Alan Shearer believes Ruud Gullit simply 'wanted to do things his way' when the Dutchman dropped the Newcastle United legend.
Gullit left both Shearer and Duncan Ferguson out of his starting line-up in what proved to be his final game in charge against bitter rivals Sunderland in 1999.
The pair only found out that youngster Paul Robinson was starting the Tyne-Wear derby when they saw the team sheet on the board ahead of kick-off.
Newcastle went on to lose the match 2-1 on a rain-soaked night at St James' Park and Gullit went as far as to say that the 'game slipped away from us' when Shearer and Ferguson came on in the second half.
Shearer went to see Gullit at the training ground the next day, but the No 9 will have already known why he had been left out.
"He wanted rid of me basically from Newcastle," Shearer told the Match of the Day: Top 10 podcast "He wanted rid of me and Duncan and took a gamble, and the gamble backfired."
It was not the first time Gullit had attempted to freeze out a senior figure - Rob Lee and Stuart Pearce were both brutally treated - as the young manager bizarrely attempted to make his mark.
Gullit resigned just a few days after that derby defeat and later apologised to Shearer for his conduct while the pair were working together as pundits for the BBC at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
When asked by fellow pundit Micah Richards if Gullit had dropped him because of his 'big status' at the club, Shearer suggested it was even simpler than that.
"No, just because he didn't like me. He just wanted to do things his way," he added.
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