Ruud Gullit's time in the Premier League is viewed almost 30 years later with a lot of 'what ifs'. The 1987 Ballon d'Or winner didn't make the move to the English top-flight until the twilight years of his glistening career, ultimately joining Chelsea from Sampdoria in 1995.
The Dutchman is considered one of the finest players to ever grace the turf, and if he had moved to England earlier in his career, he could be seen among the division's all-time greats. Instead, his time in west London was inconsistent, with a transition into an unusual player-manager role just 12 months into his tenure at Chelsea.
Having been used to the glitz and glamour that comes with playing the majority of his years in the biggest and most revered footballing arenas in the world, Gullit wasn't impressed with the standards upon his arrival in England.
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Ruud Gullit on Disastrous Stadium in England He 'Loved'
'You had to walk around on planks of wood'
The Premier League is full of incredible stadiums, with lavish facilities for players and supporters as well as sublime state-of-the-art playing surfaces. This may be the case in 2025, but three decades earlier, it was a completely different story.
Speaking about his first experience of Chelsea's Stamford Bridge, Gullit revealed the 'total wreck' of the 40,000-seater venue. Speaking to BBC Sport (per Chelsea FC), the ex-Netherlands international said:
"When I came for the first time to see Stamford Bridge, I was like 'what the hell kind of stadium is this?' I was used to playing in the best stadiums in the world, but here there were only two stands. The place wasn't just a building site, it was a total wreck. You had to walk around on planks of wood."
Not only was the stadium not up to the standards he expected, but the training facilities were also well behind where they needed to be. Gullit continued: "The training ground too, was very different to what I was used to. Chelsea's facilities now are world class but then they were based at Harlington, which was a school. There was nothing there - just five little locker rooms, and the only thing in any of them was a wooden bench and a hook. That was it."
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"It was all about money. You have people around you and they back-stab you. It's a horrible feeling."
Despite his complaints about the condition of both Stamford Bridge and the training ground, the retired forward still enjoyed it: "But I loved it. It was almost like I was going back to when I had just started playing, when I was nine years old. It was fantastic."
Gullit: Glenn Hoddle Convinced Me to Join Chelsea
'That was a very important factor in my decision'
Glenn Hoddle and Ruud Gullit
Glenn Hoddle was the manager who finally convinced Gullit to take the plunge into English football after many years in Serie A. The style of play the ex-England international played at Stamford Bridge was a key factor, but also the extremely high regard Gullit held Hoddle in. Calling the Tottenham legend underappreciated by his own country, Gullit explained how Hoddle convinced him to move to London:
"He had first phoned me up a few months previously to say he wanted to sign me and because I saw him as a player who played skilful football, I knew for sure he would not be a manager who would want to play the long ball and that was a very important factor in my decision."