It was not until the appointment of Ruud Gullit as player-manager in 1996 that their fortunes changed.

The 1997 – 98 campaign saw Newcastle finish in only 13th place and, despite Dalglish achieving some notable successes during the season ( including a 3 – 2 UEFA Champions League win over Barcelona and an FA Cup final appearance against Arsenal ), he was sacked by Freddie Shepherd after two draws in the opening two games of the subsequent 1998 – 1999 season, and replaced by former Chelsea manager Ruud Gullit.

Dalglish was replaced as manager early in the following season by Ruud Gullit.

Gullit was working to promote the Belgian-Dutch 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup bid.

Gullit was born Ruud Dil in Amsterdam to George Gullit, a Suriname migrant, and Ria Dil, his buitenvrouw, from the Amsterdam Jordaan inner city district.

Gullit developed his football skills in the confines of the Rozendwarsstraat, and street football was instrumental in his formative years.

Gullit was named as the best player in the Eerste Divisie that season.

In the 1981 – 2 season Gullit was in fine form as Haarlem finished 4th and qualified for Europe for the only time in their history.

" Hughes was so impressed with the young Gullit that he described him as the " Dutch Duncan Edwards ".

The young Gullit was considered as a signing by English sides Arsenal F. C.

At Feyenoord Gullit found himself playing alongside Dutch legend Johan Cruijff, while the assistant manager was Wim van Hanegem, and they were to leave a lasting impression.

Gullit was named Dutch Footballer of the Year in recognition of his contribution to Feyenoord's success.

While at Feyenoord Gullit became the focus of a race row as manager Thijs Libregts was alleged to have referred to Gullit as " blackie " and criticised him for being lazy, though Libregts defended himself by claiming that it was merely a nickname.

Gullit was again named Footballer of the Year in 1986 as he helped PSV capture the Eredivisie crown, a feat they repeated the following year.

It was at PSV that Gullit really began to establish himself as a world class footballer and his distinctive, dreadlocked appearance made certain that he would catch the eye of Europe's biggest clubs.

Gullit was also singled out for criticism by large numbers of Feyernoord supporters, who branded him a " wolf " and accused him of moving to Eindhoven for money.

When he arrived at Milan, Gullit initially struggled to settle as he spoke no Italian and was unused to living in a foreign country.

That performance was followed by a 4 – 0 victory over Steaua Bucharest in the 1989 final with Gullit scoring two crucial goals.

Initially played as sweeper by manager Glenn Hoddle with limited success, Gullit was moved to his more familiar role in midfield, where he scored six goals.

The signing of Gullit, alongside the likes of Mark Hughes and Dan Petrescu, propelled Chelsea to the semi-final of the FA Cup but their league form was disappointing.

Gullit fell into disagreements with the squad and chairman Freddy Shepherd, and quit the club four into the 1999 – 2000 season to be replaced by Bobby Robson.

Yallop was replaced at Los Angeles by Ruud Gullit, who signed a three-year contract with the club which made him the highest paid coach in MLS history.

Gullit was replaced by Bruce Arena, but he was not able to lead Los Angeles into a play-off spot, for the third-straight season.

For the 1996 – 1997 season, Hoddle was replaced by Ruud Gullit who handed Colgan his first team professional debut playing in a 3 – 2 away defeat at the hands of West Ham United on 12 March 1997.

Advocaat's decision to play Gullit on the right-side of midfield, in a game against England at Wembley, rather than his usual central position upset Gullit and this was exacerbated by his substitution for Marc Overmars.

Gullit's brilliance prompted George Best to comment in 1990, " Ruud Gullit is a great player by any standards.

Ruud Gullit was the team manager from the beginning of the season 2011, but was later sacked by the club in June.

Barnes with many others was dropped from the first team by new manager Ruud Gullit and spent several months in the reserves despite, in his opinion, " excelling in training " and showing he had lost none of his quality if some of his pace.

Barnes knew it was the last straw when even his MBE from the Queen was overlooked by Gullit after a presentation had been given to Stuart Pearce for receiving one-this was in the winter of 1998 and he knew he was unwanted.

A number of players were treated coldly by Gullit, and Pearce along with Barnes and Lee were made to train with the reserves despite cumulatively having over 150 England caps between them.

Both Pearce and Barnes assert in their autobiographies Gullit felt threatened by the senior players in the squad, and they felt they were being sidelined to prevent them challenging him for the manager's position should it arise.

Since entering retirement, Redondo often appeared in many high profile exhibition matches contested by select squads of past and present footballing greats, including ; Franco Baresi, Franz Beckenbauer, Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit, Zlatko Zahovič, Aleksandr Mostovoi, Marco van Basten and Tony Yeboah, amongst others.

Saha was however left out of the cup final squad entirely by manager Ruud Gullit.

The goals were scored by Ronald Koeman, Ruud Gullit and Peter Houtman.

An earlier offer by Newcastle of £ 300, 000 for LuaLua made by former manager, Ruud Gullit, had been rejected, but the much increased bid offered financial security and assistance towards a new ground and was one that Colchester felt they could not turn down.

Forrest went on loan to Chelsea from Ipswich in 1997, playing in the same team with the likes of Gianluca Vialli and Gianfranco Zola under the guidance of manager Ruud Gullit.

Rix became assistant manager in 1996 under new Blues boss Ruud Gullit, and continued in the same role under Gullit's successor Gianluca Vialli, winning the FA Cup in 1997, and the League Cup and Cup Winners ' Cup in 1998.

During the 1997 – 98 season, Vialli scored four goals in a league win over Barnsley and a hat-trick against Norwegian side Tromsø in the Cup Winners ' Cup, but still couldn't cement his place in the side under Gullit.

Gullit was sacked in February 1998 and 33-year-old Vialli was appointed player-manager.

Key players in the squad from this period included Johan Cruyff, Ruud Gullit and Peter Houtman ( who later became the Feyenoord stadium announcer ).

In moving to Chelsea, Gullit played an important part in the " foreign revolution " as numerous high profile international stars, such as the prolific German World Cup winner Jürgen Klinsmann, Italian superstar Gianfranco Zola who became a Chelsea legend, and Dutch magician Dennis Bergkamp, joined Premiership clubs and helped to increase its worldwide profile.

Nevertheless, McManaman was voted in on the official Liverpool FC website as the club's midfielder of the 1990s, was named by Ruud Gullit as one of his top two players from the entire Premier League era, and despite Liverpool fans ' disappointment over the nature of how McManaman conducted his departure, it is believed that many fans still regard McManaman ( along with Fowler ) as the two players who carried Liverpool through the 1990s.

Among the players who stayed back as a result were Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, Aron Winter, Bryan Roy, Stanley Menzo and Regi Blinker.