Cruyff: The Total Footballer

Johan cruyffe an aim on everybody's lips when we ask the question who are the greatest players ever but do we know the total story from his beginnings and Rapid development at ayax to his huge footballing and political impact at Barcelona from his numerous achievements on the European and Global stage to his successful business decisions outside the sport this is the story of krov and how he elevated what was expected of a footballer foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] in East Amsterdam and only five minutes away from i-axis Stadium a young Johan Cruyff spent long hours playing in the streets his father's friend Hank angle had a job as a groundsman at ayax as the club slowly became a second home for croith Johan officially joined iax's youth team in the year 1957 at only 10 years old he was training under coach Van dervin in his early years whom trained him not only in football but a norms and life values as Croix said in his autobiography the iax life was one that compensated for the education that I wouldn't be getting at school those early years were crucial for krov especially as his father passed away within that period while Johan was only 12 years old I acts graciously offered a job to his mother to keep the family secured financially IX was just like his second family but Johan lacked discipline in those days as he smoked cigarettes and argued with referees and teammates the team used to discipline him through numerous finds but despite that there was no doubt about his talent as it became only the second player on the club's history to get a full-time professional contract he was given his first team debut at 17 years of age under the manager of Vic Buckingham and managed to score his first goal as a pro against PSV [Music] [Applause] iax were struggling in the 64-65 season as the English manager Buckingham left the club in January of 65 which handed the opportunity to explain realness Michaels to take over managerial duties he was a young manager but had Authority in abundance with a couple of injured players coming back Croy didn't play much with the first team for the rest of the campaign as iax ended That season in 13th position krov played 10 matches that year and scored four goals but that didn't stop him from refusing a contract renewal from the board as he asked for a better author which was rare in those days he threatened to leave until the board offered an improved contract Crowe later said no matter how wonderful you find football when you're young you'd better be very business-like at the same time otherwise you're finished in this game kroy's footballing life was changed when Michaels arrived as the manager tried to protect the players from the board and used his authoritarian tactics to discipline the team several new finds and rules were introduced to the club and of course Kroy was the culprit of most of these fines Johan was only 18 years old when Michaels arrived to the club that's why he decided to rotate him between the first and second team to gain footballing experience and build his weak and young body when he was given the chance with the first team because of some injuries within the squad Kroy showed some great passages of play as he did against DWS when he scored an impressive brace [Applause] the media started to take notice but Michaels wanted to introduce his early vision of Total Football which was still taking shape each and every player on the team had to follow Specific Instructions in order to implement this vision and the only player who didn't follow those instructions at the beginning was croiv after all that praise from the media he built up a huge ego and often argued with his teammates on tactical discussions whenever Johan was absent from the first team it showed on the pitch as IX wore slow stiff and without any invention when Croix played they transformed into a fast and attacking team so in March of 1966 Croy was named the permanent starter for the team his discipline was improved as a results improved as well I accidentally won the league with a record-breaking number of points krov played 23 matches in all competitions that year and managed to score an astonishing 25 goals everything was looking good for Johan he earned his national team View at 19 years of age when he played against Hungary and a European qualifier and started the new season with iax as an integral and important first team player but in 1966 Holland were in the middle of major riots from the youth population which had the goal of introducing chaos in society and challenging the system Kroy was considered an instigator of these movements and his second International match against the checks as Johan was involved in heated arguments with the rough after he was kicked several times after a few arguments that have shot Kroy VA redkart he was the first Dutch International player to be sent off in history the incident was much debated in Ireland as croyd was accused of hitting the ref and was banned from International football for a whole year but that event didn't hold Croix and iax's scintillating form as they won 12 out of their first 14 matches in the league after passing the test of projectaj in the first round of the European Cup Liverpool were awaiting them the Reds just started their road to success under manager bill shankly that's why iax were hoping to at least avoid defeat but under the foggy weather at the Olympic Stadium everything clicked for iax [Applause] oh amazingly ayax managed to score four goals without replying in the first half and won the match five goals to one in the end it was the biggest defeat of any English Club in European History Michael said after the match this Victory is the first evidence that our team is a