John van ‘t Schip in Melbourne – a Winger’s story

January 19th, 2010 | by: Jan | Comments(86)

The Dutch have always had tremendous wingers. Why? I don’t know… Maybe because wingers aren’t conformists. They sometimes don’t play along but wait along the byline for something to happen. Wasn’t it enfant terrible Rene van der Gijp who once stopped playing when he saw a supporter with a huge cookie on the stands? And walked up to him to ask a bite? They tend to be pretty egotistical in their playing style. And they can’t head a ball. Wasn’t it Bryan Roy who said that he developed his technique because he was scared to be tackled and challenged?

The list is endless… Coen Moulijn, Piet Keizer, Sjaak Swart, Rob Rensenbrink, John Rep, Peter Ressel, Rene van de Kerkhof, Pier Tol, Peter Hoekstra, John van ‘t Schip, Rene van der Gijp, Pierre Vermeulen, Marc Overmars, Bryan Roy, Peter van Vossen, Bolo Zenden, Arjen Robben, Eljero Elia… And our own Bert van Marwijk was a headstrong winger too….

We’ll focus on Ajax winger John van ‘t Schip first. Because of his Australia connection…

I remember the 17 year old John van ‘t Schip ( born in Canada) making his debut at Ajax, under one Johan Cruyff. In the youth development system, Schippie was already compared to JC because of their likeness and now Johnny would make his debut – before his best buddy Van Basten would – with number 14….

John’s biggest problem at Ajax was…Johan Cruyff. Schip adored JC and would develop a father-son relationship with him, but the same Cruyff was very strict in his tactical ideas. 4-3-3 and the wingers needed to be able to take a player on, needed to be quick and needed to be able to cross a ball in. Johnny had all that, although he himself felt he was a better midfielder. Too bad, Schippie. You’re the best right winger we have, so there you go! You play right wing and you never leave the flank. In those days, that’s how it was.

There were times when John hated his role. “I remember my buddies Rijkaard and Bassie being very dominant on the pitch, but I wasn’t able to do that. It was relatively easy for defenders to stop the wingers from excelling and even in those cases, Johan was adamant: stay on the line! We were not supposed to drift, like Robben and Elia do now. It did get frustrating at times.”

Van ‘t Schip would become famous for his crossing skills. He could curve a ball Beckham style around the defender without having to take him on. Quite a weapon and JC wouldn’t allow Schip another position on the pitch.

Players like Koeman, Rijkaard, Vanenburg, Jesper Olsen and Marco van Basten were getting the attention and were lured away from Ajax. Schip was awarded the best contract ever in the Eredivisie ( back then: 600.000 guilders per season) and got a contract for life. His wife Danielle was a Dutch model and wanted to stay in Holland, so Schippie didn’t make the big jump until later in his career.

After JC, coaches were more open to Schip’s requests to play midfield and at the end of his career at Ajax he did play right midfielder and on the number 10 position and in those days, he demonstrated his scoring skills, with magnificent long range gems.

Due to his high salary, his model wife and his boyish looks, “Handsome Johnny” as he was called, wasn’t the most popular player in Amsterdam. After winning the UEFA Cup with Van Gaal in 1992, Van ‘t Schip left Ajax for Genua, the Italian team that Schip singlehanded defeated in the semi-finales. After a good first season, Schip got seriously injured in the second season’s prep and had to stop his active career.

Schippie was a regular from his youth in the Orange jersey. With his buddies Vanenburg, Rijkaard, Van Basten he dominated the Dutch teams, but fate would hand him a tough calling card when he became a senior. One Ruud Gullit started to make a name for himself.

Van ‘t Schip’s best position when young was indeed that right flank. The problem was, however, Oranje had more good players on the right. Brocken, Van der Gijp, Vanenburg and Gullit could all play there. And we hardly had any left wingers. Well, there was Robbie de Wit, of course, but Robbie got this brain haemorrhage and couldn’t play pro football anymore. And since John was two-footed, Rinus Michels and he predecessor Leo Beenhakker in the second half of the eighties decided to put Schippie on the left flank.

“They always say, you do it for the team. And I was like that. Of course I wanted to play on the right wing. That was my logical spot. But I could play on the left. On the right, I was an 8. On the left I couldn’t get past a 7. I needed a bit more time, sometimes needed to place the ball for my right foot… It’s just different. But Gullit was of course one of our stars and he couldn’t play on the left, so that was an easy decision for the coach. And honestly, I didn’t protest.”

And thus, with 4-3-3 and John van ‘t Schip as a starter, Michels started the EC1988 campaign in Germany. And lost the first game against USSR 0-1. And not because of Schip. But both Johnny’s (Schip and Bosman) could take a seat for the England game: Erwin Koeman was brought in, the system changed to 4-4-2 and one Marco van Basten got a shot at it. The rest is history.

“Nah, it wasn’t frustrating. If the team wins, you’re not frustrated. But I could have been in that team, I know. But I did have a contribution. When we were up 2-1 against West Germany, in the last seconds, I hid the ball under my jersey before a throw in. It took half a minute before the ref could find another ball, so I did have a bit of an impact there, hahaha….”.

In 1990, John van ‘t Schip was on fire for Oranje. He was still a sub in the group stages at the WC1990, but his form at Ajax was tremendous and Van Basten convinced Beenhakker to use Van ‘t Schip in midfield. Against Germany – again – Van ‘t Schip played a sensational game, but the problem was… he was the only one. This time around, Oranje lost and was out of the tournament. Van ‘t Schip wouldn’t play in Oranje after that anymore.

“It was over for me. Started to get more and more injuries and new players came through. Dennis of course, later Ronald de Boer… It was fine as it was. I can be satisfied. If things had panned out differently, I could have been more important for Oranje, but I was brought up in the strict Ajax style and Oranje deviated from that. That’s what sometimes determines your career. That’s how it is.”

Johnny returned to Ajax to coach youth teams and even did a stint at FC Twente for one season, before Fred Rutten got the job. Although Twente did ok, Schip didn’t feel he was doing the right thing and decided to resign after one year. He returned to Ajax, invited his mate Van Basten to assist him at Ajax 2, until Johan Cruyff got them the job at Oranje. This time, Marco – more the leader – would take the head coach role, and John would assist him.

When they quit Oranje, they both signed at Ajax and declared that they’d always work together. One year later, that statement proved to be just that… a statement. Van Basten threw the towel while Martin Jol – Ajax new head coach – convinced the former Mr Ajax to stay on. Schippie did, but during the season, John decided that he wasn’t happy with Jol’s behaviour and comments about the former Ajax coach and Schippie’s best buddy Van Basten. “I wasn’t happy anymore. I couldn’t stand the way the current staff made believe as if they’re doing so much better than Marco and me. It’s not true. We had the exact same number of points and Jol has players like De Zeeuw and Pantelic at his disposal. Jol is painting a much nicer picture about himself and his results, over the back of Marco and me. I can’t stand that. Jol is doing a PR-job and he’s covering himself, constantly.”

Van ‘t Schip decided to go abroad with his coaching ambitions. Melbourne Heart, the new football club in Australia, signed him to build up a team. ” A wonderful challenge. I’m happy with this move. I wanted to coach again and have the responsibility. I couldn’t see a job for me in Holland, what with my failed episode at Twente. I felt I needed to rebuild my profile abroad. So here I am.”

Johnny’s top 10 goals for Ajax, in a little news-item about his move to Melbourne.