Johan Cruyff matches and goals scored

Gerrie Mühren died today.



About the juggling in the Bernabeu stadium in 1973: "What I do not understand is how no one knows the scoreline of the match, and doesn't remember who scored the winning goal. When I ask 'who scored the goal?' they call ten names except one."

 

If you mean the goals and assists, look here:
https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/...nd-goals-scored.1865250/page-66#post-26611109

Also came across a very interesting interview with him in English from 1972. He is really in ranting mode at that interview. I'll post it in full.

 

If you count penalties won (without shooting the kick themselves) as assists then he has a few more for the national team indeed. Against Peru for example. But those aren't counted as assists, correct.

Like I said in the other thread, he took 14 penalties in his career (including shoot-outs, like in the UEFA Cup for Barcelona). He missed two, one in a league match for Barcelona (ball went on the post) and one in a shoot-out against AS Roma in 83/84 after extra time had ended 1:1 (a friendly tournament).

 

Btw, something interesting I found was that his team-mate Asensi already predicted at his retirement in May 1984 that he'd return to Barcelona. Asensi said (14/05/1984):
"FC Barcelona is at the moment in a deep low point. In my eyes Johan Cruijff is the ideal man to reorganize the club in the function of technical director. I'm by the way fully convinced that he will return. FC Barcelona desperately needs a personality like Cruyff."
http://kranten.kb.nl/view/article/id/ddd:110609786:mpeg21:p015:a0392

[Sepp Maier is also mentioned and said: "With Cruyff one of the very last true attractions leave the European football field. I have always been a great admirer, because he has in my opinion forced a breakthrough after years of defensive football. The name Johan Cruyff will always stay synonymous with attractive and attacking play, for me."]

 

This is from an interview in early 1972 (January/February 1972). It is translated into English (and actually leaves out some sentences from the original interview/monologue). Here is how it appeared in the 'international football book' (took some days to type this down):



"

In my opinion people make a great mistake when they try to suggest that football is somehow 'inferior', possibly because it is the sport of the common people. Opera and Theatre receive huge government subsidies, but ordinary people - myself included - don't go to the Opera. It is the people who occupy the higher positions in society who make up the audiences at Opera, Ballet and Theatre. In any case, I don't think these top people [really] like football.

Three hundred million people - ordinary people - sat watching the European Cup Final on television and whatever the society people think, my Ajax colleagues and I were the ambassadors of Holland that night.

When I read in the newspapers that another Dutch player has been transferred to a foreign team I ask myself what's wrong. I realized four years ago that something is wrong with the system in Holland. Every player that leaves the country proves my opinion.

You can't really blame good players for going abroad if they can because personal taxation is terribly high in Holland. Just imagine that Feyenoord could lose Wim van Hanegem to a foreign club. It would be a disaster for Feyenoord, and in my opinion the taxation system should be changed to encourage such players to stay in Holland.

As a professional football player my career will be over in about ten years and after that I become just an ordinary person again. Yet while I am at my peak and earning good money I have to pay an awful lot of taxes and it would be much fairer if the system were changed so that my taxes were related to average earnings over the whole of my working life instead of taking these ten good years separately.

Many people who study at the University earn very little before they are thirty years old but after that they do very well for the rest of their lives. With footballers, life is good at the beginning and then for all too many it means an automatic return to obscurity and ordinary work when their playing careers are over.

Don't misunderstand me. I'm not asking for special treatment for Cruyff. I'm not greedy to pay taxes. But I do think that the system could be made fairer to footballers by spreading the tax load over the whole working life, as for other workers.

Footballers are always being made aware that they are not just playing football as an activity in itself but providing entertainment and recreation for thousands of people. For the general public, football is a pleasant change from their everyday lives and also a hobby. That's what I think of as recreation and I feel we play an important role in society by providing this entertainment and relaxation.

I've heard it said that on Mondays, the workers are worth nothing because all they do is talk about the game they saw the day before. Critics claim the workers should be thinking about social issues but my answer is a simple one: if people think only about their work and social problems then they have no life at all. Everyone needs joy in their life. Looking at things on this basis I feel the public has the right to demand everything I and other players can give on Sundays.

I remember once playing when I felt very ill indeed. I had a very high temperature but I played even though the Club doctor said that I shouldn't.
I don't think the public should be told this all the time; every week professionals play when they are ill or have not recovered from injuries received in earlier matches, and so on. But I do think the public should be made aware that we earn a lot of money largely because our earning years are so short.

Some have said professional players should study, or learn another profession, so that they can do something else after they quit football. But in my opinion that is currently unrealistic, in fact, almost impossible. If I have to prepare myself physically and mentally for every game, how can I sit with a book in my hands studying until an hour before kick-off? If I am going to play well I have to concentrate and build myself up ready for the game.

I think this failure to understand the physical and mental strains on a professional is behind the widely-held belief that footballers are dumb; unfit for any responsible job when they return at 30 or so to normal life. The only logical solution is for the players to save as much money as they can during their playing career but high taxes make that very difficult.

I always [often] ask for money when journalists want to interview me on subjects that have nothing to do with the actual playing of the game. The newspapers don't publish stories about me because I am such a nice fellow but simply because I play football. I have a terribly nice neighbor who works very hard at his job but nobody writes articles about him!

