Ruud Gullit still fumes at FAI ‘hush’ deal

Still exhibiting the nonchalance which typified his stellar playing career, it says much for the FAI’s €5m hush deal with Fifa that it makes Ruud Gullit fume.

The former Netherlands great skipped through a variety of topics with characteristic ease during a promotional trip to Dublin yesterday until the subject matter switched to the controversial pay-off that brought the FAI’s outcry over the Thierry Henry handball in the 2009 World Cup play-off to a deafening silence.

In explaining the pact, the FAI claimed the payment was to stop potential legal action over the incident, though Gullit refutes the notion of there being any grounds to pursue a case.