The Story of Tiki Taka : 2. The Evolution of Total Football via Rinus Michels

Rinus Michels - The Greatest Coach ever

Jack Reynolds - The Pioneer

End of World War 2 - The Timeline that is known more for several things bad, several freedom struggle movements. But there was a blessing in disguise  John "Jack" Reynolds was re-appointed as the Manager of AFC Ajax.

This time a new face, a young sensation, 18 year old Marinus Jacobus Hendricus Michels aka Rinus Michels also joined the Club as a player.

"Pass the ball, Pass the ball, Keep Moving, Pass the ball, Change Positions, Keep Moving" - the pioneer of a beautiful idea started implementing it and who would have guessed the teenage forward would one day revolutionize football and take it to the next level.

The teenager would go onto become the Leader of this concept and everyone still refer him as "The Father of Total Football". Rinus Michels understood the concept, the value, the charisma contained in the this strategy and revolutionized football. Football would never remain the same again. (It should also be noted that The Austrians' Wunderteam, Italians and even Hungarians are linked with the places of origin of Total football).


Though his playing career was short lived (Scored 122 goals in 264 apps for Ajax), he immediately took up managerial position at an amateur side of JOS between 1960 - 65. He returned to Ajax as the head coach in 1965.

In this gap, Victor Frederick Buckingham, a forward thinker and an early advocate of Total Football,  coached Ajax and also promoted talents.

He spotted the Teenage sensation Johan Cruyff possessing every quality to implement his ideas. He coached Ajax until 1965 and was replaced by Rinus Michels.

(Vic also coached FC Barcelona in 1970).

Rinus and Young Cruyff

Once Rinus Michels took over from Vic, it was evident for him that his philosophy will be implemented around the young Cruyff.

He laid the foundation rules for his philosophy which mainly required all the players to be equally good and comfortable in every position.

He concentrated on individual training to make the players more skillful and equipped. He even introduced 'fine pots', wherein if the player dint do as expected or as ordered, they will have to pay for that.

The Club also made Cruyff buy a dog in order to make him learn what it is to be responsible. Rinus din't just want to let go of the talent in Cruyff coz of some attitude problem. He groomed him and made him the centre man around whom his vision would become complete.

Rinus'  Ajax was tactically brilliant, usually using a 1-3-3-3 formation. This was mainly a attack oriented team mainly relying on speed, passing, precision and intelligence rather than make defense their priority. It should also be noted that every player had to constantly change his position and move the ball the ball rapidly. If at all the possession is lost, the defense will be pinged and they will press the attackers and reduce the space for attacking. This high pressing level requires more training than just skills, for the defender will have to be equally adept to attacking as well.

The Typical Ajax Starting xi in 1971

They will keep up their passing around until the 'right moment' arrived, something similar to the current group of Barcelona players.

But the reason many pundits still rate this Ajax team as the Best of All Time is that they found the 'right moment' pretty often and used the 'wings - cross - header' as much as possible, probably because of increased usage of crosses and attack on goal.

Whenever Krol moves to the LW position, Cruyff would be found at the far post. Similarly if Cruyff was at the wings, his cross would be found by Keizer's head, Keizer's cross to Swaart, etc.

And the sweeper role is something noteworthy, as he not only had the defensive duties, but also on the offensive line, something for which  Beckenbauer was famous for.

The 1966 Ajax Team

It was not just Cruyff that Michels developed, but every single player in that Ajax squad from Neeskens, Swaart, Keizer owes so much to him.

Michels' Ajax

Cruyff signs for Barca

After his first tenure at Ajax moved to FC Barcelona in 1971, where his Golden boy would join in a couple of years. This can be stated as the start of the Catalan's Beautiful way of playing what we see today. The seeds were sowed here. Rinus also had a second tenure both at Ajax and Barcelona (where he once again joined hands with Cruyff).

Once Cruyff became more responsible and started getting used to Michels' model he became an instant hit. By 1969, he already became a National hero. 

Golden duo

After Michels' demise Cruyff quoted, "Both as a player and as a trainer there is nobody who taught me as much as him. I will miss Rinus Michels.. I  always greatly admired his leadership. There is no one I learnt from more than him. I often tried to imitate him, and that's the greatest compliment one could give"

Barca of 70s

After the Hesperia Mutiny, then President Nunez appointed Cruyff where he will go on to form the dream team of FC Barcelona that will go on to win all the titles put on their way. The rest is History, which I would try to write soon.

Anyways it is no wonder that Cruyff was destined for greatness not only as a player, but also as a manager, mainly due to his association with Michels. No wonder Michels won the "Coach of the Century" awarded by FIFA in 1999. No wonder he was the greatest coach ever lived.

PS - The next chapter will be about the tactical difference in the Models between Michels, Cruyff, Van Gaal and Pep Guardiola.