Legends of the game part 4: Johan Cruyff part 10

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Johan Cruyff - The Total Footballer part 9

 
Review Of The Day 9th April 2018

Image from: varzesh11.com

Article part 10 of 10

"If the 175,000 FC Barcelona members (socios) queued up in an orderly line, night after night, to massage his tired feet, cook his dinner and tuck him into bed; if they carried his golf clubs round Montanya's hilly 18 holes; if they devoted 50% of their annual salary to him.... it still wouldn't be near enough to repay the debt those who love this club owe to Johan Cruyff." - Graham Hunter

Despite having had discussions regarding taking charge of Holland for the 1994 World Cup, which fell through at the last minute, Johan Cruyff never managed proper competitive football again, due to advice from his doctors as further heart problems affected him. Taking their advice, he went into semi-retirement from the game, though he did have a spell between 2009 and 2013 as manager of Catalonia, winning his first game, a friendly against Argentina, 4-2 at Nou Camp. Cruyff did not entirely walk away from football however, becoming a vocal football critic and analyst and an unofficial technical advisor to Barcelona president Joan Laporta.

Laporta said in March 2017: "I chose Frank Rijkaard, Txiki Begiristain and Pep Guardiola because Johan told me to." Little wonder Laporta listened to Cruyff as it was Cruyff's support that enabled him to win Barca's presidential elections in the first place! It was also Cruyff that ensured Jose Mourinho did not get the Barca job after Rijkaard left, despite Mourinho pushing himself forward for the job. Cruyff said: "Jose is a negative coach. He only cares about the result and doesn't care much for good football."

On 20th February 2008 Ajax announced that Cruyff would be the new Technical Director of the club, as they sought to restore their glory days. That did not last long as he pulled out the following month after a "professional difference of opinion" with then Ajax manager Marco van Basten. Van Basten said that Cruyff's plans were "going too fast". In 2010 Barcelona named Johan Cruyff as honourary president of the club at the end of March, only for new president Sandro Rosell to strip him of the title in July.

Jose Mourinho is not the only coach Johan Cruyff was particularly critical of and he was involved in a long-running feud with Louis van Gaal as well. Cruyff had once said of him: "Van Gaal has a good vision on football. But it's not mine. He wants to gel winning teams and has a militaristic way of working with his tactics. I don't. I want individuals to think for themselves and take the decision on the pitch that is best for the situation." Added to that Cruyff criticised the changes that had been made to Ajax's youth set up by van Gaal: "On the basis of the criteria which are now in use at Ajax [recommended by van Gaal] I would have failed the test. When I was 15, I could barely kick the ball 15 metres with my left and with the right maybe 20 metres. I would not have been able to take a corner. Besides I was physically weak and relatively slow. My two qualities were great technique and insight, which happen to be two things you can't measure with a computer."

"Johan is so technically perfect that even as a boy he stopped being interested in that aspect of the game. He could do everything when he was 20. That's why he has been very interested in tactics since he was very young. He sees football situations so clearly that he was always the one to decide how the game should be played." - Marco van Basten

That feud came to a bitter head when Ajax was split between the two after Cruyff was appointed to a sounding board group to decide on a plan to move the club forward. In February 2011 Cruyff presented his plans. The following month the board of advisors and the CEO of Ajax all resigned. Cruyff was appointed to a new board of advisors in order to implement his plans, but, behind his back, the advisory board had made a verbal agreement with van Gaal to appoint him as CEO. Cruyff was furious and took his fellow board members to court to block the appointment and won. The court overturned the appointment of van Gaal on the grounds that he had been 'deliberately not consulted'.

The quarrel led to Cruyff resigning from Ajax, despite having the backing of the majority of fans and many former players such as Dennis Bergkamp, Wim Jonk, Marc Overmars and others. Other than acting as an ambassador for the failed joint bid by Belgium/Netherlands, he pretty much faded into the background despite many offers to return to the forefront of the game. Not least being asked to be Liverpool's Director of Football when FSG bought the club, after former Arsenal director David Dein advised them that Cruyff was the best possible man for the job. However Cruyff was not willing to take on a job of that size and continued to work behind the scenes on implementing his vision for Ajax's academy to take it on into the future.

Away from professional football he set up an educational system, comprising Johan Cruyff College, Academy and Institute, he set up a foundation in 1997 to help provide children with the chance to play and be active, had his own Cruyff Classics clothing label and set up Cruyff Courts, which were small sided pitches for a 7-a-side game. All of those featured his 14 rules "to teach young people that sports and games can also be translated to everyday life." Those rules are put up on each court and at school sports grounds. They include:
1. Team Player - 'To accomplish things, you have to do them together.'
4. Integration - 'Involve others in your activities.'
5. Initiative - 'Dare to try something new.'
9. Technique - 'Know the basics.'
10. Tactics - 'Know what to do.'
Most Cruyffian of all is:
14. Creativity - 'Bring beauty to the sport.'

Mainly though he was involved in analysing the game and giving his opinions, which included saying things such as: "Technique is not being able to juggle a ball 1000 times. Anyone can do that by practising. Then you can work in the circus. Technique is passing the ball with one touch, with the right speed, at the right foot of your team-mate." Cruyff took great delight in watching La Masia, the La Masia that he did so much to create, produce great players, including 6 of the starters in the 2010 World Cup final, while trying to set up the Ajax academy along the same lines. Then, on 15th October 2015, it was announced that he was suffering from lung cancer, which eventually claimed him on 24th March 2016.

Amongst all the many tributes, one stood out to me as summing Johan Cruyff up perfectly, from a man that many feel has good reason to be bitter towards Cruyff, Gary Lineker, who was sold by Cruyff when he was at Barcelona. So well did it sum up the great man that I am going to end with it, as it says all that needs to be said.

"Football has lost a man who did more to make the beautiful game beautiful than anyone in history." - Gary Lineker.

For the previous Legend of the Game article on Pele click HERE

Written by Ed001

 
Johan Cruyff - The Total Footballer part 9

 
Review Of The Day 9th April 2018

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