Terek Grozny owner displeased with Ruud Gullit fires him

Home > Sports > Football

print dictionary print

Terek Grozny owner displeased with Ruud Gullit fires him

MOSCOW - Barely six months into his contract, Ruud Gullit was unceremoniously fired Tuesday as coach of Russian club Terek Grozny, after the Chechen side made a poor start to the Russian Premier League season with only three wins in 13 games.

The club’s president, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, had issued Gullit a fiery ultimatum to win Tuesday’s league game at Amkar Perm or lose his job - after the club lashed out at the Dutchman’s penchant for partying.

Amkar won 1-0 after a last-minute own goal, leaving Terek languishing 14th out of 16 places in the Premier League, just outside the relegation zone. “I knew about the ultimatum,’’ Gullit told Russian sports daily Sport-Express.

“Of course, this didn’t help the mood in the team. Before the match I said goodbye to the players and thanked them,’’ he was quoted as saying. A short statement on Terek’s Web site confirmed Gullit had been fired due to “unsatisfactory results.’’

The Dutch former World Player of the Year was hired in January on a big-money 18-month contract, and was given the unenviable task of qualifying for European competition in his first season.

In a long and scathing previous statement on the club’s Web site, Terek criticized Gullit, saying the former Newcastle, Chelsea, Feyenoord and LA Galaxy coach is distracted by “bars and discos.’’

“Terek has never looked so hopeless,’’ the club said. “The actions of Gullit over these six months show that he hasn’t got a grasp on the players or the lineup. The side has no form of play, and there is no recognizable style,’’ the statement said. “Kadyrov is extremely dissatisfied with both the team’s league position and the lack of endeavor in the head coach to put all his energy into normalizing the situation.’’

The club statement criticized Gullit both for his coaching and his attitude, complaining that the Dutchman went out on the town with his players after a recent break in the league for European Championship qualifying.

Terek said Gullit had ample opportunity to sign any players he saw fit to bolster the team, with money no object. The club also denied complaints it said Gullit made about the quality of the training infrastructure at the club, citing its newly built Akhmad Kadyrov Stadium, named after Kadyrov’s father.

Gullit never fully recovered after losing the first two games of the season to reigning champion Zenit St. Petersburg and Rubin Kazan, which came third last year. It looked brighter for a while when the club went through the five games in April, winning two, drawing two and losing just one. But Terek has won only once since, making a relegation scrap a far more likely prospect than challenging for honors.

Many in Russia questioned Gullit’s motives after a Daily Mail interview in which he conceded he had chosen Terek for the money, as well as the adventure. The value of his contract was never officially disclosed, but is thought to be around $10.8 million per year.


AP


한글 관련 기사 [연합]

네덜란드 축구영웅 굴리트, 지휘봉 박탈 ‘굴욕’

네덜란드의 '축구 영웅'인 뤼트 굴리트(49) 감독이 성적부진으로 6개월 만에 테렉 그로즈니(러시아) 클럽의 지휘봉을 빼앗기는 굴욕을 당했다.

축구전문 사이트 ESPN사커넷은 15일 "굴리트 감독이 14일 치러진 암카르 페름과의 러시아 프리미어리그 정규리그 라이벌전에서 0-1로 패하고 나서 구단주로부터 퇴임 요구를 받았다"고 보도했다.

올해 1월 테렉의 사령탑을 맡은 굴리트 감독은 첼시(잉글랜드)와 페예노르트(네덜란드), LA갤럭시(미국) 등을 지휘했고, 현역 시절 월드사커 매거진 선정 '올해의 선수'에 두 차례(1987년, 1989년)나 선정됐던 네덜란드의 축구 영웅이다.

하지만 굴리트 감독은 테렉을 맡고 나서 치른 정규리그 12경기에서 3승밖에 챙기지 못했고, 최근 6경기에서도 1승만 거두는 부진 여파로 결국 사령탑에서 하차하게 됐다.

앞서 테렉의 구단주이자 체첸 자치공화국 수반인 람잔 카디로프는 이날 경기 직전 구단 홈페이지에 "굴리트 감독이 이번 경기에서 이기지 못하면 해고당할 것"이라고 경고했다.

결국 테렉이 경기 종료 직전 터진 자책골로 0-1로 패하자 카디로프는 곧바로 "굴리트 감독이 팀을 맡고 나서 최악의 부진에 빠졌다"며 "그가 더 이상 팀을 지도하지 않게 됐다"고 발표했다.

Log in to Twitter or Facebook account to connect
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
help-image Social comment?
s
lock icon

To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.

Standards Board Policy (0/250자)