Moscow, Jun 15: Barely six months into his contract, Ruud Gullit was unceremoniously fired Tuesday as coach of Russian club Terek Grozny, after the club from Chechnya made a poor start to the 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 away to 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 website confirmed Gullit had been fired due to "unsatisfactory results."
The Dutch former World Player of the Year was hired in the January offseason on a big-money 18-month contract, and given the unenviable task of qualifying for European competition in his first season.
In a long and scathing previous statement on the club's website, Terek criticized Gullit, saying the former Newcastle, Chelsea, Feyenoord and L.A. 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.
"Gullit ... arrives two days after the rest of the team, and then goes with the players to a night club," the club said.
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.
"What absence of infrastructure can Gullit be talking about when even the stars of world football -- Maradona, Cafu, Dida, (Steve) McManaman, (Luis) Figo and others -- marveled at the stadium," the statement said. AP
