[1]Dutch legend Ruud Gullit's managerial career at Terek Grozny ended dramatically on Tuesday when the strongman of Chechnya accused him of being a playboy and sacked him for losing a must-win match.
The last straw came after a 90th-minute own goal saw Gullit's unfancied side from the war-ravaged republic lose 1-0 away to Amkar Perm - a drab encounter played before a half-empty stadium on a wet pitch with ankle-deep grass.
It took less than five minutes after the final whistle for Chechnya's Ramzan Kadyrov - a former field commander who also runs the club - to announce that Gullit's five-month stint as club manager was over.
"Gullit will no longer train Terek," the Interfax news agency quoted Kadyrov as saying.
"Unfortunately, he was unable to prove his mettle as a trainer. Under his leadership, the team played exceptionally poorly this season," added Kadyrov.
Terek later issued a more formal statement saying Gullit was still welcome to work with the youth squad.
But "the club no longer sees him as head coach of Terek," it added.
A seemingly unfazed Gullit said as he watched his despondent players trot off to the locker room that he expected to get the sack even if he had beaten Amkar.
"I don't think it would have mattered it I had won or lost," Gullit told a television reporter through a translator.
Gullit added in a separate interview that he had said goodbye to his players before the match started and refused to be drawn on his future plans.
"I knew about (Kadyrov's) ultimatum. Of course something like that does not improve your frame of mind," the Dutch star told the online edition of the Sport Express daily.
Terek now sit 14th in the 16-team Russian Premier League with three wins from 13 matches.
The 48-year-old celebrity and two time world footballer of the year stunned observers earlier by accepting an invitation to coach Terek from Kadyrov -- a hate figure among rights groups and a man of great power and alleged wealth.
But the honeymoon was short-lived after Terek's poor start and tensions came to a boil early this week when the club issued a furious statement accusing Gullit of caring more about parties than the club.
"Gullit has to know he was not invited so that he could go hiding in nightclubs and discos, but to work in a football club," Terek said in an extraordinary statement posted on the Chechen government's website.
It also accused Gullit of being disrespectful of Chechnya Muslim traditions and "crossing the boundaries of civil behaviour".
"Recently, the coach has been trying to find fault with anyone but himself," the republic's sports minister Haidar Alkhanov told NTV television.
Similar accusation have dogged Gullit -- famous for his "sexy football" catchphrase and flamboyant style on and off the pitch -- throughout his coaching days at Chelsea and other smaller clubs.
Russian football analysts had questioned how Gullit planned to adapt to life in a Chechen republic that has witnessed two wars in the past two decades and remains plagued by serious security and infrastructure problems.
But the Sovietsky Sport daily said Gullit was "shocked" by Kadyrov's comments and had promised do his best to win Tuesday's match.
Terek started brightly enough in Tuesday's early moments and began to dominate play with an aggressive style that has seen them concede the second-most number of fouls in the league this season.
But their industry produced few chances until the late own-goal off a free kick - a seemingly fitting end to Gullit's bizarre stay in Chechnya
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