Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd tonight admitted Ruud Gullit would probably have left the club even if his gamble to drop Alan Shearer had paid off.

The Dutchman relegated the £15million striker and partner Duncan Ferguson to the bench for a Premiership clash with fierce rivals Sunderland at St James' Park on August 25 1999 and then famously tried to blame their introduction as substitutes for a 2-1 defeat.

Gullit packed his bags and left Tyneside just days later, opening up the way for home-grown Bobby Robson to take on the only job he still coveted. Many have since drawn the conclusion that Gullit's failure of his decisive move over his stand-off with Shearer propelled his exit, but Shepherd believes he would have quit whatever the result.

The United chairman revealed he had to persuade the manager even to include the fans' favourite in the 16 on that fateful night. Shepherd makes the revelation tonight during an exclusive interview with Century FM's Bob Moncur, the last Newcastle captain to lift a major trophy.

"He (Gullit) said `I'm going to leave him (Shearer) out' and I said `You can't do it. Believe me, you don't leave Alan Shearer off the bench in a Sunderland derby. "`If you don't want to play him, that's up to you, but you don't leave him out of the squad. You've got to put him on the bench', and he did put him on the bench. "But saying that, I think Ruud had left the game before. I think he would have loved to have gone out on a high by beating Sunderland, but I still think even if we had beaten Sunderland he would have left. "I think he would have said `I've beaten Sunderland, I've lost the players, I've got them on the bench, I've gone'. I think that's what would have happened."

For all Gullit's departure was inevitable after a disastrous reign, Shepherd is adamant he maintains a huge respect for the former world footballer of the year, although he admits his relationship with the Dutchman was different to those he had with predecessors Kevin Keegan and Kenny Dalglish, and to that which he currently enjoys with Robson. "They're all different characters and I've really had a different relationship with each one," he said. "With Kevin we all came in together - Douglas (Hall, (Sir) John (Hall), myself, Kevin, Terry McDermott, it was more of a gang.

"It was a team going forward. We were very much a team off the field as well as on the field. We had a very close social relationship with Kevin. "We'd have a drink with him, we'd go out with him and have a bit of fun with him. But that was a one-off.

That will probably never be repeated. "Kenny was a good pal of mine. I went on holiday with him, I had some great times with Kenny. He was a different guy away from football than he was in football. "He wasn't comfortable with the media for whatever reason, but off the field and away from football he was great company and socially we got on well. "But when you move on to Gullit, it was a different story. I never had any social relationship with Ruud whatsoever. "He was his own man, very much a loner who did his own thing. It was very much a total football relationship. "But the at the end of the day, that guy came in to me - and I want to put the record straight with Gullit - and he apologised to me, he apologised to Freddie Fletcher, he asked me to send his apologies to the fans, he apologised to everybody and said that he'd let everybody down. "He said he'd lost the players and he apologised, and he said `By the way, I'm not asking for a penny. I don't want a penny. I'm leaving - stop my wages today'. "The guy is so honourable. I know he got a lot of bad press when he left and he never got on with the players, but you have to speak how you find. "The guy left, never asked for a penny and never got a penny. We shook hands and he was very upset that he'd let everybody down."

Looking to the future, Shepherd reaffirmed his ambition to re-establish Newcastle as genuine contenders for major honours, and that means forging ahead to secure a return to European football next season. He said: "Not to have ambitions to win something must be terrible. If you've got that state of mind where you think you just can't win anything, with all respect to the lower league clubs, that must be absolutely terrible. "I'm full of hope and ambition to win something and I think if you haven't got that you shouldn't be in the job."

-- Anonymous, January 25, 2001

Answers

That's nice to hear. I don't think you can expect more from anyone than to say "the buck stops here; I've failed and I'm sorry". Not seeking to negotiate contractual comensation in this situation was indeed the honourable thing to do, but rarely seen.

An honourable man indeed, and frankly one who has just gone up in my estimation.

-- Anonymous, January 25, 2001

Thanks for that ITK. One of the most interesting and revealing pieces I've read on here.

>>>>>He said he'd lost the players and he apologised

There's still one or two I wish we hadn't found again! :-)

-- Anonymous, January 25, 2001

Wow. That has restored my faith in Gullit, the man.

-- Anonymous, January 25, 2001

Of course it's nowt to do with FS being shown up as the blerk who was involved in his appointment in the first place. But beling in a charitable mood, I'd agree with the concensus on RG being a decent chap - just the wrong man at the wrong time in the wrong place.

-- Anonymous, January 25, 2001

Interesting article.

At least Gullit's attitude was right and he admitted he was wrong.

I still wonder where we'd be had we beaten the Mackems and Shearer and Lee had left. It would have been Gullit's style of football with his own players and I just wonder where we'd be today.

-- Anonymous, January 25, 2001

Did anyone actually hear the interview. I couldn't find Century Radio on a netstream.......is there such a thing?

I picked up the item itself on the news wires at 4.00pm, and at the same time as ageeing with what others have said in that he has gone up in my estimation, I would love to have actually heard it being vocalised to try and judge for certain the angle that FS was coming from. It may be that there was no angle, and that it was a genuine, truthful and honest piece, but did anyone hear it to confirm.

-- Anonymous, January 25, 2001

If anyone finds a netstream of Century, I'd love to know about it! I can't even get their supposed website to load. They've got a domain, cause Goffy has his own site and his email address is @centuryfm.co.uk. No direct links or webcast info, but he does have a couple of short clips of Lee and Shearer phone-ins which are amusing. It's at www.goffyinthemorning.co.uk.

-- Anonymous, January 25, 2001

Very interesting comments, especially in light of Dalglish's contract wrangling..

-- Anonymous, January 26, 2001

Freddy is indisputably an honest and honourable man but what is this bollox and why now???

1. Ruud DID receive a pay off, half a million if my memory serves me right. Is he saying that the board FORCED the money on him.

2. If Ruud really did ask him to pass on his apologies to the fans then why wait 16 months to do so?

-- Anonymous, January 26, 2001

Everyting I've read, including in this interview with the Chairman, has said that when he walked out Ruud ask for and received - nothing.

-- Anonymous, January 26, 2001

1) He humiliated Shearer
2) He humiliated Lee
3) He bought shit players
4) He humiliated Pisone
5) He would drop players without explanation
6) His tactics and team selection against the Mackems was world class stupidity
7) He could not make friends
8) His dishonourable shagging was all over the papers, he was soon to be married at the time
9) Gazza was better at shagging
10) His style was to pin team selection on the wall
11) His post match interviews were finger pointing exercises
12) He was an arrogant son-of-a-bitch


-- Anonymous, January 26, 2001

Who really cares? I'd still dislike him even if he was the honourable man that Shepherd is saying he is.....he took our club to the brink of big time trouble...

I'm quite happy to forget about him.....

-- Anonymous, January 26, 2001

Guardian Unlimited

John Cassy and Dominic Fifield Tuesday October 17, 2000

Newcastle United yesterday said it had racked up a further £647,000 in legal costs relating to the departures of Fletcher and the former manager Ruud Gullit. The costs emerged as United reported they had fallen £18.9m into the red last season.

A Hell of a lot of 'legal costs' for two supposedly amicable resignations.

-- Anonymous, January 26, 2001