NEWCASTLE chairman Freddy Shepherd last night admitted Ruud Gullit would probably have left the club even if his gamble to drop Alan Shearer had paid off.

The Dutchman relegated the £15m striker and partner Duncan Ferguson to the bench for a Premiership clash with fierce rivals Sunderland at St James' Park on August 25 1999, and then famously tried to blame their introduction as substitutes for a 2-1 defeat.

Gullit packed his bags and left Tyneside just days later, opening up the way for home-grown Bobby Robson to take on the only job he still coveted.

Many have since drawn the conclusion that Gullit's failure of his decisive move over his stand-off with Shearer propelled his exit, but Shepherd believes he would have quit whatever the result.

The United chairman revealed he had to persuade the manager even to include the fans' favourite in the 16 on that fateful night.

Shepherd made the revelation during an exclusive interview with Century FM's Bob Moncur, the last Newcastle captain to lift a major trophy.

''He (Gullit) said 'I'm going to leave him (Shearer) out' and I said 'You can't do it. Believe me, you don't leave Alan Shearer off the bench in a Sunderland derby.

'''If you don't want to play him, that's up to you, but you don't leave him out of the squad. You've got to put him on the bench', and he did put him on the bench.

''But saying that, I think Ruud had left the game before. I think he would have loved to have gone out on a high by beating Sunderland, but I still think even if we had beaten Sunderland he would have left.

''I think he would have said 'I've beaten Sunderland, I've lost the players, I've got them on the bench, I've gone'. I think that's what would have happened.''

For all Gullit's departure was inevitable after a disastrous reign, Shepherd is adamant he maintains a huge respect for the former world footballer of the year, although he admits his relationship with the Dutchman was different to those he had with predecessors Kevin Keegan and Kenny Dalglish, and to that which he currently enjoys with Robson.

''They're all different characters and I've really had a different relationship with each one,'' he said.

''With Kevin we all came in together Douglas (Hall, (Sir) John (Hall), myself, Kevin, Terry McDermott, it was more of a gang.

''It was a team going forward. We were very much a team off the field as well as on the field. We had a very close social relationship with Kevin.

''Kenny was a good pal of mine. I went on holiday with him, I had some great times with Kenny. He was a different guy away from football than he was in football.

''But when you move on to Gullit, it was a different story. I never had any social relationship with Ruud whatsoever.

''He was his own man, very much a loner who did his own thing. It was very much a total football relationship.

lNewecastle plan to stall the transfer ofcentre half Alain Goma until after the French transfer window closes next week.

Monaco, Strasbourg and Lyon are all chasing the transfer-seeking defender and they will press Newcastle to sell before the end of the month.

But boss Bobby Robson is in no rush to offload Goma, who has been outstanding since returning from injury.