force to be reckoned with at the international level a 2-2 draw at anfield secured diax's place in the quarterfinals around 5 million Dutch people watched the match on TV as Kroy was becoming a national figure that Fame opened up many commercial opportunities for him as he signed with puma and was invited to the openings of several shops and businesses around the country but Johan did show signs of struggling his quarter final matchup against Duke Le Prague as ayax were eliminated after the two matches foreign were dominating matches left and right as they won their second league title in a row while scoring 122 goals in only 34 matches which is still an unbroken National Record today Johann Croix was the engineer behind this domination as he managed to score an astonishing 41 goals in 4-1 matches in total 33 of them coming in the league His Image in the media was improved as well as the Dutch Football Association decided to waive his suspension as Kroy was back in the national team in September of 67. young Johan started having arguments with his teammates about tactics he used to discuss the tactics to be used by the team in some interviews as if he was the manager that resulted in clashes with the real manager Linus Michels but despite that the manager didn't stop taking Kroy the side and talking tactics because he knew that Johan would assist his teammates with tactical instructions during the match a good example of that was an important League match against final could barely see anything from the bench because of the foggy weather that day Croy managed to change the Tactical shape during the match as ayax dominated after initially struggling the match was abandoned at a 1-1 draw but Croix showed his knowledge of the game that day that event caused some issues with Michels as he banned Croy from a couple of matches in the league but with time michals knew he couldn't build what he wanted without croave so Johan quickly came back to assist the team unfortunately for iax they were drawn with Real Madrid in the first round of the European Cup after 1-1 draw at home thanks to krause's goal iax went to the bernabeo to seal the deal everybody in Spain was surprised by this unknown dark side as iax dominated proceedings but Krave missed some clear-cut chances to finish the tie as Madrid managed to score a late goal and extra time and for the first time in his career Johan faced huge criticism from the media he was back to his best in the area division wondered league title in a row Croy was the top goal scorer of the team after scoring 25 goals in 33 matches in the league and was named Dutch Player of the Year kroyev struggled with injuries in the summer of 68 but that didn't stop him from his commercial Endeavors he was exceeding what was expected of a footballer in those days Michaels asked Johan to focus only on football and believed that his commercial Endeavors will affect his relationship with his teammates all media Outlets were talking about iax's crucial encounter against West German Champions Norberg in the first round of the European Cup it was a crucial match for Croix career as well he needed to prove that he's up for the European game especially after the Madrid match despite the dominance of the West Germans iax managed to get out of Germany with a 1-1 draw and despite his injury Croix scored the equalizer and played a great match as Michel said following the first leg Johann proved that he is willing and able to sacrifice for the whole team I at the Olympic Stadium IX delivered an almost perfect match as they blew there was Germans Away by four gold stenil Kroy was marked by two players the whole match which opened up tons of spaces for his teammates his manager said after the match with the Ohan were going ahead at full power the team can hardly do without him but he only truly flourishes because of the team Johan changed that season whether by Michel's methods or by Kroy the approaching marriage and being more mature in general he didn't show his usual signs of rebelliousness and played for the team the focus shifted to the European Cup after ayax tripped up in the league they passed Turkish side fenerbache in the second round and faced last year's finalist pamfica in the quarterfinals under the snow yuz abuse men won the first leg at iax's backyard Croy missed easy chances again and faced renewed criticism however this time he redeemed himself in the second leg as ayax won in Lisbon by the same result as Michel said this is the best showing by ayax since I arrived at the club groy's Brilliance was on show again in the tiebreaker in Paris as iax won after extra time by three goals to nil there was no doubt that Croy was better than uzibu that day and was now the main star of this exciting ayax team injuries curtailed croy's ascendants in the semi-finals against spartacnava it was not impacting the match but ayax managed to surpass this tough test and qualify to their first European final the first time any Dutch team achieved that feat they faced AC Milan and the Santiago Bernabeu the rossoneri were led by their Talisman Gianni Rivera the Italian outshined Crow even that final as Milan scored early and took over the match winning the final by four goals to win as the match was effectively over croiv wanted to show his talent on the pitch as Miguel said after the match that Croix cared too little about his defensive role in Midfield some newspapers were less diplomatic Croix gave the impression of playing more for the many Scouts in the stands than for his own team Croix said after the match that ayax were too nice and were still not cunning enough they had to change something after ayax failed to qualify to the European Cup Michels decided to build a new team players like nuninga Benny Mueller