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Oranje 1974: Wim Suurbier

August 5th, 2009 | By: Jan | 26 Comments »

Wim Suurbier was the right back in the Golden Ajax of the 70s and of Oranje. Suurbier was a tough cookie. An animal in the challenge, extremely fast and very loud .

But also the personification of Total Football. He was so quick and had so much style, that he was the right back, right midfielder and right winger at the same time. The only thing he could improve was his cross… Some people say Suurbier invented total football, because he engaged even the supporters behind the goal in the game. By crossing the ball to them…

Together with Ruud Krol – the left back – he formed the comedy duo Knabbel and Babbel. During the WC1974 and beyond they’d do hilarious joint interviews on tv – in their best Amsterdam dialect. Suurbier was always a bit different. He was known to be able to rule the whole right flank – with Rep for instance, famously drifting to the center – and with his pace Suurbier would outrun any opponent only to cross the ball behind the goal.

A bit of a womanizer and a party-animal, his post-playing career was a bit hit and miss. A heart of gold, but no real spine, some people would say. Here’s his monologue:

“My parents died young and my brother and I had to survive by our selves. In those days, you didn’t think twice about that. You didn’t complain. We did the whole household ourselves. Doing the linen, ironing, cooking, no problems. We had people helping out, uncles and friends and all that, but when you’re older you do realize you missed certain things.

I started playing football in Amsterdam at Amstel. Piet Keizer played there too. He could actually play, hahaha… We shared everything. Piet had two jerseys so I would wear his. Ajax scouted me at a youth game. I wasn’t that good, really, but I scored easily. I scored three goals and Ajax wanted to test me. One of the goals was a real beauty, I don’t even know how I did it. I flipped the ball from behind me into the goal. At Ajax, I met Piet Keizer again. I never had any trouble with Rinus Michels. I always spoke my mind, but he accepted that from me. Cruyff was there too, as was Johan’s older brother Henny and Barry Hulshoff. We won the youth title with that team. Johan was the best player ever. I played with and against the best of the world: Bobby Charlton, Franz Beckenbauer and Georgie Best, but Johan definitely was the best. He could do it all. Whether he played libero, left back, right winger…Jopie was even a good goalie! And he ruled everything. Determined it all. On and off the pitch. Pele and Maradona was good too, but Johan was the most complete player ever.

When Johan returned to Ajax at 34 years old, he was still the best, hahaha… I vividly remember the games in 1966 against Liverpool. We beat them and Shankly was out of himself. But we weren’t world class then. But we would be later. When we started to win European cups we got in trouble as a team. