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.

“I’m not so mad about Fifa but I’m mad about Ireland,” he argued. “I’d be mad about my federation. What the hell is that? Five million to say everything is okay - that was a surprise.

“The players were right to be disappointed, of course they are when the federation has been bought off.

“You know that this game would not be replayed. It never happens so why would it happen now?

“Sepp Blatter (Fifa president) got rid of the controversy. But what happened wasn’t Fifa’s fault.”

Although the double European Cup winner with AC Milan almost knocked Ireland out of the 1990 World Cup by giving the Dutch an early lead in Palermo, he was a restless spectator 11 years later sitting in Lansdowne Road on his birthday as Roy Keane led the Irish to victory over his homeland and hurtling towards their last global showpiece appearance.

Gullit traded midfield battles with many a star during a glittering career, yet pinpoints the Corkman as the one competitor everyone underestimated except himself.

“It was not about smashing players with Roy, he was more about intelligence,” said the former Chelsea playmaker.

“Roy has this thing that he’s a tough but his football intelligence was high. That made his teams play better because of what he did and how he did it. He could easily have played for a top club in Europe. Everybody understood his part of the game, that part of the jigsaw clubs always struggle to find. Remember Chelsea were trying to find another Claude Makelele for a long time and eventually got Nemanja Matic.

“Arsenal’s biggest problem now is not having that type of player in midfield, someone like Patrick Vieira.”

Speaking of English football, Gullit reckons his compatriot Louis Van Gaal cannot afford to go a second season at Manchester United without delivering a trophy.

Dutch striker Memphis Depay, he insists, will become a success in time but quality finished article players are required ahead of the transfer deadline on September 1 if champions Chelsea are to be dethroned.

“The honeymoon period is over for Van Gaal and this will be a tough season,” he asserted. “He has to get something out of the season. The crowd want trophies, as they are used to it, and therefore he needs to provide them with something.

“Van Gaal did it before in other countries but there are no guarantees, like the way Ireland knocked his Netherlands team out in the qualifiers.

“He may still bring new players in but it is a ridiculous rule to buy players when your competition has started. Depay is a good player and he’s excited to play at Old Trafford, everyone would be, yet he needs time to adapt himself.

“However, he has done it the right way by playing a few years of first-team football with PSV Eindhoven before moving to England. Too many Dutch players leave home at 16 and are not ready.

“I understand if they go because sometimes they think the train may not come along again but we had Karim Rekik who went to Manchester City as a teen and didn’t get many games. It’s taken him four years to get back on track with another club.”

As for his former club, Chelsea, Gullit was keen to lavish praise on his former Blues team-mate Roberto Di Matteo, rather than Jose Mourinho, for guiding them into the top bracket of European clubs.

He said: “Robbie put Chelsea on the map. If you want to have be accepted internationally, clubs need to win the Champions League, like Robbie did in 2012. That’s why PSG want to win it so badly and why Liverpool are still considered a big club even if they have a bad season in England.

“Before the Champions League final against Bayern Munich, somebody wrote on the door of the Chelsea dressing-room which read – ‘Everybody in Europe wants Bayern Munich to win the Champions League’.

“It was a big mistake. The guy who put that in the locker room was stupid. But they did and it gave Chelsea extra motivation.

“Nobody expected Chelsea to win because they weren’t the best team, it was seen as a miracle, so Robbie put that club on the world map.”