Kenny Dalglish fired by Newcastle to make way for Gullit

Kenny Dalglish has been fired as coach of Newcastle United.

Ruud Gullit meets Newcastle United officials today to discuss taking over as the new coach of the club.

Gullit has offered to coach Tottenham and would rather stay living in London but the ailing Premiership outfit have yet to approach the former Chelsea coach. Newcastle have been in talks with the former World Player of the Year since the weekend.

At 35, Gullit will no longer be registered as a player and will coach full-time.

They want him to replace Kenny Dalglish within the next few days and hope to announce the appointment before the end of the day. Dalglish has been offered a £3 million deal to leave the club and make way for Gullit after eighteen months in charge. In that time he has spent £25 million and led Newcastle to the FA Cup Final last season but the side look no nearer a trophy than they did under the cavalier all-out attack coaching of Kevin Keegan. Newcastle last won a major trophy in 1969 and Gullit is seen as the man to lead the club onto the next stage as serious trophy contenders in English football before the European Super League starts in August 2000.

The appointment of Gullit will be a clear indication by the club to the rest of English football and their big City of London investors that they see a Super League as inevitable and the meetings between Media Partners and European clubs this week have only confirmed this view.

Newcastle have a massive support in the North East and will be able to attract star names with Gullit in charge.

Gullit took over Chelsea in 1996 after the departure of Glenn Hoddle to take over the England job and led the under achievers to their first trophy in 26 years with the FA Cup win in 1997. When Gullit was fired in February Chelsea were second in the league and well placed to win the League Cup and the European Cup for Cup Winners when they fired Gullit. He was rarely seen at the club's Harlington training ground in the latter days of his reign as he pursued commercial interests. His contract negotiation dragged on for six months as he insisted on remaining as a player in a squad where morale suffered under his introduction of the squad system. Gullit wanted to stay as a player to protect a lucrative boot sponsorship deal and he has not been offered the major coaching jobs in Holland and Italy he was hoping for after the schism with Chelsea. He also has two expensive alimonies to pay after two failed marriages so it was likely he would try to return to the high-paying Premiership even though he said when leaving Chelsea that he did not want to coach another English club after them.

Chelsea fans adored Gullit and still do for delivering the club from 26 years in the wilderness and they are still trying to build on the success he started. Newcastle are in a similar situation as confidence in Dalglish has eroded over the past year.