Anton Bronco left and then came the striker Dick Van Dyke as a poacher to support Croix in the attack within that period Johan Kroy thought his salary didn't match what he demonstrated on the field and the man who convinced him of that was his father-in-law a new agent called coaster coaster advised him to ask for an improved contract and told him that George best and Franz bikauer had Superior salaries so Croix did what no Dutch player had ever done in those days and went to the board to negotiate with his agent alongside him and that period the board members negotiate exclusively with the player and agent interferences and negotiations were a new thing in the end Kroy got what he wanted and was the first to include an agent in contract negotiations although ayaks were playing well High tensions were sparking between the manager and as players it began when ayax crashed out of the first cup semi-final against Arsenal Michaels criticized the players stating that they were frightened little fonts a crucial title designing a match against feyenoord ended in a 3-3 draw as Michels was Furious again he was not shocked when he saw feyenoord lift the European Cup That season he was fully convinced that they were better mentally than a zayak's team who were concerned only about their finances those players have had enough when iax won their last match of the season and lifted their fourth league title in five years as they locked themselves in their dressing room and refused to allow anybody from the staff to enter it was a full-on protest against pickles and his dictatorial behavior iax looked far from a team that will win a European Cup Croix didn't start the new season because of injury as ayak struggled on the field with the absence of their main star Jerry murin was the man that replaced him he used to wear croy's number nine shirt Johan didn't care about the number on the back of the shirt as he wore the number nine eight and even 10 in those days that's why when he came back against PSV he asked murin to keep his number nine shirt and went to pick up a shirt to the number 14 lying on the floor of the dressing room Troy came back from injury without complications and he quickly was back to his best as he played an unorthodox assist in European Cup second round match everything was back to normal when Kroy was back I asked for winning match after match as they climbed all the way from the sixth position to the top of the league if there was one match in which everything seemed to fall into place and reflect the Brilliance of this Ajax team it could be the European Cup quarter finals against Celtic the Scottish side were winners of this competition back in 67 and finalists in the previous year 1970 there were not an ordinary team but what iax has shown was to be the blueprint of what is labeled Total Football Michaels was using a 424 formation with a striker in the league but the manager changed to a 433 in European matches Kroy would be the central figure in attack without another Central Striker like van dijk the philosophy behind this formation is very different from the philosophy that Guardiola had used at Barcelona for example because his idea was the interchangeability between positions on the field for the purpose of pressing the opponent and winning back position to control specific spaces if a player presses an opponent and leaves his marker another teammate covers his player and the player he leaves would be covered by another teammate and Etc this interchangeability is not random as it is drilled in numerous training sessions in order to not lose their shape on the pitch and when they win back position they don't pass the ball backwards and sideways but rather try to create goal scoring chances that's why they're not afraid to play long Balls to the wings as Wingers fart said and four passes we would be in front of goal Kroy was the key to the system as he was the central figure who orchestrated many of the attacking moves in the final third and ended each season in that period with an average of 25 assists per season what's different at that season was that he had a very tough Midfield Trio that worked hard for him and a young johanneshkins burun and rinders all of that was showcased against Celtic as iaks won the first leg in a dominating three nil Michels was delighted and said with the sayax I have found what I was looking for it's been a long road but we have arrived ayax progressed to the semi-finals of the competition and despite everything going well there were some internal issues lingering an April of 71 iax were about to face Atletico Madrid in the semi-finals johann's contract was due to expire in a few months and as Spain were thinking of opening their borders to professional foreign players rumors start to circulate about croix's potential departure to Barcelona but from where did these rumors come from in December of 1970 both Croix and his wife Dany visited Barcelona for a day and were given a personal tour by the legendary photographer Horacio Segi the store included a special invite to the camp now where Johan was given a Barcelona shirt to wear and also met Carlos rakshak and even posed for a fake contract signing a memorable day for croith and these pictures sparked those rumors after a year of being captured and the first leg at Atletico Stadium michels's defensive approach in Madrid made Croix seem ineffective the whole match as Atletico scored the opener Michaels decided to subscribe with 15 minutes left in the match Johann was never subbed in a match since his debut in 64. was it to show Authority in front of the Spanish press or was it to make Roy lose face in front of the Spanish fans mikhail's contract was also due to expire that same summer I accident Von Prague managed to end