The Story of Tiki Taka : 1. Johan Cruyff - The Beginning

Cruyff - The Greatest Player & Manager of All Time

30th November, 1980. De Meer Stadium.

FC Twente  vs AFC Ajax


Leo Beenhakker, the Coach of Ajax was sweating already. Cruyff (also spelled Cruijff), the technical adviser to the coach was in the stands, looking frustrated.

This Ajax team, after all those glorious years, had to bow down for a longtime. Beenhakker, the youth coach at Feyenoord was lured in, to coach the young Ajax team. But by November, Ajax were already down by 11 points to the runaway leaders AZ Alkmaar.
This is when the Chairman Tom harmsen brought back Cruyff , who was returning after a successful 8 years spell in Spain and USA, as technical adviser in Ajax with whom Beenhakker has to place his trust upon in the technical aspects of the game.

"GOOOAAALLLLLL TWENTE" exclaimed the commentators. Ajax were 3-1 down now within 30 minutes. Many pundits had already decided that the match was over.

Cruyff taking charge of the proceedings

"Total Football" was declining badly. And there came the man, down from the stands to the dug out and asked Beenhakker to bring in the young talent Frank Rijkaard. Seeing the intent of Cruyff, the Head Coach gave him charge of that match considering the fact that nothing more can be lost if at all anything goes wrong.
The teenager who learnt the trade of Total Football from the Mastermind of Rinus Michels was now ready to  put it into action, not as a player like he used to do, but from the sidelines. He made some tactical changes, changed position of few and kept on giving order after order and within some moments of magic, Ajax had already equalised. It was 3-3 now.

Cruyff giving orders to his players

Happy Days Returned via this Happy face

Still Cruyff wasn't done yet. He asked for more crosses into the centre and pacey runs down the flanks. And within minutes, "GOOOAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL AAAJJJAAAXXXXXXXXXXXX 4-3, Ajax takes lead, what a drama here at De Meer stadium" shouted, exclaimed, cried the commentator, the fans, everyone watching the match, but the Prodigal Son of Ajax was calm. He gave further instructions and once again it was "GGGOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL AJJJAAXXXX" phrase and applause from every side. He knew what he had done that day. Ajax possessed young and huge talents in Van Basten, Rijkaard, Blind and Wouters, who needed guidance to rule the world, guidance from one who knew how to do it; from one who has already done it in a BEAUTIFUL way. Total Football was not lost after his Ajax playing days. He was still there to its aid. He would chip in when required and make it the way of playing, the world will watch in awe once again.

 THIS WAS THE SIGN THAT SHOWED WHAT CRUYFF WOULD BECOME AFTER HE RETIRES AS A PLAYER. THIS WAS THE BEGINNING OF CRUYFF - THE MANAGER.

The Dream Team

"This is how you do it"

He will not become Coach yet. The Legend, in need of more money after his losses in busines, went back to Spain, this time to play for Levante. But his return to Ajax was inevitable.

In 1985, Johan Cruyff gets appointed as the Manager of AFC Ajax. Between 1985 and 1987 he brought back the Beautiful way of playing, Beautiful way of winning back to Ajax and in the process won two Dutch Cups and the 1987 European Cup Winners’ Cup.  He left (again in acrimony after Van Basten was sold to  AC Milan despite his protests) for FC Barcelona, where he will assemble The Dream Team consisting of Brilliant Spanish players like Pep Guardiola, José Mari Bakero and Txiki Begiristain while signing international stars such as Ronald Koeman, Michael Laudrup, Romário and Hristo Stoichkov.

Cruyff advising Pep Guardiola

Barcelona and Nunez gave him the authority and freedom that Ajax failed to give him, ie to retain players he wanted instead of selling them and getting a ransom.
At Barcelona, he will go on to become the Biggest Legend in Catalunya, a Benchmark for any aspiring Manager. He would make his Dream Team play football like how he played with Ajax in the early 1970s. This team will go on to win whatever was thrown on its way under the Mastermind of Johan Cruyff.

The Twente vs Ajax match highlights can be viewed down.

Ps - Next Chapter will be "The Evolution of Total Football by Rinus Michels". Wait for it.