Ruud Gullit: "David Beckham is not a leader"

Nu Sport
Wednesday 08 October 2008

Ruud Gullit has been back in the Netherlands for four months since he resigned at US team LA Galaxy.

In an interview with Nu Sport Gullit said he is not finished as a coach and had some fine remarks about David Beckham.

The former AC Milan star is unemployed at the moment so on Tuesday he had time to do a football clinic for car manufacturers Ford in Eindhoven.

Gullit still enjoys standing on a football pitch: "This is still the most beautiful thing there is," he said.

The frozen pitch and drizzling rain must have made him long back to the days in LA where he would work under sunny skies in the shade of a palm tree.

"I do miss the climate, but when all your friends and family are in Holland it's not the same. And don't think that the climate there is good for playing football. In the USA football is a summer sport, but the heat and the humidity are not ideal."

It is just one of the things surprised the man who captained the only Dutch team that ever won a major prize.

"The level of the MLS is not as high as it is in Europe. The top teams would be mid table in the Eredivisie. But they seem happy with that as they seem reluctant that let the sport grow to much. They seem afraid that football will become more popular then their American sports. They are promoting it, sure, but not as much as they say they do. A lot of Directors in football are also in American Football or in Baseball. What struck me is that the schedule is not synchronized with FIFA's international calendar. The MLS would continue when my foreign players were away on international duty and exactly those games would get broadcast live on TV."

One of the players in Gullit's team was former Manchester United and Real Madrid star David Beckham and although he thinks Beckham did a lot of positive things for football in the US he wasn't too happy about just what aspects of the Englishman were emphasized by the US media.

"He attracted big crowds to every stadium he played in. But soon the attention was no longer on football but on everything around him. They would talk about the Prada's he wore or where he had been spotted. A shame."

It is one of the reasons why Gullit doubts whether Beckham will return to the MLS after his time at AC Milan.

"I can understand why he went to train with Milan. But will he return to Galaxy when things work out at Milan? I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't. Look, Beckham is a player who does well when he is surrounded by good players. So for that matter Milan is the best place for him. In a team of less talented players he doesn't play that well himself. He is not a leader."

Looking at his career as a coach Gullit says he's open to anything.

"My ambitions haven't changed. I haven't a achieved a great deal as a coach yet and being out there is the best things there is. I wouldn't want to embark on a foreign adventure again that quickly, mainly because of my family. But looking at the future I am open to anything. And it does not necessarily have to be a top side. Here in Holland I have not always been treated very well by the media, but that is the thing here. The Dutch journalists always want to tell you who you should play. It's not like that in other countries. But I have accepted that. It's in their nature."

Although AZ are top of the table at the moment Gullit would put his money on Ajax to win the this season.

"AZ are playing well but I have a gut feeling that it will be Ajax. They are not playing so well at the moment, but you don't need to. It's about the results and they have been very fortunate with those so far. It's not for nothing that's they always speak of 'Lucky Ajax'. Feyenoord? They will get back on their feet again. I truly believe that."

And then there is Johan Derksen, one of Holland's leading pundits and one who has burned Gullit down on several occasions.

In one of his last columns Derksen wrote that he will turn sixty next month and that he does not expect many visitors at his party as there aren't many friends left in football.

In spite of that he said he hoped to receive a champagne breakfast from Ruud Gullit.

Gullit is a good sport: "When Johan Derksen wants a champagne breakfast from me, he will get a Champaign breakfast. When is his birthday?"