On the 4th anniversary of the death of the great Johan Cruyff, it’s good to recall a famous quote from one of his most inspired proteges:<\/p>\n
\u201cJohan Cruyff painted the chapel, \u2028and Barcelona coaches since merely restore or improve it\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n \u2013 Pep Guardiola<\/em><\/p>\n The style that Barcelona plays today, the style that ruled football for 15 years, and the style that guided Spain to European and World Cup glory from 2008-2012 was perfected and propagated\u00a0 by the Dutch Master. Not only was he a legend on the pitch, he began a stellar managerial stint when he turned up in May 1988 at Barcelona FC when its team president Josep Nunez was facing a mutiny from his under-performing team. A tax scandal had the players in open revolt against the management, and Nunez was facing severe heat. The club president then parachuted in Cruyff as a tactical masterstroke to neutralise restless fans and to win over the players.<\/p>\n What Nunez had miscalculated was that Cruyff would not be grateful for the opportunity and just do his bidding. Cruyff was always his own man, an imperious leader on the field, who played almost every position. He was not going to back down to management or his “boss”. And what he proceeded to do in the next 8 years was change the way Barcelona was run, and changed the way football was played, forever.<\/p>\n As a player for Ajax and the Dutch national team, Cruyff was an exponent of Total Football: indeed, he was its poster child and flag bearer. The foundations for Total Football were laid by Jack Reynolds, who was the manager of Ajax from 1915\u20131925, 1928\u20131940, and 1945\u20131947. <\/sup>Total Football also saw further development by Gusztav Sebes, coach of the Hungarian national football team during the 1950s, who drew heavy inspiration from Burnley native and continental pioneer Jimmy Hogan. These gentlemen together framed the philosophy that could be summed up as: every player can play every position. Rinus Michels, coaching the iconic Dutch national team in the 70s took this philosophy further with Cruyff: the forward was allowed to roam the whole field, and his teammates flowed fluidly around him.<\/sup><\/p>\n Cruyff brought the same approach to Barca as a coach. In a wide-ranging clean-up after the players’ rebellion, fifteen players were sold, including first-teamers Victor Munoz, Ramon Caldere \u2028and Bernd Schuster. They were replaced with 12 newcomers, including winger Txiki Begiristain, attacking midfielder Jose Mari Bakero, centre-forward Julio Salinas and defensive midfielder Eusebio who all became key elements of\u00a0 Johann Cruyff\u2019s future Dream Team.<\/p>\n Cruyff had been a player at Barcelona from 1973 to 1978, bought from Ajax for a world record fee of USD 2 million. He chose a Catalan name, Jordi, for his son, and that made him the darling of the local fans. He helped the club win La Liga for the first time since 1960, defeating their Madrid 5\u20130 at their home.<\/p>\n Thousands of Barcelona fans who watched the match on television poured out of their homes to join in street celebrations.\u00a0 <\/sup>A New York Times article said that “Cruyff had done more for the spirit of the Catalans in 90 minutes than many politicians in years of struggle”. Football historian Jimmy Burns stated, “with Cruyff, the team felt they couldn’t lose”. He gave them speed, flexibility and a sense of themselves.<\/sup><\/p>\n So when Cruyff returned as coach, expectations, always high in Catalunya, skyrocketed. Some key elements underlaid his leadership style.<\/p>\n \u201cHe used to stop every session four or five times and correct our positioning: \u2018No, no! \u2028Not there. One metre more to the right. \u2028Now look: you have a much better angle for the pass. It wasn\u2019t there before\u2019.<\/p>\n These tiny details make you think. They stay with you, \u2028and in the end you join the dots between \u2028each passage of play. There\u2019s no other coach who could explain that to you, because he \u2028was the best in the world as a player. Built up over years they form a huge part of your skills.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n Barcelona won 11 titles under Cruyff. They won 4 La Liga titles in a row, and the European Cup in 91-\u00a0 92, when they beat Sampdoria. They were in the finals again in 1994, and up against AC Milan. Cruyff was confident. \u201cBar\u00e7a are the favourites,\u201d crowed Cruyff. \u201cMilan are nothing out of this world. They base their game on defence, we base ours on attack.\u201d Stunningly, the Italians prevailed, by a wide margin. The 4-0 result left Barcelona shell-shocked, and eventually led to Cruyff’s downfall.<\/p>\n He sold some of his stars, axed others. Success still eluded the team, and they won no more silverware. Cruyff knew the end was nigh, and was sacked a day before the final game of the 1995-96 season.<\/p>\n That final still stirs memories, and spurs Barca onwards. As Eusebio says, \u201cIt\u2019s no coincidence that Pep Guardiola was in charge of an incredibly successful generation, because \u2028he knows what we were missing in the 1994 Champions League Final: hard work and respecting the opposition. I have no doubt \u2028that Pep thought about Milan before any \u2028game he was expected to win as Bar\u00e7a coach.\u201d<\/p>\n And while defeat is part of every great player or coach’s memories, the good work that Johan Cruyff did is a key part of Barca’s DNA till today, 32 years after he started coaching.<\/p>\n About Cruyff’s lasting influence on Bar\u00e7a’s youth Guillem Balague\u00a0noted, “Cruyff demanded changes at the academy and La Mas\u00eda began regularly producing the players he wanted as well as providing the kids with a sound education, dual ambitions of the Dutch coach and the club. “The player who has come through La Mas\u00eda has something different from the rest, it’s a plus that only comes from having competed in a Barcelona shirt from the time you were a child”, says Guardiola. He is talking not only about the understanding of the game and their ability, but about human qualities. The players who go through La Mas\u00eda are taught to behave with civility and humility. The theory being that, not only is it pleasant to be unassuming, but also if you are humble, you are capable of learning \u2013 and the capacity to learn is the capacity to improve. If you aren’t capable of learning you won’t improve. Since his arrival, Johan had tried and succeeded in convincing the club to train all the junior teams in the same way as the first eleven \u2013 and to favour talent over physique.”<\/sup><\/p>\n For the record, Johan Cruyff was voted the European Footballer of the Century in 1999, won the Ballon d Or 3 times in the 1970s, and was the runner up to Pele in the World Player of the Century poll. He was ranked number 4 in the greatest football coaches of all time by France Football.<\/p>\n As his teammate Johan Neeskens said,<\/p>\n “If you look at the greatest players in history, most of them couldn’t coach. If you look at the greatest coaches in history, most of them were not great players. Johan Cruyff did both \u2013 and in such an exhilarating style.”<\/p>\n Finally, in the words of the outspoken man himself:<\/p>\n\n