Newspaper readers would not be interested in my neighbor, but I am well-known and therefore a good subject about which to write. Footballers are public figures and I feel people are entitled to know more about them. That is why I always agree to interviews. When journalists ask how are my children, I tell them, and even let them see them and photograph them.

My friend and Ajax colleague Piet Keizer is a bit more reticent and doesn't say too much to newspapermen. But I allow them into the privacy of my home and let them look around. Yet there are certain areas that I don't think should be public knowledge, for example how much money my wife spends for housekeeping.

I never react to the bad things that are written about me, though perhaps I did a few years ago. I think that's a question of age and maturity. If I am playing badly I don't expect the newspapers to say that I played well. But instead of wide criticism I think it would be kinder if they wrote 'He had a bad day', a much kinder way of putting it.

Football is at the moment one of the most difficult professions. Just imagine having to live seven days preparing for the literal combat between two o'clock and four o'clock every Sunday. To me the biggest thing is the joy of playing but there are times when it really is hard work. When we go away for three days in a special training camp I often think 'Jesus! Away from home again. Three days without seeing the kids.'

I accept that it is my profession, and it is my problem. If I order a plumber to come to my house I don't ask him how difficult his life is and I don't say, 'Hey, plumber, do this job the way I think it should be done.' What people generally fail to understand is that I am really just an ordinary worker. I don't sit around all day resting in an arm-chair.

Money doesn't really interest me as money. This may sound silly but it is true. The importance of money to me is simply that other people think it is an important object, so automatically it must be important for me, too.

I am asked for money all the time; when I buy a pair of shoes for the kids, or take a holiday, or want to buy a new car. I don't need a Rolls Royce. Just a nice car will do me, and I'd like to give my children a good education.

Such talk about money might seem a bit unpleasant, but I am not really like that. When I am sitting with a drink in my hands in a comfortable chair in the garden I am perfectly content. What more could I want? You can't drink two bottles at once.

As a player I think you can always improve, though in my opinion players reach nowadays their peak around 27. I realize that my heading ability could be better and I do work for improvement. Of course I can head a ball all right but I'm not particularly good at it, and quite often I have very bad headaches all day after playing a game and heading a heavy ball.

As I have often said I really love football. Enjoying it and getting joy out of it is what the game is all about to me. Most of the time training is enjoyable, too, but when I have to run for half-an-hour around the pitch then I recognize that it is a hard profession. At the beginning of the season, when we go to a training camp I find it is a lousy profession, too. On the field of play it is a joy, but particularly at the start of the season, preparation for it is really hard work.

The former Ajax Coach Rinus Michels gave us all a lot of understanding and technical knowledge. At first we all had an awful lot to learn about the game, and he helped tremendously. Now we are taking advantage of everything he gave us. Basically we all as individual players have our own prescribed assignment for each match, but at Ajax we never played with rigid instructions.

The playing of the individual remains important and it must always I think be possible to be creative. The big thing about Ajax now is that everyone knows what to do - with or without the ball - whatever the situation. The forwards know that they cannot allow enemy defenders to attack without trying to stop them and in the same way our defenders know that they are accepting risks when they go upfield to try and score or help to score a goal. We play as individuals but within a team framework.

It seems to me that if players are bogged down with pre-match tactical instructions then the game becomes less attractive to watch. Most of the time I do the things that I feel should be done.

The other players are the same, I feel sure. The individual has to make decisions but above all the results depend on team-work. Most clubs, specially in Holland don't have professional football in this sense. In many clubs there is a kind of very nervous 'knocking on the door' of professional football. This is because the officials and administrators are amateurs or, if they are paid, they think like amateurs.

So many officials think they are very important and their attitude to the players is: 'We have ten minutes to spare. Let the boy say something'!

Many people also feel they are not paid well enough compared to the players. Club secretaries, for example, often feel it is wrong that boys of 22 should earn more as players than they do at 40 or 50. Fortunately, we don't have such difficulties in our Club but we do have this kind of thing with the Dutch national team. I'm sure it would be much better in every way if the control of the national team was taken away from the Football Association, and transferred to the players.

My reason for thinking this way is the attitude of FA officials. They seem to think players should be honored to be given the chance to play in the Dutch team. I think this is a wrong attitude. It would be just as wrong if I said to them, 'You should be very happy having me play in the national team.'

At Ajax they do not tell me, 'Cruyff, you are lucky. You are allowed to play in this beautiful Stadium of ours.' Ajax run their club like a business undertaking that needs me as much as I need the others.

Most players are far too dependent on their clubs. But I regard myself as an idealist who likes to play football at all months, except in the month of June. That's the time when I have to negotiate the contract with the club, and then I am ready to fight for my contract.

It's the same kind of situation with the national team. I am playing in the team. So they advertise me; print my name on the programme; and the public give money to the FA to watch me and my team-mates. I feel that's OK: but I also think that we should be allowed to profit from it a little bit, too.

"

 

I own or have access to some other volumes of this book series too. There is apparently another interview with him in issue #10 (published in 1968), which I ordered now. After that volume, during Cruyff his peak days, I've seen volume 11, 12, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. I've taken a look at what others have said about him (it means that I miss issues 13, 14, 16):

In issue 12 there are mentions about the games England played against Netherlands in 1969 and 1970, relatively short before the World Cup. England their play wasn't deemed as satisfying. Book has a few implicit references to Cruyff; the most explicit one is that he is the only Dutch player who got a pictorial out-take. The subscript is: "the formidable Dutch star, Johan Cruyff", as face of the side they played against twice.

Issue 15 (with the interview above), has also an interview with Real Madrid player Manuel Velazquez. He is saying how a foreign injection is a necessary condition for bringing Spanish football back on top, and forcing a shift in culture. For Real Madrid, to bring back the same vintage 'shock-and-awe' supremacy he likes to have Djajic, Cruyff, Netzer and Gerd Müller into one team.

Issue 17 (1975) had then Scotland international and Manchester United player Martin Buchan. He says that West Germany was (as for many) his favourite side and Beckenbauer was his "favourite player who received the trophy." He felt the Germans had more experience and the home advantage. Cruyff, Neeskens, Overath and Beckenbauer were the best players of the World Cup, which he saw from close range as an active player.
Bob Latchford of Everton has also a comment in a similar way. Borussia Monchengladbach is as of 1975 his favourite club side. "Whatever his number, all the Borussia players have real skill. Of course you cannot escape the fact that the number one player today is Johan Cruyff."

There is a section in the book with action photographs of Cruyff, who is labelled as "world's ace footballer". It are action photos at Barcelona and in Orange colours.

Then a interview with his famous marker and Borussia champion Berti Vogts:
"But often I am given a tight-marking role as I was in the 1974 World Cup Final, marking Johan Cruyff. Marking Cruyff was one of the most challenging tasks I have been given because he is so unpredictable and very skilful, as well as quick. I accept these special assignments because as a professional it is something one must do, but being honest, I enjoy playing defensively against really good players.
It is always a battle of wits and skills and I enjoy the challenge. And assessing myself objectively, the defensive aspect of the game is where my special talents lie."

Then a comment of a known critic, journalist Eric Batty, who claimed that he had difficulties to "settle immediately in the tougher Spanish game." In the 1973-74 season, that is.

Barry Hulshoff says in his interview: "Of course Ajax lost a great deal when Johan Cruyff was transferred to CF Barcelona. In my opinion the team lost 30% of its brilliance and effectiveness."
Hulshoff makes it clear that Cruyff was fed up with some players in the team and when Barcelona arrived with a lot of money (which only increased with the years), it was unable to keep him. Hulshoff is critical about former manager Kovacs and praises Michels. Under Michels "the players knew how to play in the shadow of Cruyff". Hulshoff suggests some jealousy about how Cruyff attracted all the fame and plaudits (with the 'Robins' of the team getting virtually nothing from the international press). Michels did a greater job in managing this (aspects not related to internal distribution of money, which was fairly equal btw). "Players like Cruyff and Keizer crop up only once in 25 years."
[It is funny that Hulshoff cites that 30% figure because that is exactly the difference between when Cruyff played and didn't play, in terms of points per game, which can be calculated]

Issue 18 (1976) features Oleg Blokhin. He is an "admirer" of Cruyff. "Then it suddenly clicked in my mind, seeing it done, and I am sure I learned a lot about aspects of the game that were new to me. Cruyff is a great individual but plays within the team framework rather than on his own. I realise now that even the greatest player is useless without help of his colleagues." Blokhin didn't talk about other foreign players. The then reigning Ballon d'Or holder says how Cruyff inspires his game etc.

Brian Glanville chose his 20 best players of the year. He tended to have very obscure choices, and usually left out the biggest names of the game. On this occasion he mentioned Carlos Rexach and Hugo Sotil, in case of the latter mentioning how he is activated by the Dutchman.

Forward Ruud Geels says: "Nowadays of course the big Dutch player is Johan Cruyff, though it seems many people don't like him. In the beginning I think everybody saw him as crazy about money, a maniac. But I don't think it's true. He pays about half what he earns in taxes and a footballer's career is short so he has to think about money like all of us. In my opinion he is, with Pelé, the best player the world ever had and I like him. To me he seems just a normal guy in spite of all the publicity he gets. Also he is always the first to help other players and as a man I like him too. No one else I know has a better approach to coaches and officials of the FA, and if one of the other players gets into some difficulty with an official, Cruyff always intervenes and seems able to sort things out amicably. Cruyff's biggest critics accuse him of not giving 100% sometimes but I don't agree. I've never seen it anyway. But when you think about it, football is like any other job and whether you work in an office or a factory there are surely some days when you just don't feel like work?"

Real Madrid manager Miljanic comments that FC Barcelona "will be only half a team" without Cruyff and Neeskens. Among other comments, he says how defensive and rough (Spanish) football is and there are no outstanding teams any more.

Newcastle United player Barrowclough sees Cruyff and G. Müller as the best but the "most incredible player" he ever saw was Pelé.

Willem van Hanegem says:
"Here in Holland lots of people don't like Johan Cruyff any more. They say: 'he doesn't talk about football now, only money'. In the end this becomes very boring indeed. I need money too as everyone does and it's very convenient if one can spend what he likes. But that doesn't mean there is nothing else in the world, and Johan often seems to act as if money is the most important thing, indeed the only thing. Having said that I think Cruyff is still one of the best players the world has ever known. He and I have always been good friends since we first met at Zeist where the Dutch national team train, and playing together things couldn't be better. It's different of course when he play in opposite teams, then he becomes just another player. His football is still outstanding but I think he now plays in a different way. I sometimes think he starts thinking about money while he's playing, but once in a while he still shows how skilful he is."

In the same issue also European Cup winner Sepp Maier, who says how great it is to play with Beckenbauer, Hoeness, Müller in a team and so on.

In a next post I'll mention what is said in issues 19, 20 and 21.

 

In issue 19 Szarmach (Poland), Dieter Müller and Andy Gray say that Holland played in 1974 the best football they ever saw, though all said that it was the quintessential team effort. Szarmach says that Beckenbauer is his favourite player. Dieter Müller calls Cruyff, Neeskens and Van Hanegem stars and says that they would have won if the final was played in Rotterdam or Amsterdam.

Great goalkeeper Ivo Viktor tells about euro76. "I have a very high regard for Dutch football and like their way of playing." Nobody thought about winning and he says that some things favoured them (the rain). He says his side was "really excellent that day" against Holland. "There is another point of view too. In Yugoslavia I was told by a Dutch newspaper man who interviewed me, that Holland are only an outstanding team when Johan Cruyff is at his very best. And our Karol Dobias did a great job marking Cruyff in midfield. Jozef Capkovic who is a quite quick centre back was also detailed to keep an eye on Cruyff and pick him up when he broke out of midfield. Dobias and Capkovic did a fine job. Cruyff still appears to me to be a great player - really talented. Maybe, however he relies too much on his skill and plays coldly, without heart. But it is perhaps unfair to make a judgement on only one match." Simply put, Viktor singles him out and regards him as a level above the other Dutch players. He complains about the final, in particular the foul leading towards the equaliser, but is ofc happy that he won and sees that you need some luck and so on.

Then a interview with Rob Rensenbrink. It is accompanied by pictures of the England-Netherlands game at Wembley in 1977 and shows Jan Peters, Cruyff and Rensenbrink of course. Rensenbrink says the team is getting older and they were really unlucky against the Czechs at euro76, in his opinion. The wet and wobbling pitch didn't help too, because that demands something from the physical condition. It doesn't suit their style of play, he says.
Rensenbrink absolutely dismisses any criticism on Cruyff, debunks it and praises him. Unlike Van Hanegem above, there is no bad word and he says that he "never lets his team-mates down" [at the national team] and so on. Against the criticism that Cruyff doesn't make an effort and doesn't want to win, Rensenbrink responds with using another criticism - his complaining to referees. "I don't agree with his arguing myself, but it is an indication of his enthusiasm and will to win. Surely it makes sense that if he didn't want to win he wouldn't argue so much with referees?", he responds to editor Eric Batty. "I cannot accept he ever gives in." He doesn't say anything bad, and adds praise, quite simply.

Oswaldo Piazza of St Etienne says that Gerd Müller is the best player in Europe, and Pelé probably the best ever.

Part three and last part coming next.

 

The 20th issue had praising remarks by Duncan McKenzie and Jupp Derwall for the Dutch national team. Also Berti Vogts reappeared and his marking on Cruyff is mentioned again. Vogts was captain of his national team.

Willy van de Kerkhof discusses various problems of Dutch football. Among other things, large turnover rates of professionals and coaches makes fostering good teams difficult. Players playing abroad results in difficulties too, for the NT. He states some more but that is not the main subject here. He says that a only Pan-European league can "save Dutch football" on the long term where every UEFA member delegates three teams.
"You have to admire the skills of Cruyff, but he was also a very good captain and a fine friend within the squad." Van de Kerkhof affirms that Holland was in 1977 very strong, about on par with 1974 and the Ajax team in his opinion. The game against England was quite easy in his eyes, "this doesn't mean that I don't like English football." They "were inspired by Cruyff in attack" and by Neeskens as well.

The 1978 World Cup was coming (though at time of hitting the shelves going on), and in 1977 the book saw "Cruyff at his peak, and left winger Rensenbrink at his best."

The issue has also a piece about foreigners in Spanish football. It mentions how the borders were reopened again, albeit under much stricter conditions, in 1973. The result is though that there are no Di Stefanos, Kubalas and Wilkeses any more embedded in great teams. About Cruyff it is said that he "became the best paid player in the game" [of the world, in terms of salary].
At that time, it was expected that the borders would be closed a bit again because a lot of clubs put themselves in great debts, because they also paid fortunes for quite mediocre players. Furthermore, FC Barcelona lost a lot of money because some contractual obligations (in particular with revenue sharing at friendly matches) were violated by other parties.

Issue 21 (1979) has a tribute to Cruyff, "after a distinguished career with Ajax, Holland and CF Barcelona" says the table of contents.
Below a picture of his farewell game it is stated: "fouled even in his farewell friendly."
Season 1966-67 is his "most successful". His "all round ability" as a "general" is praised. "Probably the most skilful player of his time, he was certainly the most popular", as conclusion.

But the issue has ofc also other pieces.

David O'Leary of Arsenal sees Cruyff and Beckenbauer as "the classiest players" of the past few years. "George Best at his best" was good too.