all speculation as he stated that no transfer discussions will be made until the transfer period starts in the summer as ayax focused back on football they handsomely won three nil in the second leg against Atletico as they secured their second European final in the last three years however a loss against feyenoord effectively ended their league title run the European final was now even more crucial their Greek opponents fanatanicos were awaiting them there were not one of the best in Europe I asked for favorites to finally win the European Cup at Wembley the Dutch side opened that scoring in the first five minutes and the final turned out to be an ugly one but because was satisfied as his team were finally capable of playing an ugly match and win croiv handed their nices to score the second and to help ayaks left their first European title in history Panasonic's coach and ex-legend poshkosh had much praise for Johan as he said Kroy was 50 percent of the him give him to us and will win as the Spanish borders were still closed for foreign players crove managed to extend his contract to diax for seven extra years however the team had to say goodbye to the manager ruinous speakers as he said so much had broken down in the personal relationship with ayax that I couldn't stay any longer despite his complicated relationship with Croix Johann still gave a great recommendation to the Barcelona board when he was asked about Michaels as the Dutch manager successfully signed with the Catalan Club the Romanian Stephen Kovach took over managerial duties an intelligent but very lenient man training sessions became easier and most of the fines and rules implemented by Michael's were thrown at the window Kovach used similar tactics to the previous manager and rotated less the first team had high levels of understanding of the principles of Total Football were drilled down by Michels but with the added freedom of the new manager and the new leadership role by Croix on the pitch whom gave constants instructions throughout matches iax were a dominating team both League action and the European Cup [Music] [Applause] um successfully passed the test of East German champions denoma drustin in the first round and then passed from Champions Marseille in the second round of the European Cup croyes Brilliance within 1971 handed him the Ballon d'Or which was exclusive to European players Croy was celebrated in his next match in the league against stenhag and scored one of his most iconic goals ever given that the pitch was very poor krov had to be inventive in order to pass his marker and go through on goal [Applause] iax continued winning in the league and took revenge against Arsenal in the quarter-finals of the European Cup I access display that day proved that Dutch Football was years ahead of English football at that time [Applause] iax won their 15th league title in the eredivise after dominating the arrivals fine art by five goals to win they also won the Dutch Cup Final Legends then hug had booked a place in the European final after passing the difficult test of Benfica in the semi-finals in order to seal the trouble ayax had to pass the Italian test of Internationale and the European final the Dutch total football against the Italian cation despite the rigid man marking Croix managed to score a [Applause] bracex successfully lifted their second European Cup in a row during the season croiv ended up scoring a league best 25 goals and added 20 assists to a stali as well in The Following Season both Kroy van dijax continued in writing history after winning the Intercontinental Cup against Argentinian side into bandianti within only four months they lifted the league title the Dutch cup the European Cup and the Intercontinental cup but behind the scenes all was not right croy's individualism has numerous paychecks and his advertising Endeavors throughout the year had built up a growing sense of jealousy within his teammates as the team continued to succeed Croix stature and reputation in the eyes of the public had risen as well all while his teammates were in the shadows the idea of creating a documentary that season sparked those feelings as the movie displayed ayax's successes and croiv as the main protagonist within it as his teammate Han had said or that eulogizing of Johan started to irritate us following that InterContinental success leadership fell apart players started to confront each other less and less and when Croy became Captain after Kaiser no longer wanted the responsibility the annoyance increased Kovach the manager lacked the authority to fix these issues and despite croix's absence because of injury in a few matches IX astonishingly never really stopped winning with Croy back they've beaten siska Sofia in the second round by six goals and dominated against Bayern Munchen by four goals in the first leg of the quarterfinals Kroy was injured before the second leg but despite that he was still advised to join his teammates for moral support as they fly to Munich Johan refused and after that incident some of the board the doctors and the players had turned against him ayax were beaten to one but secured the semi-final berth against Real Madrid the players eventually asked for a meeting and reaffirmed their confidence in Krave as they focus on the rest of the season ayak started to win efficiently That season and with a one-nil scoreline that same result was repeated in the second leg at the Santiago bernabeo as they booked their place in their fourth European final in the last five years the sufficient approach was reflected in the league as IX won the league title yet again while boosting a fantastic defensive record conceding 18 goal than 34 matches they faced Juventus in the European final and implemented that efficient