suppacoppas, three European Cups, one UEFA Super Cup and one Intercontinental Cup. I mean... as achievements go it’s alright, but could he do it on a cold Tuesday night in Stoke? Well, yes, as it turned out.

 After leaving AC, Gullit spent two seasons at Sampdoria where he scored 24 goals in 53 league games and picked up a Coppa Italia for his troubles before landing in West London with Chelsea. For some unknown reason, Glenn Hoddle initially deployed Ruud as a sweeper which seemed a bit odd. Although in fairness to Gullit, he did keep Steve Livingstone quiet in an FA Cup fifth round match on a cold Tuesday night in Grimsby in 1996 which ended in a 0-0 draw. For me, seeing Ruud Gullit at Blundell Park was just so out of context, but so amazing and I hope he enjoyed some haddock and chips afterwards. His playing days at Chelsea weren’t hugely successful in terms of honours but he did describe them as his happiest time in football. Which is nice. 

So on to Gullit the manager. He did well at Chelsea as player-manager and indeed became the first black coach to win domestic honours in England when he guided Chelsea to victory in the 1997 FA Cup. My favourite story about Gullit’s time at Chelsea was shared by Michael Duberry on the Undr The Cosh podcast. Dubes detailed how, when Gullit signed Gianfranco Zola to take John Spencer’s place in the team, Spencer used to walk around singing “please release me let me go” in an attempt to get a transfer, to which Gullit sang back “la la la la Zola” to the tune of Lola by the Kinks. I mean, fair play to Ruud. 

Next up was his time at Newcastle United. In theory his appointment was a good one but in reality it didn’t quite go to plan (seemingly a common theme with the Magpies). In his truly excellent book ‘The Boy on the Shed’ ex NUFC physio Paul Ferris describes Gullit’s time in the North East as one that started well enough but one that soon heard rumblings of discontent, and ultimately resulted in the football club becoming a “living nightmare” as a place to earn a living. This seemed to largely centre on Gullit’s treatment of his senior pros and in particular Rob Lee and Alan Shearer. It is well documented that this culminated in Shearer’s very public demotion to the subs bench in the Tyne-Wear derby. The Magpies lost the match and Gullit still blamed Shearer, even though he didn’t play. Gullit resigned from his job only three days later and Ferris summed Gullit’s tenure up as ultimately being an absurd one. 

After this, Gullit also took his “sexy football” to Feyenoord, LA Galaxy and Chechen giants Terek Grozny. But really, I have run out of space to detail these. Well, other than to outline how he insisted that LA Galaxy signed Celestine Babayaro but then literally never played him and that he clashed with his senior pros including Landon Donovan and Abel Xavier. Sound familiar? 

Oh and his singing career? Yeah, it wasn’t very good.