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"No filters!" - Ruud Gullit's most revealing tales from tonight's big Off The Ball interview

Tonight on Off The Ball, one of the legends of world football joined Ger on the show for an in-de...



"No filters!" - Ruud G...
Soccer

"No filters!" - Ruud Gullit's most revealing tales from tonight's big Off The Ball interview

Tonight on Off The Ball, one of the legends of world football joined Ger on the show for an in-depth chat.

That of course was former Netherlands, Milan and Chelsea star Ruud Gullit and you can also listen to the full interview via the podcast.

But here are some of the fascinating anecdotes, the European Cup, Serie A and UEFA European Championship-winning Netherlands captain shared with us.

Early days

The 1987 Ballon D'Or winner explained how his Surinamese background influenced him in his early days in football.

"My father was [part of] the first black generation to come from Suriname to Holland. So I am the first child of that and at school I was one of the few; I was the only black player in my team. The only thing I thought to myself was 'look, I'm standing out here, so I have to be good because they will look at me. If there is one ginger boy in the team, they will look at the ginger boy and you have to be good'. So I knew I was noticed and needed to do extra," he said, also discussing his change from a sweeper position to a forward role. 

Netherlands' Frank Rijkaard (and Gullit's childhood acquaintance) clears the ball from England's Paul Gascoigne. Also picture for the Netherland's is Ruud Gullit (r). (Ross Kinnaird / EMPICS Sport)

Milan heyday 

The 52-year-old arrived at Milan in 1987 as part of a Dutch trio (Frank Rijkaard and Marco van Basten being the others) which helped kick-start an era of huge success in Italy and Europe under manager Arrigo Sacchi'. 

Gullit explained how Sacchi began the high pressing approach which would yield success.

"It started first as a coincidence. We lost against Fiorentina at home, 1-0. Then, we had to go to the nemesis of Milan which was Verona and we played 4-4-2. We won the game 2-0 and then we lifted off. Then when Van Basten came back from injury at the end of the season, that was the icing on the cake because up front he was unbelievable. And then Rijkaard came in the next year and then we were unstoppable," he said.

Dutch World Cup implosion 

With the Milan trio and the likes of Ronald Koeman in the squad, a much-fancied Netherlands side - reigning European champions - were knocked out of the 1990 World Cup by Germany at the first knockout round and he talked about the attempts to have Johan Cruyff brought in as manager - but to no avail.

"The biggest mistake we made was that we had a coach, Thijs Libregts, who was not up for it - we knew that. We had big problems with discipline, so there was a vote about it and then the whole team voted that there had to be a new coach and also the new coach had to be Johan Cruyff because we knew that we had to have somebody there who was standing above it," he said, before talking about his walk-out from the national team just before the 1994 World Cup after a dispute with then-manager Dick Advocaat (now in charge at Sunderland). 

Gullit and Ancelotti at Milan (Peter Robinson / EMPICS Sport)

His Premier League adventure

Gullit joined Chelsea in 1995 as a player, before going on to manage the club to an FA Cup title in 1997. Sacked in 1998 - followed by an inauspicious spell at Newcastle - he talked about bringing a new culture of football to Stamford Bridge using the example of ex-England left-back Graeme Le Saux.

Chelsea manager Ruud Gullit (right) and Graeme Le Saux poses for the media during a photocall in London. (Tim Ockenden / PA Archive/PA Images)

"In the beginning when I bought Graeme Le Saux - he came from Blackburn - in training sessions, he got the ball, opened up and just banged it into the channel. Gustavo Poyet came to me and said 'Ruud, Ruud, you have to talk with him. I want the ball to my feet. Please can you talk with him'. So I had a conversation with Graeme and I said 'this is not channel football. Just try to out-pass the players. You have Dennis Wise, you have Gustavo Poyet, you have Robbie Di Matteo. I want you to play with them and make triangles'. So we worked on that and he was one of the best players. He was good and adapted himself very quickly."

Confidence

To illustrate the difference in pre-match mentality and nerves between his own Dutch approach and the Italian way, he reminisced about a moment he shared with former Milan team-mate Carlo Ancelotti, who coincidentally would go on to manage Real Madrid.  

"I remember I was with Ancelotti. He was my room-mate and we had to play against Real Madrid away. So the morning of the game, I wake up and he stands in front of my bed and he looks at me and says 'How is it possible? I looked at you all night. You slept like a baby. How can you sleep like a baby when we have to play against Real Madrid?'

"So I said 'Ah, what are you talking about? We are much better than them.' He looked at me like 'this guy is crazy!.'"    

Ruud Gullit and Johan Cruyff during day one of the 2013 Alfred Dunhill Links Championships at St Andrews Golf Course, Fife (David Cheskin / PA Archive/PA Images)

Dutch mentality

Last night, football writer Simon Kuper told us a couple of anecdotes about Gullit's lack of deference towards authority, which is a trait often seen among Dutch footballers.

Gullit touched on that and explained why that is often the case for players in the Netherlands. 

"We Dutchmen are a little bit different. We have to be different. We are a small country surrounded by big countries. So we have to do something different than what the Germans, English and the French do. So, we have to be up front a little bit, so we tell you what to do. We think we know everything but that comes a long way. Everybody knows the big multinationals of Holland, for a small country. Everybody knows the football of Holland because we think different. We need to be different in order to stand out," he said, adding that the Dutch have "no filters".

"The difference between Holland and most of the other countries - especially in Amsterdam - if you as a coach said 'we have to dribble etc', the youngster will say 'why?' You have to explain to him why you have to do that. Wow, in other countries, you just to do what you're asked and never ask why."          

Gullit also shared anecdotes about watching Champions League matches with World No 1 golfer Rory McIlroy, his childhood and early career and    which you can listen to the full interview via the podcast.

Carlsberg, official beer of the Barclay’s Premier League, brought Ruud Gullit to Dublin today along with the Premier League trophy. Visit facebook.com/Carlsberg for more information

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