approach again as IX scored early and defended in what was left of that boring final I asked for European Champions for the third time in a row [Applause] after a long and eventful season most iax players believed that this team and structure will not last long as IX player Barry holshove had said deep down in our minds we knew it was over [Applause] in the summer of 1973 the Spanish borders finally opened for foreign players but Croix still had five years on his existing contract as the new coach George Noble arrived Croix continued his pre-season preparations as of everything was normal but around July X Captain Pete Kaiser had put himself forward for the captaincy again Croy was surprised and the vote by the players was taken Kaiser won with eight vote second seven as Johan throws in his place Kroy immediately picked up the phone and told his agent Coster to call Barcelona the Catalan Club had to make a big offer to lure the Dutchman but Kroy wanted to leave and strongly pressure the board both parties agreed in August as Croix transferred to Barcelona for 1 million euros a record-breaking sum at that time but there was one problem the Dutch transfer window was effectively closed in August so the Dutch Football Association prevented transfer to Barcelona initially Croy did what he does best play football and issue threats it was rumored that Kroy would sit out some national team matches as they were fighting to qualify for the upcoming 1974 World Cup Croy finally managed to transfer to Barcelona but couldn't play in any official match for the Catalan Club until December thanks to our request by the Dutch Federation he played in friendlies until October and after some new threats from Croix the Dutch Football Association surrendered as Johan finally managed to officially terminate his contract with iax and was now ready to officially play for Barcelona at that point Barcelona were under the guidance of exix manager renes Michels and before croy's debut they were sitting way down in 14th position in La Liga it was the perfect way to reflect croix's influence on the team as Barcelona scored big against Granada grijon and Malika the Catalan Club successfully claimed the top spot in December Kroy also managed to help the national team in earning a goalless and tough draw in a World Cup qualifier against Belgium and secure their place in the world cup for the first time since 1938. all those accomplishments throughout the year earned Kroy the Ballon d'Or for the second time to match the Stefano's record Barcelona player Carlos rickshawk mentioned how the Spanish Football Association always seemed to help Real Madrid show peace of the dictator Franco regime and winning the league he was adamant that numerous penalties were called on Barcelona throughout That season the cataran team had not won the league since 1960 but that season was different one match that showed the Brilliance of croiv was against Atletico Madrid when Johan scored what is known in Catalonia as the impossible goal foreign had been working with the team for a couple of seasons and they were a good side but with croix's arrival it all clicked tactically and Barcelona were immediately better the amount of Love crove got from the fans Not only in Catalonia but also in other regions of Spain was astonishing and one Croix decided to name his son Jordi the same name of one of the historic figures in Catalonia the appreciation was huge it was interpreted as a gesture of solidarity for the suppressed people of Catalonia but Croy was not aware of the full significance of the name and clearly stated in 1974 that he didn't want to get involved in politics in all cases he was hailed as their Savior and then a match against Madrid at the Santiago bernabeo croyb and his teammates wrought history as they won by five goals by March Barcelona were on top of the league and had a nine point lead with five matches at hand Barcelona became La Liga Champions after their fans waited for 14 long years [Applause] four years and years the Dutch national team will run poorly Croy had so little faith in the Football Association in preparation for the World Cup the kmvb brought rinas Michels as a part-time manager to try to solve this issue in the 1974 World Cup everybody saw Croy at his best the Dutch national team played with a more riskier version of the total football deployed at IX and that tactic worked beautifully as they won their group in the first round then routed the argentinians in the second round by four goals the East Germans buy two goals and the world cup holders Brazil by two goals again Troy scored three goals and assisted the further six foot in those matches he was the conductor of the team the Brazilian Defender Luis Pereira said after his match against the Dutch national team the Dutch are the most complete team I've ever encountered who has taught the players that everyone can do everything the newspapers in Brazil wrote after the match we didn't know much about Groove but now we'll never forget him the West Germans were waiting for them in the final the Dutch national team had already far exceeded their objectives for this tournament one game was left to achieve the most prestigious prize in football that's the prize that's the trophy that's up for grabs Kroy vander's compatriot started the final well as Johan earned the penalty which was slotted Cooley by Johann nishkins suddenly the Dutch stopped pressing effectively in the first half as the Germans managed to come back and score two goals before half-time [Music] the Dutch played better in the second half but it was not enough West Germany a world champions despite the loss kreif remembers that tournament fondly as he said although I'd been part of many Trophy winning Club sides it was only after