The man who led Chelsea to their first major trophy in 26 years has been sacked by Russian side Terek Grozny after just six months.
Ruud Gullit joined the Blues as a player in 1995 from AC Milan, before becoming player-manager in 1996. He guided the team to Wembley in his first full season when they beat Middlesbrough 2-0 after Roberto Di Matteo scored an early screamer then Eddie Newton added a second.
The Dutchman was controversially sacked by Ron Bates when the team where in two semi-finals and were sitting in second in the Premiership.
After a mixed spell at Newcastle and then unsuccessful ones back in his homeland with Feyenoord and in the States with LA Galaxy he found himself in Russia with recently promoted Terek Grozny.
Club president Ramzan Kadyrov had warned Gullit, that if Terek did not win against Amkar Perm then the ex-Blue would be sacked.
A last-minute penalty sealed Gullit’s fate, the 1-0 defeat saw Kadyrov immediately remove the Dutchman from his managerial duties.
When he took charge, he was set the target of being in the top eight come the season’s halfway point but the defeat left them 14th out of 16 teams in the Russian Premier League.
It is hard to see who will gamble on the man who starred in the European Championships in Holland’s 1988 win and whose skills dazzled the fans at the Bridge on many occasions.
By Scott Balaam
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