• Dear Guest, Please note that adult content is not permitted on this forum. We have had our Google ads disabled at times due to some posts that were found from some time ago. Please do not post adult content and if you see any already on the forum, please report the post so that we can deal with it. Adult content is allowed in the glory hole - you will have to request permission to access it. Thanks, scara

Johan Cruyff

Fantastic player, only got to see him play once, at the Lane when we beat Feyenord 4-2. He was passed his best then, but in his prime the best in the world.
 
A truly great player, I did meet him when I spent some time at the Ajax academy and he was always helpful and full of encouragement to the young coaches.
 
Stunning talent. Go and watch the 'Clockwork Orange' team of the '70s. Fabulous interplay and this genius pulled all the strings. Turned the game on its head. The best team to never win a World Cup.

Some nice obits out there that properly capture what he meant to the game. Then there's the cringeworthy Telegraph who bury the story below a feature ranking the current England squad players. And it's not even a story but a collection of twitter quotes and a cheesy, picture filled timeline. Pathetic. I'd actually pay them to close up that section.
 
greatwhitenorf said:
Stunning talent. Go and watch the 'Clockwork Orange' team of the '70s. Fabulous interplay and this genius pulled all the strings. Turned the game on its head. The best team to never win a World Cup.

Some nice obits out there that properly capture what he meant to the game. Then there's the cringeworthy Telegraph who bury the story below a feature ranking the current England squad players. And it's not even a story but a collection of twitter quotes and a cheesy, picture filled timeline. Pathetic. I'd actually pay them to close up that section.
Click to expand...

Without a doubt.
 
My favourite of the four greats and the one with the most impact on the game. It was tragic he never won a world cup, losing the final in '74 and then mysteriously not going in '78.
 
milo said:
The word legend is over used these days. He was one and truly amongst the greats of the game.
Click to expand...

I like /agree with what Hodgson has said about him today.

“I’m extremely saddened by the news,” said Hodgson, whose squad fly to Berlin on Friday ahead of their weekend friendly against Germany. “I think the world of football has lost one of the true legends of the game, both as a player and as a coach. His achievements really were second to none.

“We are talking about one of the real greats of the game. The word ‘legend’ is sometimes used a little bit loosely and sometimes even flippantly these days – you become great when you score a goal in a game – but there are one or two greats and one or two legends – and Johan Cruyff was one of those.”
 
jts1882 said:
My favourite of the four greats and the one with the most impact on the game. It was tragic he never won a world cup, losing the final in '74 and then mysteriously not going in '78.
Click to expand...

Didn't go in '78 because he didn't agree with the World Cup being hosted by a country ran by a dictatorship. Hard to imagine a professional footballer having the cajones to mention politics, let alone jepordising a World Cup appearance whilst at his peak.

In 74 Adidas sponsored the Dutch team and he removed one of the three stripes from his sleeves as he wore Puma.

Modern football at its purest (Guardiola's Barca) was the embodiment of his philosophy.
 
How many players get a move named after them?

tumblr_n4k5pl1czK1tp5565o1_400.gif
 
clownfoot said:
Didn't go in '78 because he didn't agree with the World Cup being hosted by a country ran by a dictatorship. Hard to imagine a professional footballer having the cajones to mention politics, let alone jepordising a World Cup appearance whilst at his peak.

In 74 Adidas sponsored the Dutch team and he removed one of the three stripes from his sleeves as he wore Puma.

Modern football at its purest (Guardiola's Barca) was the embodiment of his philosophy.
Click to expand...

Wow; didn't know that!
 
clownfoot said:
Didn't go in '78 because he didn't agree with the World Cup being hosted by a country ran by a dictatorship. Hard to imagine a professional footballer having the cajones to mention politics, let alone jepordising a World Cup appearance whilst at his peak.

In 74 Adidas sponsored the Dutch team and he removed one of the three stripes from his sleeves as he wore Puma.

Modern football at its purest (Guardiola's Barca) was the embodiment of his philosophy.
Click to expand...

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2008/apr/17/newsstory.sport

At the time, speculation over the reasons for his decision was rife. It was claimed he had fallen out with the Dutch football association over sponsorship. Or maybe he objected to Argentina's rightwing military junta.

Now 30 years on, Cruyff has finally broken his silence to reveal the real reason for his no-show on football's biggest stage.


The former Ajax and Barcelona player has revealed that he and his family had been the victims of a kidnap attempt a few months before the tournament.

He said several criminals entered his house in Barcelona at night and tied him and his family up at gunpoint.

The experience changed his attitude to life and was part of the reason he decided not to play in the World Cup.

In an interview with Catalunya Radio, Cruyff said: "You should know that I had problems at the end of my career as a player here and I don't know if you know that someone [put] a rifle at my head and tied me up and tied up my wife in front of the children at our flat in Barcelona."

The Dutch superstar managed to escape and the kidnap attempt was foiled. But Cruyff said it changed his outlook on life.

"The children were going to school accompanied by the police. The police slept in our house for three or four months. I was going to matches with a bodyguard," he said.

"All these things change your point of view towards many things. There are moments in life in which there are other values.

"We wanted to stop this and be a little more sensible. It was the moment to leave football and I couldn't play in the World Cup after this."
 
Modric THFC said:
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2008/apr/17/newsstory.sport

At the time, speculation over the reasons for his decision was rife. It was claimed he had fallen out with the Dutch football association over sponsorship. Or maybe he objected to Argentina's rightwing military junta.

Now 30 years on, Cruyff has finally broken his silence to reveal the real reason for his no-show on football's biggest stage.


The former Ajax and Barcelona player has revealed that he and his family had been the victims of a kidnap attempt a few months before the tournament.

He said several criminals entered his house in Barcelona at night and tied him and his family up at gunpoint.

The experience changed his attitude to life and was part of the reason he decided not to play in the World Cup.

In an interview with Catalunya Radio, Cruyff said: "You should know that I had problems at the end of my career as a player here and I don't know if you know that someone [put] a rifle at my head and tied me up and tied up my wife in front of the children at our flat in Barcelona."

The Dutch superstar managed to escape and the kidnap attempt was foiled. But Cruyff said it changed his outlook on life.

"The children were going to school accompanied by the police. The police slept in our house for three or four months. I was going to matches with a bodyguard," he said.

"All these things change your point of view towards many things. There are moments in life in which there are other values.

"We wanted to stop this and be a little more sensible. It was the moment to leave football and I couldn't play in the World Cup after this."
Click to expand...

Well I've been fooled...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back