Ruud now Dutch U19 boss

Former Chelsea and Newcastle United manager Ruud Gullit has returned to coaching after a four-year absence by accepting the post of Holland U19 boss.

The Dutch legend, part of the 1988 European Championship-winning team, was sacked by Newcastle weeks into the 1999/2000 season after a brief but disastrous spell in charge.

Since then Gullit has been broadening his football horizons by travelling around the world and looking at how different countries approach coaching youngsters.

“I have never really stopped at all,” Gullit said. “I intentionally took some time off and travelled around the world to see how football developed in various countries, and how this compared to Holland.

“I talked a lot about these experiences with people like Willem van Hanegem (Dutch national team assistant manager) and suddenly the feeling came back to me.

“I wanted to be involved again and use my experience and ideas because I think I can bring some added value to the national junior programme.”

Gullit already has plans to make some changes to the current set up in Holland, which is widely regarded as one of the best in Europe.

He added: “We still have many good players at all levels, but those players and their managers seemed to have forgotten what it is all about – winning games.

“I‘ve seen many games in which players were pushed into a tight tactical system, 4-4-2, 3-4-3, we can’t get enough of it. But I don’t think these are the basics of the game.

“The only thing that matters is how much they want to win and what they will do to become the best.

“If you compare Holland with other nations, I think we try to educate a little bit too much. We seem to be happy when we combine well and have 60% possession of the ball, but meanwhile the result is zero points worth.

“Nothing feels better than winning the game, and it is even better when it happens after a pinball situation in the last minute.”

Gullit wants to first encourage a winning ethic and then start playing nice football. He has even enlisted the help of set piece specialist and former Oranje star Ronald Spelbos to work on free-kick and corner routines.

“Ronald was always extremely valuable for the Dutch national team,” Gullit recalls, “a defender who could actually defend and didn’t think that defending was a dirty word.

“I feel that we don’t watch these type of players enough when scouting kids.”

Holland U19 are involved in qualification for the Euro 2004 in Switzerland, and they will host the World Cup at this level next year.