Marian Masny of European Champions Czechoslovakia thinks that Holland will miss Cruyff at the 1978 World Cup. The "best individual players" were Beckenbauer, Cruyff and Keegan.
"Beckenbauer was tremendously calm and cool under pressure, and had tremendous vision. Cruyff had really exceptional skill, and Keegan stands out I think, for the amount of work he gets through in both midfield and attack."

Arnold Mühren of Ipswich says that English football hasn't players of the Kempes and Cruyff level.

Phil Neal of Liverpool says that so far the best two teams he played against (over two legs) are Borussia Monchengladbach and FC Barcelona, "the two big Dutch stars Cruyff and Neeskens", propelled this side and were hard to beat. He thought. He is disappointed that after two consecutive European Cup wins, his team was ousted in the first round.

Glen Hoddle of Tottenham Hotspur says: "Some people feel that English football is too fast and too hard to allow really skilful players to develop here and they cite the Dutch star Johan Cruyff as an example." He disagrees. He also says that he rates George Best a level above Cruyff and Pelé. Gary Owen of Manchester City concurs with that view.

Gordon Cowans of Aston Villa remembers the encounter with FC Barcelona in the 1977-78 season. "Johan Cruyff showed just what a great player he was." Later on he says: "Cruyff was unbelievably skilful." Liam Brady is the best player in the English league, in his opinion.

 

On a weblog I came across recently, I managed to find this too:


(from Shoot magazine)

See also this article for more info (about Cosmos in general):
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1094167/1/index.htm


[comment at bottom-left]

http://thefootballattic.blogspot.nl/2012/08/rich-nelsons-top-5-world-cup-shirts.html


There is now on TV a series of interview going on, where people are extensively interviewed. Last week Van Hanegem was thoroughly interviewed. He said that so called 'total football' wasn't designed by Michels, Cruyff or whoever, as far as 1974WC is concerned. "Some say it was Michels, some say it was Cruyff, but neither is true." It originated spontaneously after a very bad preparation campaign. The centre back pair appeared at the very last moment and Cruyff himself, as vital part, was on-and-off during the preparation.
He had also some big praise for Cruyff though. When he was asked why he didn't want to go to Argentina in 1978, he said that it had a chain of events and multiple reasons. An interesting insight was that the (former) Ajax-clique (minus Cruyff) wanted to take all the money, from advertising and so on. It was told to him that he had to appear in adverts, but most of the money would go to the Ajax clique (he mentioned Krol, Haan). A few of the player took the leadership but it wasn't a good leadership or a benign leadership. Van Hanegem tried to illustrate that the atmosphere wasn't right. "Some thought, at the beginning, they were more important as others and that started with such a stipulation. But I said to them, well, if you don't sprint into gaps, I don't pass and you don't cover my back, it will not work. We do it collectively."
Meanwhile, in 1974 a deal existed that all money was shared equally among all players. Van Hanegem praised Cruyff his leadership in the interview and mentioned that Cruyff himself was of course a main recipient (or 'magnet') of money, but this money was thus shared equally (also money for individual sponsor contracts). He said that Cruyff was sometimes "too concerned about money", but certainly not avaricious, greedy or egoistic, and very helpful to a multitude of various and different people.

 

Here an article from the New York Times I came across today, written when Ajax and Barcelona met each other for the first time in an official game last month
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/18/sports/soccer/johan-cruyff-the-great-outsider.html?_r=0

 

I was able to see and retrieve issue 16 and 22. The ones I could not see earlier as mentioned in this post:
https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/...nd-goals-scored.1865250/page-75#post-28728469

I will now add this too.


Issue 16 (1974 - published before the World Cup).

Kevin Keegan says that Ajax is now past their peak level and has lost quality. "They came out with a new style of play that suited their particular players and they made it work. Since they first appeared big on the international scene they're the side everyone else on the continent has tried to copy."

Gerrie Mühren is pessimistic about the chances and future of Dutch football.
"As far as Ajax are concerned, the transfer of Johan Cruyff to CF Barcelona was a real blow. Cruyff of course was they key man in our attack. It wasn't a one-man team but Cruyff played the essential role as director of the team, organising the attack, holding the ball with his great range of skills. He was the mainspring that sparked everything off, scoring goals himself and creating chances for others.
We missed him badly when he first left. We had another international centre forward, but he had a lot of trouble with a knee injury. In any case he is a different type of player - a spearhead who scores goals rather than a true leader of the attack.
We have adjusted ourselves to the new situation now and have two new players who are settling in well. The former Hungarian international Zoltan Varga is very skilful and intelligent and Arno Steffenhagen is also a very good player too.
But if Ajax are to remain the top team in Europe we must have another player like Cruyff. This is the crux of the problem for there is not player like Cruyff to be found anywhere amongst the youngsters today. He was irreplaceable, the kind of player that comes just once in a generation.
My role in the Ajax scheme is on the left side in midfield. By nature I am more of an attacking player than a defender and I feel the absence of Cruyff. When I went forward with the ball he used to drift into space, almost by magic, and was always so easy to find with a pass.
But it would be wrong to say that when we lost to the Bulgarians CSKA in the European Cup it was due to Cruyff his departure. Very simply, we had enough chances in the first leg in Amsterdam to have sewn it up. But we scored only one goal instead of the three or four we could have had and that made all the difference.
However we have had to reconcile ourselves to the new position we are in. Our major target is now the Dutch championship so that we stay in the European Cup each next year. This is the only way to please our fans for there is a great rivalry between Ajax and Feyenoord. To be honest, it is not a good feeling when the two clubs meet - like a mini-war."