that World Cup that I achieved true started [Music] Barcelona reinforced their team with the Dutchman Johan nishkins or Johann Segundo as they called him in Spain the expectations were high for the new season and crove's relationship with his manager was better than ever but what happened on the pitch was far from good because of the law in La Liga which limited clubs from having only two foreign players at the same time on the pitch the Peruvian Hugo sotil found himself on the bench more often than not which meant that Barcelona lacked speed and Michael's had a say in their poor form as well as raksach said Michels tinkered too much with the composition of the team which came at the expense of cohesion home games at the camp no were dramatic and positive in terms of results but away games were another story opposition Defenders were aggressive against groiv which pushed the Dutchman to the middle to receive the ball he was targeted by the opposition and the Ralphs allowed that to happen despite these issues kroyev played an amazing match against Dutch side feyenoord in the second round of the European Cup Johan managed to assist three goals all for rexach he managed to assess two goals with his left foot [Music] and the third with the outside of his right foot [Applause] age [Music] his overall performances throughout 1974 had earned him the Ballon d'Or for the third time which was a record in those days but Croy faced a lot of negative press from the madrid-based newspapers throughout the year especially after barca's laws and the Santiago Bernabeu and crove always gave an earful to the refs and then a match against Malaga Kroy was protesting after an illegal goal was allowed and Kroy didn't stop protesting until he was sent off the first sending off in an official match in Spain since red cards were introduced in 1970. Barcelona's Gap extended to 15 points from the leaders Real Madrid and they were out of Europe from the semi-finals after a defeat against Leeds foreign ended the season with 37 points their worst tally since 1970. Michaels was asked to leave as a relationship with the club's leadership turned sour fans and journalists were also annoyed about the amount of Dutch influence within the team it was time for a change in came the German coach Hennis wiesphiller to take over managerial duties he was an obsessive manager who had succeeded in lifting the UEFA cup with Borussia mushingradbach Kroy immediately tried to put the coach in his place and said you determine the tactics beforehand and I determined the tactics on the pitch the German was baffled however that is what happened on the field disagreements in the middle of some matches ended with an explosion during an away game against Sevilla in February of 1976 the German told Croy to stay up front while St Johan preferred to save his legs in Midfield when the match started Croix asked ricksage to switch positions as Barcelona struggled to create chances and after Croy carelessly lost the ball which helped Sevilla extend their lead to two goals kroyiv was immediately subbed the matter was discussed with the board but no progress was made and the problem was unsolved Croix knew he had influence would be 70 000 Barcelona socios so he played brilliantly to end the season and helped Barcelona win against League leaders Athletico Madrid in an away match the German manager didn't stand the chance in gaining the support of the fans especially as Barcelona were eliminated by Liverpool in the semi-finals of the UEFA cup the board told the German manager to pack his bags as he said would this groove Barcelona will never win the championship he plays only for himself and the Euro championships of 1976 Croy faced some difficulties with the arrival of manager George Noble croiv was basically in charge of these selections as he forced both the best Dutch Keeper in the country Jan van beveren and Willie Van Der kaolin out of the national team the Netherlands were the favorites for the competition and as the tournament progressed the Dutch managed to get to the semi-final stage to face Czechoslovakia everybody assumed that they would face was Germany for a World Cup rematch in the final but not all was right for the Dutch and the match against the checks the Dutch players played a very poor match under the heavy rains frustration was mounting as three red cards were shown two for the Dutch [Applause] and a single red card for the checks Kroy was frustrated with the amount of tackles and kept complaining to the rough it was a poor showing that ended with a 3-1 defeat against Czechoslovakia nobody ever saw croiv like this he looked much older and stiffer something which was new for him despite the Euro Fiasco Croix still held huge influence at Barcelona as he got rid of the German Vis filler and helped bring back mirrors he once again threatened to not extend his contract unless Michaels was brought back Michel said in an interview you might say that Barcelona wouldn't have taken me on if Croix hadn't been playing there during the first half of the Season Barcelona were on top of the league but for krov it was not going smoothly he was banned in December because of yellow card accumulation then he got another yellow in January after criticizing arath in a match full of frustration against Malaga and the cup now the referee decided to allow a goal which was clearly a handball Croix protested furiously and was given a yellow card then he allegedly spotted mean words to the rough which had earned him his second sending off Croix believed that the ref whom was from Madrid was aiming to make Barcelona lose the match and during his departure the fans were protesting vigorously and in that moment Kroy became the Martyr of Catalonia eventually he got a three-match suspension