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Dutch Masters: Arnold “Arnie” Muhren
Comments(109)
Arnold Muhren has been Ajax’ youth coach for eight years now and he is scout at Ajax. “I love working with players in the age group 10 to 14. That’s when you can really help them to progress. They’re sponges. Although it’s hard too sometimes. You see them back after summer break and they’ve grown inches…”
Like any Muhren, Arnold was born in Volendam. Gerry Muhren, his older brother, and Arnold were the big football talents. “I always wanted to play with Gerry and his mates, but I was 5 years younger and they didn’t want me in. But I just participated anyway and had to be really good otherwise they’d kick me out.”
Arnold grew into a wonderful marathon man with a velvet technical touch and an excellent left foot. “I decided to stay at FC Volendam while my brother went to play for Ajax. When more clubs came to check me out and Volendam expressed their wish to sell me in order to make some money, I chose Ajax.”
Rinus Michels had just left for Barcelona and Stevan Kovacs was the coach. Muhren didn’t have an easy time, with wonderful players like Keizer, Swart, Cruyff, Neeskens, Krol and bro’ Gerry Muhren in the starting line up. “I think it was logical that I didn’t really make a dent at Ajax if you look at the players we had. And Gerry played on the same position as me and he was never injured. Still, I got to play a lot of games in my four seasons at Ajax. The most remarkable was the legendary game against Real Madrid in Bernabeu, the semi finals for the European Cup. Keizer was injured and Kovacs picked me. Gerry scored the only goal that night. It was the match in which Gerry held the ball high for quite some time in the mid-circle and no one of Madrid dared to touch him. Humiliating, really…”
In 1974, Muhren decided to move to FC Twente. He wanted more playing time. Twente had a wonderful team, with players like Kick van der Vall and Frans Thijssen next to Muhren in midfield. All three were offensive, creative players. “The thing is, if you have midfielders who never lose possession, you don’t need breakers. Our wingers and striker (Jan Jeuring) were also very tight with the ball, so even though it seemed we were out of balance, we were almost never in trouble.”
The BBC broadcasted a documentary about the ball magicians at Twente and they even reached the UEFA cup final in 1975. Muhren wanted to move back to Ajax. At first, Twente agreed but they later upped the price significantly. Muhren felt betrayed and decided to go back to Volendam as an amateur. “I couldn’t go back to Twente. Something broke. I also had another setback with Oranje. When Van Hanegem decided not to go to the WC1978 I felt I was the right player to take his place. Happel decided to take Dick Schoenaker – a defensive midfielder – in Willem’s place. I couldn’t understand that…”
In Volendam, Muhren was told some weird English guy was looking for him. It turned out to be Ipswich Town manager Bobby Robson. Robson enchanted Arnold and wife and he became the second Dutch player (Gerrit Keizer was the first player to play for Arsenal and later QPR in the 1930s) to play in England. “I loved Robson. He was such a sweet guy. Like a father. My first game was against Liverpool. They hailed me as some sort of demi-God and I had to play against Terry McDermott. Everything was kick and rush and I hardly touched the ball. I only had to run after McDermott. Who asked me after the match: And? Enjoy yourself? I said: no not rrally… He said, me neither…”
During a training demonstration, something clicked. “We had to do a circuit, dribbling the ball past a couple of poles… I saw that most players couldn’t do it! They stumbled and lost the ball. I took the ball and almost glided past those poles. The fans went wild. After that session, I talked to Robson. I told him he should ask the groundsman to play for me if he wanted me to mark players. I told him: let them give me the ball… After that, things changed and we started to play real football.”
Bobby Robson wanted more Muhren-like players, and Arnold mentioned his old Twente mate Frans Thijssen. From that moment on, Ipswich impressed the world. “We had quite a team: Eric Gates, Alan Brazil, John Wark, Terry Butcher… We really changed English football.”
Ipswich Town would win the UEFA Cup in 1981, winning against Dutch club AZ Alkmaar (then AZ 67). The left midfielder played four great seasons with Ipswich. In 1982, Manchester United signs Arnie Muhren. “Manchester City wanted me too and they were prepared to pay much more than United, but hey…when a club like Man United wants you, what do you do?”
It sounds repetitive but his tenure in Manchester is also a dream period. ” This club was even bigger than I realized. And what a team we had. Bryan Robson, Ray Wilkins, Remi Moses and myself on midfield. Upfront, we had Frank Stapleton and Norman Whiteside. Ron Atkinson was our manager and if the tactical talk was 10 minutes, it was long. It was always 4-4-2 and he’d say: ok lads, enjoy yourselves out there…”.
Arnold Muhren would be the first Dutchman to play an FA Cupfinal at Wembley, and to score! “Against Brighton. The first match ended 2-2 and in the replay we won 4-0. I scored the last from the spot.”
