Harry Harris - Ruud Gullit - Portrait of a Genius

After the game Ruud told journalists: ‘Chelsea is a bigger challenge than any other club could have given me after eight years in Italy. I am still very ambitious and Chelsea have not won anything for a long time. It would excite me, tremendously, if I could get things going there and win a major trophy. It would follow the same pattern at the other clubs I have joined.’

Ruud was cautious on the eve of his Premiership debt. He labelled his new Chelsea team-mates his ‘virgin’ soldiers and warned the Stamford Bridge fans not to let their dreams run away with them. His priority at the outset was all about setting standards and reaching them. For him, victories could wait. It was more about playing well, not so much about winning well. He explained: ‘If we don’t win it is not so important, there will be other games to win. In England there are so many games, so many demands! So many things could happen but what you can be sure of is that the season will be full of ups and downs. We won’t win every game.

‘The secret of a successful team is to stay calm and retain your belief. To keep a cool head when the pressure is on from either the fans, the press or the chairman. We have a good team at Chelsea but we are a young team. If you like, we are virgins, still getting to know each other. My goal is only to play good football. I never think of what I want to win, just to have a good time with my football. If you are playing good, enjoyable football then the trophies will take care of themselves.’

In many ways Gullit’s debut in the Premier League, against Everton, was the classic Beauty verses the Beast confrontation. The Dutch dazzler, who personifies total football, against the team with a mean streak and an all-consuming hatred of getting beaten. He didn’t flinch from the challenge. He was ready to take on all-comers, be they six foot four inch Scotsmen like Duncan Ferguson or five foot seven English midgets. Expectations were running high at Stamford Bridge, which was still undergoing reconstruction work. But the club and their fans were ready to embrace the start of a new and successful era.

Remarkable performances, astonishing results, and an inspirational member of the team. Not bad for an opening season. Ruud Gullit inspired a belief that one of the dormant giants of English football is on the march again. Gullit was the catalyst that elevated AC Milan from the obscurity of mid-table in Serie A to the world’s most formidable club. He has not quite achieved that at Stamford Bridge yet, but he has helped restore Chelsea’s pride and renewed the conviction that the club can again challenge for the game’s top honours. On a personal level, Gullit attracted the accolades of everyone in the game as well as winning many awards to mark his first season in English football.

On the first day of the 1995/96 season Football Focus featured Gullit’s debut for Chelsea against the then FA Cup holders, Everton. Gary Lineker picked out Gullit as the potential smash hit of the season.

Lineker told the millions of BBC viewers: ‘The arrival of Ruud Gullit is fascinating. He is such a great figure. He will give the game what Klinsmann did, with his personality, big name and also his ability to entrance the media. Unlike Klinsmann, who always said the right things, Gullit is outspoken, and maybe that will be a good thing. The first time I saw him play was back in 1986 when I first joined Barcelona. It might only have been a pre-season game but he got a standing ovation from 100, 000 Catalans – even though he missed a penalty!’

Not long after the midday Football Focus , the Fulham Road was awash with shiny new blue shirts with ‘Gullit’ on the back. The street traders were doing brisk business in fanzine style T-shirts. Over Gullit’s dreadlocked head were superimposed the words ‘Judge Dread: Chelsea’s Ruud Boy: Judge, Jury and Executioner’. The match day programme featured the inevitable Gullit feature, but also a little dressing room insight from mickey-taking John Spencer who nicknamed Ruud ‘The Big Bird’, from Sesame Street fame.

Anyone complaining about his massive salary, were put to shame by the amount of cash his mere presence was generating. Gullit-mania was out in force. The sold out signs glistening in the glorious sunshine. His long anticipated Premiership debut had finally arrived, and there was a worldwide TV audience of 250 million. More than 60 countries beamed live pictures with an additional 50 nations screening highlights later in the week. There was a bigger audience for the most anticipated kick-off in League history than even for the Mike Tyson comeback fight! CSI, the company which distributes Premiership games, was inundated with requests. General manager Karl Bistany said: ‘You would be hard pressed to find anywhere in the world where you couldn’t watch the Premiership. You’ll be able to see Premier League matches in places like Vietnam and Cambodia.’

All the off the field hype was not wrecked by on the field anti-climax … a goalless draw. A flag with Ruud’s head super-imposed on the body of a Chelsea lion was unfurled and he knew that the fans had taken him to their hearts. He waved back enthusiasti-cally when he was introduced to the crowd. There was a sense of occasion and Ruud Gullit did not disappoint anyone. He enthralled the Chelsea fans and became the most dominant foreign import of the opening Premiership weekend – outshining Dennis Bergkamp and David Ginola. He also spectacularly exploded the myth that he is a geriatric former world number one who has been pensioned off at the Bridge. The Dutchman looked super fit and still a formidable force. One crunching tackle in midfield with the fearsome Joe Parkinson proved that, Gullit showing no fear or hesitation as he lunged into a 50–50 challenge.

Gullit explained to anyone who wanted to listen that it is nonsense to dwell on his five knee operations and suggest he is past his prime. He must have been fed up with the constant probing about his fitness, but he responded politely to all the inquisitive journalists: ‘I’m fit enough and after ninety minutes I could still go up front, although the heat made it very difficult for everyone. In the first half I didn’t expend a lot of energy. I might have seemed very quiet but I was pacing myself. That enabled me after fifty minutes to do more and by then the opposition were tired. It was all about choosing my right moment, not trying something eight times in the first half and tiring in the second.’

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