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Gullit said: ‘I had never heard of Gillingham before coming here, but that did not matter, it was just good to play against a team which plays the English way. It was good to have a tough game. I’ve had hundreds of letters from supporters telling me how pleased they are that I have decided to sign for Chelsea. I have a great feeling about this move already. There are some good players at Chelsea and I am impressed. We have a team that is technically very good. The players have great skill and English football is changing. It is no longer kick and rush. I’m impressed with everything I have seen in this match and in training but we won’t get carried away. Rome was not built in a day.’

      The Chelsea fans got their first sight of Ruud at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, 30th July in a 1–1 draw with FC Porto for Paul Elliott’s testimonial. Just as anticipated, the fans flocked to the Bridge wearing their brand new Gullit shirts. And, there were Gullit wigs on sale outside of the ground at £10 a time.

      Porto manager Bobby Robson drooled over the conversion of Gullit to the sweeper role. The former England manager, who took England to the World Cup semi-finals in Italy 1990, described Gullit as ‘another Franz Beckenbauer’.

      Apart from Gullit’s class, the huge crowd were also treated to a stunning Hughes effort. Only five minutes had gone by when the Welshman jack-knifed to bludgeon a characteristic header into the net from Mark Stein’s cross. Both Gullit and Hughes were substituted before the end. Gullit stayed on until 65 minutes and Hughes lasted until eight minutes before the end. Hoddle chose the occasion to give most of his squad a run-out, including himself, as he came on for the last 14 minutes.

      With rebuilding work still taking place, the local council cut the ground capacity to 19, 000, yet 16, 689 turned out to witness Gullit and Hughes in their first home game. Elliott, whose career ended two years earlier in a tackle with Dean Saunders, had faced a legal bill for £500, 000 after losing to the former Liverpool striker in court. Ladbrokes presented Elliott with a £500 bet on Chelsea winning the title at 40–1. But on Hoddle’s own admission, Chelsea’s best hope for a trophy was in one of the Cups. He was to be proved exactly right.

      Testimonials at the Bridge have been notoriously poorly attended, even stars like Kerry Dixon attracted a meagre 5, 000 fans. Colin Hutchinson said: ‘Paul must have thought he’d won the national lottery when after arranging his game against Porto we went out and signed Gullit and Hughes.’ The club handed over all the £250, 000 receipts to Elliott. In addition, the player had the programme, advertising, and peripheral rights including a TV deal with Sky.

      Two weeks later, Chelsea journeyed to Gullit’s homeland to take on Feyenoord in their final pre-season friendly. Gullit was still not entirely happy with his game. He explained: ‘I am still making mistakes, I need a few more 90-minute games under my belt to get things right. We have eased through preseason without too much trouble, so maybe we need to lose a game before we begin the season in earnest. We will be better for it, and will all learn from it. You don’t really know how well you are doing until you have tasted defeat.’

      The team arrived on Thursday evening in Rotterdam, on 11th August. They engaged in light training, returned to the hotel and then Ruud took the opportunity to re-acquaint himself with some of the night spots in the city. He said: ‘I needed a little break, and it’s so nice to comeback to the town where it all started for me. I have seen a lot of my old friends.’

      The tears flowed for Ruud as he made an emotional return to his old club on the Saturday. He was guest of honour at the opening of Feyenoord’s superbly refurbished stadium. A crowd of 38, 000 turned out to see his ‘homecoming’ at the ground where he forged his reputation.

      But there were two very unexpected ‘fans’ who brought the big man to his first burst of tears. The Chelsea team coach arrived at the ground at 6.30 pm for the 8.15 kick-off and as the player disembarked from the bus Gullit’s eyes met two little girls … his daughters from his first marriage, Felicity and Sharmayne. His former wife, Yvonne, stood in the background as the two girls were delighted to see their father, It was a total surprise for Ruud. He was extremely emotional with the reunion, but at the same time deeply annoyed that the TV cameras and Dutch media were present to record a very private event. His two girls watched the match, and so did Ruud’s mum. After the match, the girls presented Ruud with a drawing of him inscribed ‘Our dad is the best.’ The only English newspaper to refer to this touching moment was The Times a week or so later. Rob Hughes wrote: ‘He protects those girls from every contact with the media, with football, with the publicity that is essential to his and their wealth.’

      There was another highly charged moment for Ruud, when during the warm up he was presented with a special presentation in his honour. A leading Dutch journalist explained: ‘The chances are that this was his final game on Dutch soil as he will never play again for the national team and Chelsea are sure to be his last big club. The last time he played here he was booed and whistled because he had just walked out of the Dutch camp and refused to play for Holland. Everyone now feels it was a terrible way to say goodbye and wanted to rectify that for such a great player.’

      Leading Dutch celebrity Koos Postema, the Terry Wogan of Holland and a very close friend of Ruud, gave him a big kiss as he made the presentation. Ruud was handed the microphone and made a speech to the crowd. He was applauded for a full ten minutes! When he took the microphone the crowd sang ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ and there was another bout of tears.

      Ruud told the crowd: ‘I am so surprised and honoured and flattered. I am so proud that you the public, in the city where all the big things started to happen for me, are doing this. It means so much. With Feyenoord I won my first championship, and won the double. It was the club I met the two biggest characters in football, Johan Cruyff and Wim van Hanegem. That’s why this club will always be special to me and why I will keep this club close to my heart for the rest of my life. Whether I’ll return to this club as a player, I don’t know. My future, as you all know, is in England. I hope Feyenoord do well. I honestly wish them all the luck in the world.’

      Ruud put on a five-star show but got the defeat he asked for! The Dutchman sprayed his long range passes all over the field, but Chelsea’s new continental system failed to click. Gullit almost inspired Chelsea to take the lead. Mark Stein sped away behind the Feyenoord defence to pick up a glorious Gullit pass but, instead of picking out Mark Hughes, he flashed the ball across the face of the goal. A 40 yard Gullit pass early in the second half enabled Andy Myers to cross for Gavin Peacock, whose diving header was just wide. Then Gullit picked out Stein whose cross for Hughes was wasted. The game was settled in the 68th minute with a goal from Feyenoord’s Orlando Trustfull.

      After the game Ruud told journalists: ‘Chelsea is a bigger challenge than any other club could have given me after eight years in Italy. I am still very ambitious and Chelsea have not won anything for a long time. It would excite me, tremendously, if I could get things going there and win a major trophy. It would follow the same pattern at the other clubs I have joined.’

      Ruud was cautious on the eve of his Premiership debt. He labelled his new Chelsea team-mates his ‘virgin’ soldiers and warned the Stamford Bridge fans not to let their dreams run away with them. His priority at the outset was all about setting standards and reaching them. For him, victories could wait. It was more about playing well, not so much about winning well. He explained: ‘If we don’t win it is not so important, there will be other games to win. In England there are so many games, so many demands! So many things could happen but what you can be sure of is that the season will be full of ups and downs. We won’t win every game.

      â€˜The secret of a successful team is to stay calm and retain your belief. To keep a cool head when the pressure is on from either the fans, the press or the chairman. We have a good team at Chelsea but we are a young team. If you like, we are virgins, still getting to know each other. My goal is only to play good football. I never think of what I want to win, just to have a good time with my football. If you are playing good, enjoyable football then the trophies will take care of themselves.’

      In many

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