and Croy thought that there was a smear campaign against him and said I'm not fighting just for myself but for all catalans Barcelona gained a single point from the three matches they lost their top spot and ended the season without a title again but for his heroics Kroy was branded by some newspapers as the greatest personality and Catalonia foreign began his footballing career he always talked about retiring around his early 30s now entering 30 years of age that statement looked to be true he suffered serious damage to his calf in the summer and missed the early league matches Barcelona without him were struggling to score goals around that time Croix and his family were threatened by a rifle from an intruder who was attempting a kidnap at his home by this time Johan began to seriously look forward to the end of his career when he came back from injury he helped the Dutch national team qualify to the 1978 World Cup but shockingly decided to not partake in the tournament the debate on the reasons he didn't partake in the tournament will continue for years to come some said that his wife Dany persuaded him to not go While others attribute the failed kidnap which affected his decision in all cases his decision was Final as croiv eventually said to play a World Cup you have to be 200 percent ready there are moments when there are other values in life he came back concentrating on Barcelona as he led the team to Big victories in the league and in European competitions as they passport English sides Ipswich and Villa around April Johan was back to protesting to the lefts and got his fourth yellow card and was suspended for his next crucial match against Madrid without Croix Barcelona lost Fort Mill and the championship was effectively over Croix was struggling with the same injury in his calf throughout the season when he had space he played great football however when he was man marked it was tough for him in this stage of his career to move clear of his markers and influence the game that was evident when Barcelona lost against PSV in the semi-finals of the UEFA cup Nola Liga again and no European Cup they did win the Copa del Rey in his last season before crove left the Catalan Club despite little success on the field Croix still regards his five Catalan Seasons as the best tiers of his life not only for the footballing aspects but for the life aspects as well before he left Croix delivered an odd choice in the eyes of the catalans he advised the members to vote for Joseph Luis Nunes his counterpart firana renew a progressive figure who was supported by the Catalan nationalist party was a more obvious choice for Croix however Nunes won the elections after he announced to the members that he could convince Croy to stay at the club of course it was all a play to get him the presidency it's true that eventually Nunes helped Barcelona grow bigger and better but with time his supporter Johann croiv will turn into one of his many enemies [Music] A Farewell match was organized to celebrate croy's footballing career Bayern Munchen were invited to face ayax the honorary match proved to be embarrassing as Bayern 1 8 nil as the Germans took it very seriously it was the biggest defeat in Croix career after his footballing career he plunged himself into several business activities within Spain but after some time Johan was scammed in one of these projects as he discovered several forged papers and was left with a huge debt he was forced to get back to football to earn some money thus appeared the chance to play in the United States for the Los Angeles Aztecs and who was the manager awaiting him there none other than rinus Michels the North American soccer league used to attract professionals from Europe and South America's second and third divisions some legendary players like gerd Muller and Franz bickerbower came for the money and left but Kroy took it on his own to learn more about the culture and embrace it he even tried to support American football in building a good infrastructure for kids in order to elevate the football levels in the country Croix played a single season in Los Angeles then another season in Washington then came back to Holland for a new challenge in November of 1980 he was made a technical advisor to the young coach Liu Ben hacker at hayaks Croy wasn't qualified as a trainer but that didn't stop him from giving pointers immediately in the next match iax were being outplayed by diventi at home Kroy got up from the stands and made his way down to ayax's bench he began shouting and pointing and suddenly the match turned as ayax came back from behind and won the match that Croy really impact the match IX players disagree as dikshunaker said I don't believe anything changed when Johan came and sat no one paid any attention to him Croy is a legendary figure and stories like these only supplement that fact but sometimes they are not entirely true but we as fans May exaggerate the impact to further our beliefs of some historical characters that's what the newspapers wrote the very next day but in reality and as The IX players had said Croix influence That season was not clear as ayax continued struggling and failed to claim the title in February of 1981 Croix left ayax to earn some money playing again surprisingly Croy went to play for Levante in the secunda division he was suffering from minor injuries as the signing didn't work at all as he went back to America again and then decided to finally settle in Holland on September of 1981. Croix started joining I access training sessions as it was a natural thing to do weeks went by and he felt fit and healthy he made clear his intentions of playing for the first team months of complex discussions in sudo than the club as ayaks were not eager to pay a salary for