Ajax, Barcelona, Cruyff [Paperback]

Barend Van Dorp (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 18, 1999

Between 1974 and 1997 Frits Barend and Henk van Dorp have conducted numerous interviews with Johan Cruyff, one of the greatest footballers the world has ever seen. In these extraordinarily candid interviews, Cruyff talks about how he learnt his trade, going on to play football for Barcelona and Ajax, two of the world's greatest club side. He also talks about the philosophy behind 'total football', the driving force behind the great Dutch side of the seventies, and a style of football many top teams attempt to emulate today. Then there was the eight years of success as manager of Barcelona, one of the most stressful jobs in the game, and back to Ajax, where with his emphasis on youth and home-grown talent, he put together another team of fantastic ability.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Pod (February 18, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0747543054
• ISBN-13: 978-0747543053
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #409,605 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interviews with a footballing genius, April 22, 2006

By 

John Healy (Dublin, Ireland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ajax, Barcelona, Cruyff (Paperback)

Ajax, Barcelona, Cruyff is one of my favourite football books. It's fascinating to read Cruijff's opinions on football. They're so clear - he gets across in a sentence more than you'll ever hear from most footballers. Some of it is so simple, but it really makes sense. Just as an example, he says that the real indication of a good footballer isn't what he can do when he's got lots of space, it's what he can do with none. When I read that, Jack Charlton's "put 'em under pressure" tactics with Ireland, and images of Denis Bergkamp doing things with his first touch that most footballers can't in three come to mind. He says that a good footballer needs just two things - first touch and passing. Everything else is finesse. Think of how the Dutch at their best, or the Brazilians, or Barcelona play - they can all pass a team to death.

The book is written by a couple of Dutch journalists. Cruyff wasn't too generous with interviews - he would charge for them when he did them at all. He trusted the guys who wrote the book though, and they had more access to him than any other journalists. The material in the book comes from interviews with Cruijff over the years, and it makes for fascinating reading.