Mühren confirms that he pays a lot of taxes. "It is true that 70% of what I earn is paid in taxes to the state, but I just don't feel that money is that important." A far cry from today when football players possess special privileges in almost all countries!

Bonev of Bulgaria says that his national team lacks a real star like Charlton or Cruyff, but feels it is better balanced as in the past.

Eric Batty writes that world class players like "Cruyff, Netzer and Pelé" "would not live in the English First Division". Too rough.

Then there is also a piece about Gianni Rivera. Which touches on the hardships and mysteries of Italian football. It mentions how Milan showed a lesson in "counter-attacking" in 1969, with "Cruyff and his colleagues" showing naivety against the "impregnable Italian defence." Ofc, Rivera himself was an advocate of attacking play, which Milan often did not show.

Issue 22 (1980)

An interesting piece in this issue is an interview with Migueli, the temperamental Barcelona defender. He himself doesn't 'deny' that he is quite a character. Spain made of course the last eight of the European championships that year.
Migueli says that the best manager he met was Hennes Weisweiler. It is a pity that "differences of opinion" with Cruyff marked his departure, with Cruyff wanting to play a more adventurous style.

"During the Cruyff and Michels eras our instructions were to play completely defensive formations away from home, with Cruyff himself dropping back into midfield or defence - and looking back this may have been the start of our problems. Instead of being optimistic about winning anywhere, we started to developed a 'can we keep them out?' attitude, even against teams who were obviously inferior to ourselves."

He says that manager Rife tried to play attacking football but "our attacking style meant that we gave away some silly goals". The defence could not cope and the same "fear and pessimism" came back. "Personally I don't care whether he play well or not - the important thing is to win. I remember that Balmanya always used to say: 'I prefer having their fans stoning us or breaking up our coach after we have won, rather than having them throwing us bunches of flowers and praising us.'"

According to him, Leeds United and Liverpool were among the strongest teams he met as defender. Those defeated Barcelona in the semi-final of 1975 and 1976, "even though Keegan did not play sensationally against us."

"Mind you, I'm glad I never had to play against my ex-team-mate, Johan Cruyff. He was always just unstoppable.
People here in Barcelona have mixed feelings about Cruyff. In his first season he was sensational, and Barcelona won the league by a mile, but after that he tended to produce his top form in short bursts. But I take off my hat to him - he is really sensational. It was inevitable that when he was in the team he would be the leader. He was a real genius - possibly the most intelligent footballer of all time.

I admired Cruyff a lot, but I wouldn't say he was a close friend. He was nearer one of the management than the players, if you follow me - whereas his fellow Dutchman Johan Neeskens, was really 'one of the lads'.

Some of the others didn't get on too well with Cruyff because they thought he was too highbrow and aloof; and it is true that he liked to lead a slightly more cultured lifestyle than the average squad of football players.

I remember he was livid on one occasion because a couple of the players were throwing rolls at each other at the dinner table and some crumbs landed in his hair.

Still, every squad is a group of twenty-five different people and you inevitably get all types. I think the place to judge a footballer is on the football pitch, and out there Cruyff was simply magic.

Of the current players I can't honestly say that there's anyone in his class. Keegan has been voted European Footballer of the Year for the last two years, but I honestly can't say that he is a footballing genius in the same class as a Cruyff, a Pelé, a Beckenbauer or a Di Stefano.
In fact, I can't think of many truly exceptional players in Europe at the moment, and I feel that maybe the South Americans have the edge on us when it comes to individual talent.
As far as central defenders go, I think Ruud Krol is currently the best in Europe, and I'd like to have the same level of success at international level as he has had.
"

 

Here some good links that I found recently.


[page 106]

http://www.irishexaminer.com/archives/2013/1005/opinion/the-first-dutch-master-245308.html

http://espnfc.com/world-cup/columns/story?id=528411&cc=5739&ver=global

http://www.wsc.co.uk/the-archive/31-Players/4377-absent-minded

www.sundaypost.com/sport/football/the-big-interview-charlie-nicholas-1.143723

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/mcgrain-we-did-what-we-had-to-do.22481072

http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/221658,jesper-olsen-johan-cruyff-and-me.aspx


It is was yesterday exactly 40 years ago he played his first game for FC Barcelona. Even rival newspaper Marca memorizes it.
http://www.marca.com/2013/10/28/en/football/barcelona/1382978329.html

 

In a similar way like Gullit there was a while ago also an interview with Cruijff (and I received the question to post it too). I will translate the most interesting questions and answers (not everything was about his career & some things have been covered before). Most of the things I leave out are about his 'vision' or the way a club has to be organized in his opinion (and what has happened with Barcelona, that no longer a property magnate like Nunez decides what happens but people with knowledge about the profession; also how an organizational chart should look like).

"

Hendrik Johannes Cruijff is absolutely the most famous football player that has been produced by the Netherlands, or donated to the Netherlands. He has the tendency to casually drop solutions for the Syria problem or solve the traffic jams, but his credentials for promoting his understanding concerning his primary profession are hard to deny.


Cruijff (when sitting down): "You look good for your age. Just say 'Johan', that speaks easier."

