Amsterdam - Ruud Gullit is no longer going to assist Danny Blind with coaching Netherlands national team as he traded words on Friday with the Dutch football association (KNVB) over his job demands.
Gullit, after a verbal agreement to take up the post, has not been given the job because he wanted to take over the team once Blind's tenure ended, the association's technical director Hans van Breukelen said.
But the former European Footballer of Year has denied that that was one of the reasons why negotiations broke down.
“What van Breukelen says is not true,” Gullit told Dutch radio station NOS.
“I asked the association to give me a paper to guarantee that once Blind leaves I can renegotiate my position. Van Breukelen said that was logical but refused to put it in my contract.”
Gullit, 53, said he was astonished the KNVB would not agree to a departure clause.
“I do not understand it. A clause to be able to leave if you receive a better offer is completely normal in the football world. Everyone has such a clause but Van Breukelen would not agree to it.”
Gullit had been lined up to replaced Dick Advocaat, who departed this month to coach Fenerbahce after a three-month spell as Blind's assistant, invoking his departure clause.
Van Breukelen was a team mate of Gullit's when the Netherlands won the 1988 European Championship.
“We had arranged everything, he could continue with his television work and he didn't have to come to every technical meeting,” Van Breukelen said.
“But I couldn't agree to his two demands, particularly after what happened to us with Advocaat.”
The Dutch, who failed to qualify for Euro 2016, will now probably go into their first World Cup qualifier in Sweden on Sept. 6 without a senior assistant coach.
Reuters