Ruud Gullit puts himself in frame for Holland job and he wants to work with Louis van Gaal
RUUD GULLIT has put himself in the frame to work with Louis van Gaal for Holland.
The former Newcastle boss fancies a stint at the helm of the national team – but reckons he needs help.
Henk Ten Cate is also a name Gullit fancies to bring the best out of the players, but he has to convince the KNVB hierarchy if he is to be offered the job.
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Danny Blind was sacked as the Oranje head coach after a 2-0 defeat to Bulgaria left the country staring at another tournament without their participation.
The Dutch have been placed in a difficult position in Group A, with fancied France and international rivals Sweden drawn alongside them, but many see this as the worst Holland side for decades.
And last night they lost 2-1 to Italy at the Amsterdam ArenA as Van Gaal was snapped watching the game alongside Fabio Capello.
But defeat to Bulgaria made the job a lot harder and many are tipping the Dutch to build towards Euro 2020 instead and blood new talent.
And Gullit reckons linking up with former Manchester United manager Van Gaal could be the right tonic, even if the Iron Tulip is enjoying semi-retirement and working on the structure of Dutch youth football with KNVB.
The former AC Milan and Chelsea man has been working with Blind himself as a coach.
Gullit told the : “Anyone can learn from Van Gaal. He has a good track record.”
He also said: “Together with Henk Ten Cate? That would be nice. It would also be very nice.”
The 54-year-old clearly sees this opportunity as his best chance to get the Dutch job.
Gullit had an ill-fated spell at Newcastle – when he infamously dropped Alan Shearer – and has had a journeyman coaching career taking him to Feyenoord, LA Galaxy and Terek Grozny.
He said on Monday: “I think that anyone who gets the job offer would say yes. It’s an honour to be national coach.
“Of course I was all ready to help the team, but what the KNVB is going to do no-one knows.
“There are many names [in the hat] including mine. Let’s see what happens.
“First there must be clarity and union, it’s appalling what’s going on, many people have left and nobody knows who is responsible.”
Gullit also pointed the finger at the KNVB for not appointing Everton boss Ronald Koeman when they had the chance.
He added: “They made a huge mistake two years ago by not appointing Ronald Koeman. He is a new generation of coach. From then on it went downhill.”