The man who helped change Chelsea and English football
Ruud Gullit striding out at a packed Priestfield Stadium for his first game in a Chelsea shirt was one of the more unexpected sights in English football. “Had it not been for the extensive advance billing, it would have been like finding your mother on stage in a strip club,” ventured the Independent. It truly was a different era. Gullit’s surprise arrival 31 years ago was a masterstroke achieved by Chelsea’s managing director, Colin Hutchinson. It showed the smart recruitment that could be achieved by a boardroom suit with an eye for a deal and a sporting director’s eye for a player. Gullit’s arrival helped launch the new Chelsea and give the Premier League increasing global appeal. Hutchinson’s journey to Genoa to secure the Sampdoria star’s services was seismic in its impact for club and league.
Hutchinson’s sad passing at 86 yesterday brought plenty of deserved plaudits for his clever response to the Bosman ruling and inspired, high-profile recruitment. Hutchinson could see the way football was going. On May 21, 1995, Hutchinson gathered Chelsea’s chairman Ken Bates, vice-chairman and backer Matthew Harding and manager Glenn Hoddle at the Marriott near Slough to decide a new approach to recruitment. What became known as the “Marriott Accord” laid the foundations for the modern Chelsea.
Gullit came from Sampdoria on a free, and suddenly the No 4 shirt worn by Vinnie Jones a couple of seasons earlier was being graced by one of the greats of the game, a former Ballon d’Or winner. One of his old shirts, signed by Gullit, is on prominent display in the club museum at the Bridge. Gullit’s arrival in 1995 felt like the advent of a new era. In a way, it was the launch of the new Chelsea, initially under Bates, who once described Hutchinson as his best ever signing, and then accelerated by Roman Abramovich. Chelsea’s current BlueCo owners could do with some of Hutchinson’s wisdom and decisiveness in the transfer market.