Interviewer: "Johan, you possess now a retirement age. It might be an option to do entirely nothing, but you express your worries about your club and wage a prestige battle. How can you find the energy? "

Cruijff: "I don't think it is a prestige battle. Certainly not. It is just that you see football in a different way, has to happen in a different way. And that is why we stand together to change things."

Interviewer: "Of course. But you are living there in Barcelona, almost always sunny weather and you can also think: 'Goodbye, thankless people. Take care of yourself.'"

Cruijff: "Possibly."

Interviewer: "Is it a feeling for the club that drives this?"

Cruijff: "It is as... Everything I do. You can say I am retired for a long time. If you take football as reference point. Since 1996 you are no coach of a club, in other words: you are doing nothing in football, although in many different ways you do still a lot of publicly accountable things. Often related to normal social relationships, but related to the sport and thinking about sport.

It was of course dramatic which way the Dutch football was heading to. Something has to be done."

Interviewer: "You saw Ajax going down the slope."

Cruijff: "Not only Ajax, you saw the whole country degrading. That is also proven again lately: three years ago a finalist and now not even in 'pot 1' of the draw. Thus enough things have happened, and something needs a change."

Interviewer: "And the low-point had arrived that someone had to intervene in your opinion."

Cruijff: "Yes it is... No... Yes, in my opinion the time was there to take action. But on the other hand, you also have to have people with who you can interfere, right? You can tell a catchy story but if no one else is present it is pointless.
Thus, I saw that the generation Bergkamp, to give it a name. With Jonk and everyone else... That are former football players who are in the first place independent, so not open for whichever type of blackmailing. And secondly, they are also educated and intelligent... What my generation did not have. And they are ready to take over, and they also possess the capabilities... They are also the people who execute the real work."

Interviewer: "Also your wife asks why you make worries."

Cruijff: "Yes... I think it is related to age. I am of the post-war generation, and we have always been fighters."

[...]

Cruijff: "We have quality. Like everywhere there is quality but it just needs a better education for that higher level. If you think about it. In 1965 [Cruijff himself says "1962 or 1963" but that is not correct, PvH] I was the second full-professional in the Netherlands, and within eight [sic] years we played five European Cup finals. With the Dutch School. Thus there was a gigantic potential but it needed a push. Somehow we could not culture this - and you can mention many reasons but... At one moment you draw a line and you say: another try and we build it again, in an environment not chosen by us."

[...]

Interviewer: "The strange thing is that there is no hierarchy within the governors. There is no boss."

Cruijff: "No, but I give sometimes the following example.

I was seen as the best player of the world, for the large majority of the 1970s. But the goalkeeper was a better goallie as me. The right-back was a better right-back as me. The right-half was a better right-half as me. So who is the best? Is the all-rounder the best? It is all so relative. It is actually, you can say, very short-sighted. At every position you have some qualities.
If we need to have a goalkeeper, and the trainer comes to this conclusion, isn't it fine if he can ask Van der Sar or so?"

[...]

Interviewer: "It is the reality that Dutch players go at a younger and younger age to foreign countries. It is the reality that Ajax has to provide a structural stream of talents for filling in gaps."

Cruijff: "Yes, but you have to assume, and that is today not the case, that most of them will leave at the age of 24. And the real exception will be one or two years earlier."

Interviewer: "Yes, but in your time it was different. No departure at the age of 10 [recently a 10-years old boy from Groningen went to FC Barcelona, PvH]."

Cruijff: "True. If you take me, I was 26. Right, we all know that these processes become quicker. On the other hand, we can also quicken processes. And the important thing is that you deliver players who are better as the others. We are not as powerful and strong as the English but we can be smarter and more inventive."

[...]

Interviewer: "As long as I exist, the clubs Manchester United and Real Madrid are the powerful and wealthy clubs. I just call two of those. But the generation Cruijff, Suurbier won the European Cup; the generation Van Basten, Rijkaard won an European Cup and the generation Kluivert, Seedorf. Is that still possible? Because the other ones are still the richest, but increased with a magnitude."

Cruijff: "Yes, but on a basic level nothing has changed. But we neglected to still be ahead of the others. As you see how we played the game... total football or how they called it... And you see how others have adopted almost everything, whereas we stopped... For whatever reason. Who is guilty is not important. Important is how you can bring this back and improve. And that is what we should do. Basically, Barcelona and Bayern Munich do what we invented, and that is unacceptable."

Interviewer: "The Netherlands reacts cynical because you say provocatively that a fifth Champions League is still possible."

Cruijf: "You are always insane before you become a genius."

[...]

Interviewer: "You once stopped as trainer. You said back then that the profession of trainer is something for young people and the next generation has their turn. You never regretted this?"

Cruijff: "No. I did a lot of other more meaningful things, I think. My deficiency and limitation was that there was no education for sporters. The deficiency was that it wasn't there. Nowadays it exists and I could do things in this because in my opinion sports-people were looked down upon, in case of their intellectual capacities. The story of a good work-horse but no good jockey.
Thus I drove into a certain route, for whatever reason and whatever background... Often it is no thorough thinking that you pursue this route. Often I am driven by aggression though, by anger. That you are not treated like a normal person. And then something happens, inside.
That is how the schools originated at that time. We started with 34 men 15 years ago. People said that I was stupid, maybe they were right. But now 5000 people are enrolled. That are people who are helped by you towards a future, that on the first place. But secondly, they can take important positions within all sports federations, which helps us on the longer run."

