The Blues have slipped to sixth in the Premier League table under Enzo Maresca
Gullit was sacked in 1998 just a year after winning the FA Cup at Stamford Bridge
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By LEWIS BROWNING
Published: 09:06 EDT, 3 April 2025 | Updated: 09:06 EDT, 3 April 2025
Former Chelsea star and manager Ruud Gullit has offered a scathing assessment of his former side.
Gullit played for the Blues between 1995 and 1998, becoming player manager in 1996 when Glenn Hoddle left the club to take over at the England national team.
He took the Blues to FA Cup glory in 1997 - their first major trophy for 26 years - but was sacked the following season with the club second in the Premier League and in the quarter-final of two cup competitions.
That was under former owner Ken Bates. Since then, the Blues have been through the Roman Abramovic era, and have started their latest ownership run under current bosses Todd Boehly and BlueCo.
But things are no different to 27 years ago, according to Gullit.
Writing in The Sun, the Dutchman questioned the current regime and called for the club to finally find an identity in a bid to move forward.
Former Chelsea star Ruud Gullit (not pictured) has given a damning assessment of his ex-side
Gullit played for the Blues for three years and also served as manager
He was sacked after winning the FA Cup and suggested nothing has changed
The Blues have fallen to sixth in the Premier League but could rise back up to fourth with a win over Tottenham
Chelsea are currently hunting for success under ownership group Todd Boehly and BlueCo
'Chelsea to me, still, is a little bit of an enigma,' he began. 'I don't know really how good they are or how bad they are. They are looking for their identity a little bit. They are trying to creep up the table and maybe in the long term they will be contenders for the title. But I don't know yet where they are exactly.
'People tell me that one of the problems with Chelsea is that they change the manager all the time - so tell me something new!
'I don't get it. I don't get what they really, really want. Even if they are successful, they still sack you as a coach. So I don't know. That's why I say Chelsea's still an enigma. I try to find out what they stand for, what is their philosophy and what is the football they want us to watch?'
The Blues have fallen to sixth in the Premier League table with nine games left in the season, but have the chance to rise back to fourth if they beat Tottenham on Thursday evening.
It had looked like they would be able to keep pace with Liverpool and Arsenal in the title race earlier in the season, but they fell off and have been struggling for form as of late.
The jury is still out on Enzo Maresca, who has said that Chelsea'splayers received his message loud and clear after the Italian was so alarmed by the poor standard in training last week that he cancelled their day off.
Ahead of Thursday's showdown at home to Tottenham, an in-house friendly was arranged between the first-team stars who had not travelled away on international duty and a side made up of Under-21s from the academy.
The youngsters won 3-0 - with 19-year-old striker Donnell McNeilly scoring twice - and Maresca responded by hauling the first team back into Cobham the next morning.
Jadon Sancho was among those not called up for England, and he has not scored for Chelsea since December 8 — the last time they faced Tottenham, a 4-3 away win. Sancho was one of the new signings warned over the phone by Maresca in the summer that if he did not work properly during the week, he would not play.