a 34 year old footballer who could be injured in any second that age was different in those days without the huge strides in training and nutritional science in the last few decades most players at that time used to retire in their early 30s but iaks were struggling in the league the atmosphere in this dressing room was not optimal they needed a leader eventually an agreement was made Kroy would be paid a basic salary plus part of the proceeds from the extra tickets that might be sold from his presence alone in the previous Seasons at that time no more than 8 000 people attended the matches Croy was confident he would attract more so finally and on the 6th of December 1981 Croy made his Second Debut for his Boyhood Club 20 3000 fans attended that match against Harlem and after 20 minutes Croy showed his class once again [Applause] iax won by four goals to win as this match set the tone for the season as ayax went undefeated all the way to the end and won 17 out of 19 league matches we saw a new version of kroit a slower version of course but he was considered a complete playmaker on the team and had excellent Vision on the pitch he managed to score a respectable seven goals and assist a further 9 and 15 matches overall as ayax managed to lift the league title the first league title for krov since 1974. croyle's form convinced the club to extend this contract for another year but injuries kept him out of matches until September of the new season he also played in the European Cup again as there were skepticism about him coping in the European game and those thoughts were true as Croy faced difficulties when facing Celtic in the first round as IX lost after losing the second leg as Troy's appearances became less regular in the league attendances start to drop results were not affected that much and the board were pleased with that as that made Johan's leverage within the club even lower they were not happy that Croy was interfering and everything at the club however despite Croix injuries when he did manage to play he was still capable of The Magnificent discussions about that penalty and about croy's inventive mind are still made today but within that time the academy introduced several new talents like Olson Vandenberg and Von Boston Croix was suddenly less impactful and the iax board felt that he was not worth his salary by May of 1983 the league title was lifted by ayax again they also won the Dutch cup with Croix assisting two goals and scoring a screamer but the board's intentions were clear there is no place for croiv in The Following Season Kroy felt insulted as he would have liked to end his career at the club and said it's not my fault I'm leaving ayax [Music] it won't stop playing he still felt fit and ready to play but more importantly he was still full of hard feelings towards IX there was speculation about an unimaginable switch to Rivals Fine Art it was a matter of Pride for Krave he wanted to prove that he could still deliver success thus he accepted Fine Arts deal and signed for the rivals in the summer of 1983. by that time feyenoord were greatly struggling they hadn't won the league since 1974 and the team lacked the required talent to compete winning anything with this group will prove to be a difficult task for Groove the transfer was very weird nice writer Andy bowling compared that transfer in his book to the idea of Salah moving to Manchester United some fire North fans didn't even want to see him as they returned their season tickets back to the club cut into pieces but kroyev immediately influenced the team either within the training sessions or in the actual matches Defender Hank dude said nothing was unimportant to him with him around you could never slack enough he was always critical and self-critical too despite the promising start there was a clear lack of chemistry in the beginning and all of that was reflected in their embarrassing defeat against ayax in the Olympic Stadium by eight goals to [Applause] 2.'s former team seemed Vindicated by letting Johan leave but despite that feyenoord kept on winning matches while Croix started to dictate the tempo and play make from the back which opened up tons of spaces for his teammate Kroy was basically an assistant coach to the first team coach lebrets the focus of both Croix and the manager in that season was their defensive stability and their attacking efficiency very different from Total Football and the high press it worked as fine art kept winning matches and the young IX team started losing points and make mistakes with crove and other star was born in the team and that was root who was great and won the Dutch footballer of the Year award and without playing beautifully in most matches fine art or League leaders again as crove won back the support of the fans they also laid revenge on ayax as they threw them out of the kmvb cup and also won for one in the league Croix played all but one match in the league fire North incidentally lost that match and withdrive back in February Fine Art managed to win the historic league and cup double one of kroy's greatest achievements ever [Applause] the fire North board tried to extend this contract but crave knew that the season had taken a big toll on him physically he was ready to finally retire but that wasn't the end of kroy's relationship with the sport but rather the end of a chapter as a new chapter full of success begins [Music]

Channel: balón - English

Views: 1,056,066

Keywords: Johan Cruyff, Cruyff footballer, Cruyff Ajax, Cruyff Barcelona, Cruyff Feyenoord, Rinus Michels, World Cup 1974, Cruyff World Cup 1974, Netherlands Cruyff, Holland Cruyff, Cruyff Documentary, Cruyff history

Id: yhgSsCBCDIY

Length: 50min 58sec (3058 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 07 2022