Gus Poyet’s journey to Hell
Chelsea’s Uruguayan hero remembers when the Blues pitched up at the infamous Ali Sami Yen Stadium in Istanbul – and won 5-0
You joined Chelsea from Zaragoza in 1997 and have described it as the most important move of your career. Why? Because I was 29, I’d been at Zaragoza for seven years and I could have retired there and had a lovely life in Spain. The decision was big – it wasn’t easy. But it proved to be the right decision because I learned so many things. I enjoyed the relationship with the supporters in English football, and my life completely changed. I learned English, and my kids were four and two years old at the time. They had a great education in England. Now, home for me is London. Why did you decide to join Chelsea? When they called and there was a possibility of coming here, I started looking at everything. Seeing that Ruud Gullit, Roberto Di Matteo, Gianfranco Zola, Gianluca Vialli, Dan Petrescu, Frank Leboeuf and Dennis Wise were there, I thought, ‘I want to play with them’. They were playing in the FA Cup final just before everything was agreed, and I was supporting the club like I’d already signed because it was a way of playing in Europe the following year. We ended up winning the Cup Winners’ Cup in my first season. What do you remember about the day you were unveiled? It was my first time inside Stamford Bridge and I remember arriving in shirt, trousers and brown shoes. They put me in a Chelsea shirt and started taking pictures, then they saw the guy working on the pitch – it was summer – and they said, ‘Come on, jump on the tractor!’ I said, ‘No!’ They said, ‘Yeah, yeah, because you’re like a box-to-box player!’ I was trying to say to the translator, ‘I don’t like this, it’s not me’. But he said, ‘Come on, you’ve just arrived, do it’. I remember jumping on the tractor and being embarrassed. The next day, when I saw the pictures, oh my God... it was embarrassing! Ruud Gullit was the manager – what do you remember about him? My first official game: the Charity Shield at the old Wembley. Coming to England, you struggle with the pace of the game – a lot! I was trying to get forward, we lost the ball, then the ball was going the other way. When I got back, we’d already recovered the ball, so I was out of the game again! At half-time Ruud said, ‘Stop, stand still for a minute, get into the flow of the game’. I said ‘I’m trying!’ That was the key, to start thinking. I started watching more games, and learning. What was your highlight at Chelsea? Everyone remembers certain goals, but for me the one I scored against Real Madrid in the Super Cup final was very important. It was getting into my head that I always scored, but never in finals. I was thinking ‘Why?’ But I think the highlight of my time at Chelsea was the
FA Cup semi-final against Newcastle [below]. Wembley was really special, and to score two important goals to get us into the final was great – I was in the place I wanted to be. What was it like playing in the same team as Gianfranco Zola? He was the best player I played with – when I played with him, I was a better player. For my Sunderland scissor-kick that everyone remembers, he could have passed the ball to me outside the box. I was free and saying, ‘Yeah, give it to me’. But he said with his eyes, ‘Keep going, don’t worry, the ball will drop in front of you’. I kept running, wondering, ‘What are you doing?’ – then he flicked it over the defence, and I did what I did. I’d never done it before and I never did it after, but that’s Zola. What impact did Dennis Wise have? We got better when Wisey made the decision that we should speak all English inside the training ground. As soon as you got past the gates, it was English – until then it had been every language. It made us better as a group. You helped Chelsea into the Champions League and won 5-0 at Galatasaray. What was that night like? In the first game, a few fans from Galatasaray jumped onto the pitch. The security couldn’t get them, so Dennis tackled one. When we got to Istanbul, they wanted to kill Dennis Wise! There were so many signs saying ‘Wisey, dead’. They phoned Wisey’s room at 2am to wake him up, then when we got 100 yards from the stadium on the bus, they smashed all of the windows. We were hiding in the middle of the bus. We got inside the stadium, walked onto the pitch and it was packed. There were police with riot shields, and a guy with a microphone was singing, making everyone jump. But we had Zola. After what had happened before the game, to see those same fans stand up and applaud him when he was substituted after 80 minutes, that showed how good we were that night. When we left the stadium, there was no one there. Their supporters said, ‘They’re good, let them go home’. What do you remember about the young John Terry? He was exactly the same when he was 18 or 19 – jumping into training, tackling, taking responsibility. He was intelligent, learning a lot from the other players, asking questions. Right from the start, you could tell he was a leader. You have managed AEK Athens, Real Betis, Shanghai Shenhua and Bordeaux since you left Sunderland in 2015. Are you planning to return to English football? I know there aren’t many jobs but I’m trying to see my options, and if people want me as well. I had great experiences in England as a manager. I left and I thought it would be for a year or so – now it’s been more than four. I’ve had a few chances to come back, but it wasn’t the right time for the clubs and myself. I’m not in a hurry, but I’d like to come back.
Poyet was speaking at Stamford Bridge during the launch of grass roots scheme, Hyundai FC. For more details, visit football.hyundai.co.uk