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Football

13th Aug 2015

Ruud Gullit on his Fr Ted cameo, Jack Byrne going Dutch and the FAI’s disappointing €5m loan

Ruudy Ruudy Ruudy

Kevin McGillicuddy

Almost an honour.

What do Pete Sampras and Ruud Gullit have in common?

They both are linked forever in Irish memory to Fr Ted.

We’re not sure how the American tennis player would react to his name being linked to rabbits, but at least we now know how the Dutchman feels, having been described as ‘sitting on a shed’ in an advent calendar

This intrepid reporter risked the ire of his fellow journalists to bring to Gullit’s attention that his name features in the Christmas episode of the legendary TV show.

After his initial perplexion, the Dutch legend, having watched the clip admitted that it is ‘almost an honour’ to be linked to the series.

Now that the big question was out of the way, the Dutchman was loose enough to open up about the saga of the FAI and Fifa’s five million payment after the infamous Thierry Henry handball.

The BBC pundit has sympathy for fans and players who were unhappy at the revelation,

“Of course they are disappointed, of course you are, you’ve been bought off for five million.”

“I’m not so mad about FIFA, I’m mad about Ireland. I’d be mad about my Federation. What the hell is that? Five million, you say it’s ok. That was a surprise. What did you do about it?”

We did nothing. Obviously.
However the Dutchman also admits that the money would have been hard to turn down by any administrator,
“It’s not my federation, it’s a difficult thing. Maybe they were thinking if we were knocked out anyway let’s get something out of it.”
“It is a huge disappointment when something like that happens but don’t get in that position in the first place.  The thing is, also with the Irish like I said, maybe they thought ‘we cant change anything about it, and maybe we get something out if it’.
Gullit also feels that the the FAI could never have really pursued any legal action against FIFA to try and have the game replayed, and the former Newcastle manager has praise for how Sepp Blatter handed the whole affair,
“You know that this game would not be played again. You know that, it’s not going to happen. You know that. It never happens so why would it happen now.”
“So, I think he (Sepp Blatter) did well. He got rid of it. Fifa, it’s not their fault what happened. It was not their fault but they wanted to get it out of the way and the Irish were competitors so move on. “

REPRO FREE***PRESS RELEASE NO REPRODUCTION FEE*** Carlsberg excite football fans with Barclays Premier League Trophy Visit to Dublin 12/8/2015 Carlsberg ambassador and former Ballon d'Or winner, Ruud Gullit, showcased the most coveted trophy in English football to fans in Dublin today. Carlsberg, official beer of the Barclay’s Premier League, brought footballing icon, Ruud Gullit, to Dublin along with the Premier League trophy. Carlsberg gave fans the opportunity to get up close to the coveted trophy and Gullit at D2 Bar on Harcourt Street to discuss all the talking points from the opening round of fixtures from the new season. Visit facebook.com/Carlsberg for more information Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

The Dutchman was part of a golden generation of Dutch players such as Marco Van Basten and Frank Rijikard who came through together in the late 1980’s and went on to rule football with a star-studded AC Milan side.

However when asked about the new guru of under-age football appointed by the FAI, and fellow Dutchman, Ruud Dokter, Gullit admits he’s never heard of him.

One Irish player he has heard of  is under-age starlet Jack Byrne, who is currently on loan with Dutch Eredivisie side Cambuur from Manchester City.

Gullit feels that his development will be accelerated by playing in the more technical Dutch top-flight,

“He’s doing well. He’s injured. He doesn’t play this Sunday. He’s a midfielder, like Roy Keane, little but a tough guy.”
“It’s a fantastic opportunity  Because he plays in a small, small community, a small club. I don’t like to play on plastic turf, but he has to play on it there. But the development in Holland is good. You get your first team football. It is more open, very technical, very tactical so it’s a good experience.”
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Gullit also echoes the recent sentiments of Niall Quinn, who feels that the focus of under-age football in Ireland needs to change from a winning culture, to one more focused on technique and development
“Here you play mostly school’s football and youth and there’s the problem already. Because if you play for your school, what’s all-important in England is winning.”
“For us (in Holland), everything until 14 is all bout development. I don’t care if you win. It’s all about play, play play. If you play for the school you say, hey, I want to win.”
“So I have a big guy up front. Two big guys at the back and maybe all the little players, they don’t play. They don’t get a chance. There it already goes wrong. It’s all about results and that’s not what it’s about.”

“It’s difficult, though, for the coaches because they want to win to but the development of the kid until 14 is just to play for fun, just do you’re things. Try to develop and try to encourage people to do the things that they need to do.”

REPRO FREE***PRESS RELEASE NO REPRODUCTION FEE*** Carlsberg excite football fans with Barclays Premier League Trophy Visit to Dublin 12/8/2015 Carlsberg ambassador and former Ballon d'Or winner, Ruud Gullit, showcased the most coveted trophy in English football to fans in Dublin today. Carlsberg, official beer of the BarclayÕs Premier League, brought footballing icon, Ruud Gullit, to Dublin along with the Premier League trophy. Carlsberg gave fans the opportunity to get up close to the coveted trophy and Gullit at D2 Bar on Harcourt Street to discuss all the talking points from the opening round of fixtures from the new season. Visit facebook.com/Carlsberg for more information Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Gullit has history with the Irish international side – his first visit here was a 3-2 win over Ireland at Dalymount Park, while one of his last occasions to come to Dublin was in 2001 when Ireland beat Holland 1-0 on his birthday.

So what Irish players made the biggest impression on Gullit at international and club level. It’s no surprise that the former midfielder is a big fan of a certain Corkman. The TV pundit has no hesitation in naming the the three players he admired most in green:

“Keane of course. He was very good. Good striker Aldridge, I like him. McAteer was also nice. Roy has this thing that he’s a tough guy but he was very intelligent, his football intelligence was high.
“That made most teams play better because of what he did  and how he did it.  It was not about smashing players, it was more about intelligence.”
We’re sure Roy would almost consider that an honour. He should.
Ruud Gullit spoke to SportsJOE, in Dublin, as part of the Carlsberg Premier League Trophy Tour of Ireland.