In 1985 Muhren gets a call from old buddy Sjaak Swart, to play for Old Ajax. When Swart sees the form Arnie is in, he jokes that he’ll tell Johan Cruyff – the new Ajax manager – to sign Muhren for Ajax again. Half an hour later, JC calls Muhren. Arnie was delighted. “Ajax was still my team club. And with Jesper Olsen playing for Man United, I knew my days were somewhat over in England. My role was to mentor the younger players at Ajax. What a great time that was. We had young talents like Marco van Basten, John van ‘t Schip, John Bosman, Rob de Wit, Frank Rijkaard, Gerald Vanenburg, you name them… We sometimes played with nine offensive players! I played very defensively and with the hand break on, because if I didn’t, no one else would!”
Muhren is even called up for Oranje again, by Rinus Michels, in 1986. “They needed a real left midfielder and despite my age, I was top fit.” His defining moment would come in that legendary final, with the assist on striker Van Basten and…well….you know the rest…
“Every player has at least one moment that will always be remembered. Bergkamp against Argentina, Kluivert against AC Milan, Rensenbrink and his shot on the post in 1978 and my cross to Marco. I have described that ball maybe 80.000 times and every EC there’s more questions about that situation. I could have waited with that pass, but I figured that would give the Russians more time to mark Marco. He was absolutely free and I thought the timing was right to give it a go. I wanted to place the ball in front of Marco, for him to head it in. But I hit the ball too heavy and the ball was in the air a tad too long. That Marco was able to score had nothing to do with my cross but everything with his skills, hahahaa…”
Muhren would play one more season for Ajax, mainly to coach and guide the youthful Richard Witschge. Muhren didn’t play as much anymore. “But it was good fun. Richard was a tremendous talent, but wasn’t used to play as a team player. I highly enjoyed working with him and that made me move in to youth coaching. I think I got the most out of my career in a sports-sense. Not financially. I could have made different choices, but I never played for the money. I enjoy what I do now, I’m 57 years old and I like to do this for many more years.”
Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 109 comments.
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hi guys hope we all looking forward to the US game.
maduro,beerens,Zno,makkay,sibon,bakkal selection sucks.we may pay the penalty soon.so be prepared for an exit from second round.
i couldnt belive the dropping of amrabat,bruins and at least he (de haan)should have given the chance to RVN instead of makkay (onegoal per 390 minutes for orange)but hope he can make good combo with babel through that we may get some thing.
i was surprised with zno and maduro both are laziest players in the squad why i can nt belive?
@ carlos
i saw it, the 4×100 women’s relay, ranomi kromowidjo is hot.
the problem with women football is they wear men clothing(kit). if they wear tighter kits and tight short shorts like the 70-80s, attendance would of been high.
Posted from 
United States
The Dutch team has no Dutch-becoming like the France team-made up solely of blacks and muslims who probably hate your country. Pretty soon, the whole country will be muslim and black like france also.
Wake up before you live in sharia!
Posted from United States
@ charles
fuck off you little neo nazi/kkk fat bastard.
one race, human race.
Posted from United States
@M-O: the muslims who require women to cover their entire bodies even in 100 degree heat and who do not allow free speech, free association, freedom of religion,etc., they are the nazis, you moron. I’m just the messenger. Diversity is great until the character of your liberal society changes forever!
Check back in 10 yrs and see what france, sweden, netherlands are like.
Posted from United States
@ charles “they are the nazis”
i live in the states and it’s like a twilight light zone of neo nazi germany
most of the players are from neterlands antilles(part of holland)and surinam(mostly christian and hindu). none of the dutch players are muslim.
10 years ago i was living in france(montpellier) and it look the same when i visit lat year, the only thing that is different is eu symbols are everywhere. i don’t know about holland, sweeden……
Posted from United States
the dutch are out.
i was right foppe pick the wrong team.
Posted from United States
i was wrong it’s not over, but still foppe pick the wrong team.
Posted from United States
USA held the Dutch team on a draw 2:2! Can you believe it? The Dutch are almost out. We could not beat Nigeria, we earned a draw against USA in the last second of the game…Come on this is shameful! With all the so called talents that we have including veterans Mackaay and Babel, we can’t beat USA!!!
Posted from United States
Well, if Dutch beat Japan, they advance, right? And if US at least ties Nigeria, they advance. So maybe a re-match in the finals? HAHA!!
Posted from United States
Ok, got it. If Dutch beat Japan by at least 2 goals, they advance. And Japan’s defense is the worst in the group by far. 4-1 Dutch, I say.
Posted from United States
@michael-olivier
thanks man for replying to that bastard fucking racist charles. his comments are not welcome in a blog that is made for dutch fans from all the religions and all races.
@Charles; as a dutchman i can tell you that im proud that so many coloured people regard themselfs as dutch, we in Holland dont care what your colour or religion is as long as your hart is ORANJE!! and we dont like to mix politics with this blog…please go away
didnt see the match but im well dissapointed, but remember; we dutch are always best when the pressure is on, didnt they start terrible during the U21 EC??
Posted from 
Netherlands
@goose,
you’re right the start was bad and slow in the under 21, hopefully they will will beat japan and play a good game and qualify. the first half was not bad today , the second half was dissapointing.
@ alaa
no prob
@ goose
“didnt they start terrible during the U21 EC??”
this is different, the olympic is like the toulon tournament with a few more teams and good quality players.
