The Godfather of total football, Johan Cruyff was one of the very few who was both a World Class footballer in addition to being a world class manager.
Total football was first invented in the 1970’s by the Dutch and implemented best by Cruyff himself who described the footballing philosophy as any player being able to play in any position therefore confusing the opposition in an era where man-marking was quite prominent.
In Cruyff’s teams the first defender was the attacker and the first attacker was the goalie and nobody embodied this more than Johan Cruyff himself. A master on the ball and a pleasure for all fans to watch.
I could go on about his abilities and achievements as a player which includes having a skill, The Cruyff Turn, named after him but this is about his abilities as a coach.
Cruyff was equal measures of magician and authoritarian. There are countless stories of how demanding he could be of his players and coaching staff on the training pitch which led to several altercations with the coaches and powers that be.
When discussing Cruyff’s legacy we can talk about his time at Ajax which was phenomenal, but I can’t look past his time at Barcelona where he developed future talent through the famous La Masia. Winning 11 trophies in his 8 year spell there, including the club’s first ever Champions League trophy.
If there is one thing to epitomise Cruyff’s sides, it is that “playing football is very simple, but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is”.
Original image author: Nationaal Archief
Image amended by: Tom Burns/ @t.b.creative
Original image license: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Feyenood-Ajax_2-3._Johan_Cruyff_(technisch_directeur_Ajax)_(l)_en_Feyenoord_trainer_Israel_voor_de_wedstrijd.jpg
Pint of Sport 
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