Gullit rejects `playboy' label

Former Chelsea manager Ruud Gullit yesterday hit back at taunts from Stamford Bridge chairman Ken Bates that he had been simply a "part-time playboy manager."

The Dutchman said he was "extremely hurt" by Bates's comments in the Chelsea programme for last Sunday's game against Sheffield Wednesday, in which Gullit was alleged to have neglected his duties in favour of his commercial interests.

Gullit maintained that his record in taking Chelsea to the FA Cup last season and guiding them to second place in the Premiership, the Coca-Cola Cup semi-finals and Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finals this season spoke for itself.

Gullit also insisted that Chelsea had only returned to winning ways under new manager Gianluca Vialli by reverting to the tactics he himself had used. "At the beginning, after I left, they made a few changes and lost five games. Then they returned to the formation and the squad rotation I used and everything came back into place again."

Gullit added: "If you're a playboy and are not there, then you can't win the FA Cup and be second in the League - that's impossible.

"It's a very unfair thing to say - that's what I don't like. Making statements that are not true can hurt your reputation."

At a signing session for his new book at London store Harrods Gullit explained: "I hardly met Ken Bates . . . This has all been a misunderstanding and he has been badly informed by other people, but I can't say who."