Posted from United States
Hi all, I’m back! Thanks for keeping this blog going 
, my goodness 100+ comments!!! Well done.
I’ll post more later, but hot news:
Marc Overmars returns!! After his stint at Jaap Stam’s farewell he decided to play for Go Ahead Eagles in Deventer again, his old club. Yeah…
Goose, I wrote the Muhren article on the basis of a VI article and several internet sites. Sorry I again didn’t mention the source.
Where’s Lerkot??
Watch this space my friends…
Hey guys
Here’s a little comment on the game against USA.
We were extremely lucky to get away with a draw in the last 20 secs of the match.Started quite well,could have had 2 more, thenwe sagged.
Most players looked very lazy especially Maduro who was captain???
No midfielders asking for the ball.Defence had to be alert and Marcelis/Zuiverloon were the best with Vermeer too. Drenthe played as if he was on holidays…Babel not much better.Beerens made some good runs but why Foppe kept Maduro on is beyond me ?
Well this was bad,suppose we can only get better (hoping)
Posted from 
Singapore
welcome back jan!
Maduro’s continually getting worse. He got a free move to a top club because of his coach, even though he wasn’t performing at Ajax.
@Jan, its amazing that Overmars is playing again, I just finished reading that.
Posted from 
Canada
The match was disappointing from a Netherlands fan’s standpoint, for many of the same reasons we have written about during the past two years. The team started well, and led the score early. Then, unbelievably, the team lost focus, determination and a willingness to put the match away by the end of the first half. Then, in the second half, when we would expect that Foppe de Haan would have inspired the team and made some substitutions, just the opposite appeared to happen. The Dutch came out with no enthusiasm and no tactics. Did they think the US would give up? The US has some very good athletes now, and they showed how to make tactical adjustments combined with a real desire to win the match. Holland should be out, the last second free kick was just plain luck, but I am pleased that the Dutch may still go through to the second round.
Issues from this match that must be addressed:
What is Maduro doing out there? As captain, he offers little. He seems slow, out of shape, almost as if he is playing injured.
Once the other team starts to press the defense, trouble begins. This team, like all Dutch teams, it seems, is weak defensively.
Wing play and crosses–it looked great during the first 25 minutes, then went away. Why?
Was Makaay injured or not? If not, then why not start him? If injured, then why did he play at all?
I have always believed that de Haan is the best coach in the Netherlands. Not today! A 4-3-3 in the second half, with more pressing of the US, and a kicking some “ass” as to attitude would have helped. Drenthe also seemed out of place, moving around and not settling into a productive position, once again happening following the first goal.
Veermeer was terrific, even more so based on the very weak defense. I have no idea what the central defenders were thinking today, and the US counter-attacks exposed this incredible defensive weakness. The Dutch must be strong offensively, all the time, in order to shield these defensive weaknesses.
Sibon, who substituted late in the match, did come in with the right attitude. He pushed back, challenged some referee calls, and put himself in a position to tie the match. de Haan should start him, give him the captains arm band and let him jack up his teammates.
This is a team that I watched win two U21 Euro Championships, playing excellent football. Where did that team and that coach go, today? I am an American, I love my country, but I also love Netherlands football and have for a very long time. Today’s performance made me very sad. Unless de Haan gets a better handle on this group of athletes, they will not go far if they advance.
Posted from United States
Amrabats been on fire lately, and he’s scoring some very nice goals, like the curler against Everton.
Posted from Canada
Very disappointed. Bob has it down good in his analysis. The only thing I will add is, again just as in the No 1 Oranje team, there are no “hard men” out there to take care of business and show the team the way to go. Which is why they can not close out games. No Davids. No Neeskens. No Rijkaard sliming opponents. No nothing. Oranje are quickly becoming the “care bears” of international soccer. Lovely little team to watch, fantastic players, never does anything wrong, everyones favorite, and a great team that only loses when it really counts…I don’t like it one bit. Where did the old lion go?
Posted from United States
Ha in June you guys criticized Van Basten, now it’s de Haan’s turn? As I said before, the problems with the Oranje are: 1. the lack of fighting spirit; 2. a weak defence line. If the two problems remain unresolved, they will not go far no matter who the coach is. It’s not the coach’s problem
Posted from United States
In case anyone gets to see the match again, study Maduro the captain. He is suppose to be the link man the inspirational midfielder. Watch how everytime the ball is with the fullbacks he quickly runs close to a US player so that he wont get the ball. This is known as the shadow midfielder who hides in his opponents shadow so he doesn’t need to make any runs. It’s also known as cowardly lazy – great example set by the Captain. Didn’t he admit to being totally empty after 30 min in the last game? No different here.
In case anyone saw Argentina vs Australia – Argentina were awesome…with Riquelme pulling the strings, Messi weaving magic and Mascherano controlling the middle. 3 Classes above Oranje performance yesterday. Everyone asking for the ball – thats the difference.
Posted from Singapore
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Off topic – but for any Dutchies here – We won the 4×100 women’s relay at the Olympics…and I agree with most here .. do not like watching women’s football. Nothing against it, in fact all for it…just dont enjoy watching it. Looking forward to the USA game tonight
Posted from
Singapore