Interviewer: "You help to provide a thing you yourself missed?"

Cruijff: "Yes, that is what I did not have. But that were the circumstances. Circumstances change, you can help to create circumstances. And we have many good people now. You only have to provide the opportunities that they can do it, and that is what we do. 'We' because the institute bears my name for promotional purposes but it has a whole team. It is an opportunity to coalesce and unite, to call it that way. But you cannot connect without education.

An example: we say for many years that sport is an important aspect of your personality, but also of your capacities of your brains. Well, I took that from the Montessori organizations who have thought about that, and we applied it practically to high-end sport. And now you have a professor, Erik Scherder, take a look on internet I'd say... That man explains what I have always believed in. He explains scientifically why sport is good for your brains. That you can study better, if taught on the right way. If you hear him, you say: this is the proof that a top sporter, who made efforts year after year, has to be intelligent. They are intelligent by definition. Otherwise it is not possible. And that is a scientist right, I summarize it now in a way that has motivated me for many years."

Interviewer: "We talked about your fighting spirit and your aggression. But you are a strange man in the sense that a negative action towards you is not always replied with a rant back. If we take Rinus Michels, he has played a very negative role in your managerial career. He prevented that you became national team manager and refused to give you a coaching license. But you always talked with respect about him, despite disagreeing. How does that come?"

Cruijff: "Yes it is true but there is always a part attached to this. I think you have to search for a balance. See, I also know Michels as a kid - when my father died, I was ill and my mother had a job. The one who rang the doorbell, took me to the doctor, took me back to home and said: 'Stay in bed for some more days.' Yes, that is also Michels. And do you need to say something negative about someone who was always ready to help you?"

Interviewer: "No..."

Cruijff: "I don't have that opinion. I find that I was approached by Michels in a fantastic way. Michels taught me things that I incontestably needed for becoming the human I would become. Maybe that was also his quality as a school teacher, which he once was. He especially dealt with difficult pupils, well maybe I was also a difficult kid to handle."

Interviewer: "Maybe you was very difficult."

Cruijff: "That was fantastic. And who is also Michels? That I signed at Barcelona and the whole airport was filled with people. It was as if I was blind. At a certain moment I lost my daughter. And then you see Michels playing with her because all those cameras were upsetting her. Yes, that is also Michels of course. Who sees that happening and acts. And if you weigh these things then you say... Fine, what was more important?"

[...]

Interviewer: "If you look back at your life, can you say you had a good life?"

Cruijff: "Yes, there is not much to complain about. With all stupidities and all good things I experienced. I am also a type who remembers the good things, I prefer to forget the bad things because that is senseless and often outside your control."

Interviewer: "You do not realize it perhaps but you are also one of the few who is still married with his first wife."

Cruijff: "Yes, but apart from my own input I have of course a rare wife. Who was always supportive, never walked up front. Was rarely on pictures thus..."

Interviewer: "No. I personally asked a few times throughout the years for an interview, as an interesting approach, but she doesn't."

Cruijff: "No, she is very reluctant. It was a fantastic support and backing in every way. Like I said a few minutes back: I went to the United States. You arrive there with three kids and then you need to play football. But in the meantime the migration has to be completed. And then a manager says: 'Next week we go for 10 days away.' Yes... Then you have to, but in the meantime everything has to be completed. And who did that..."

Interviewer: "You say actually: in the hectic world of football a stable situation at home is quite important."

Cruijff: "Yes, very important."

[...]

Cruijff: "The whole world has changed a bit. But it is the case that if you want to extract the maximum out of yourself, you need 100% concentration on your main job. And if the rest around it, for whichever reason, is taking away the focus... And that is what I meant with observing as a coach. It is so important. Because you can see it when someone's child was ill. You see it when a family member of someone is ill. You can see that. And that is the good coach who can see that and approaches him: 'Do not play at Sunday, go home.' That is why you have a team. And not comments because someone played bad, but if you know what it is... Or you can give an impulse and say: 'Play an hour, then I take you out.' Many solutions exist. But it starts with the senses and observation."


"

If a few people want to know the rest, I will give it a try. I thought this were the most interesting things (also not very 'vague' or generalist)

 

RSSF has also for 1984.
http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/wsoc84.html

But I saw today that the real one also had Cruijff at number 10, together with Robson.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwL4ev1QI1K6SW9VR3BpRmVYLU0/edit?usp=sharing&pli=1

So, RSSSF made a mistake.

I also found 1982 and 1983
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwL4ev1QI1K6WlpDdU1YYlFZM3M/edit?usp=sharing&pli=1
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwL4ev1QI1K6MU5CVWhOajM0MEE/edit?usp=sharing&pli=1

From soccer nostalgia blog

 

Yes, it relates to Feyenoord although they state 'retd.' (retired) which he was of course by the end of 1984. I see now too that RSSSF doesn't mention the decimals indeed whereas the original publication did .

Also interesting that Maradona is not listed in 1982, listed 4th in 1983 and then again not listed in 1984.
The likes of Falcao, Rummenigge, Zico and Platini received high enough votes for a mention in every single year between 1982-84.