Wednesday, January 12, 2022 at 2:16 PM• Rian Rosendaal • Last update: 14:15

Nolberto Solano has bad memories of working with Ruud Gullit, who was his manager at Newcastle United for a year. The midfielder from Peru, who was under contract with the club from the northeast of England for a total of eight seasons, does in an extensive interview with The Evening Chronicle his complaints about his former trainer. Gullit left Newcastle at the start of the 1999/00 season after a run of disappointing results and turmoil within the squad.

“I’ve never really talked about this before,” Solano, who has since retired, opens his look back. “Now, several years later, I can finally talk about it. Ruud Gullit didn’t have the necessary managerial experience at the time, so he couldn’t deal with the different personalities in the Newcastle dressing room. He looked at the player through the eyes of a player. selection. Gullit was one of the best players of his generation, but he couldn’t make the step to being a manager at the time. It happened too often that he participated in training sessions and then insisted on showing what a top player he was was,” said Solano, who, like Gullit, arrived in Newcastle in 1998.

Gullit himself is guilty of his dismissal from Newcastle, according to Solano. The Dutch coach dared to pass crowd favorite Alan Shearer for the always fraught derby with Sunderland at home. The Magpies lost 1-2 and Gullit was shown the door at St James’ Park shortly afterwards. “The players couldn’t believe it when the line-up was announced. It is fatal for a manager if the older players lose confidence because they can save you in the short term. A win over Sunderland is equivalent to six or seven wins in the Premier League. A win over Sunderland would certainly have given Gullit extra time.”

Solano, as assistant coach of Peru, knows how important it is to have a good relationship with all players within a selection. “And the last thing you do is argue with your best player, like Gullit did with Shearer. It was crazy looking back now. Alan was one of the best strikers in the world and Newcastle’s most important player. It was “It was bizarre that he was passed then. Even the substitutes couldn’t believe that. We knew Gullit was a fantastic player, but at that time there was a real need for a manager with people knowledge.”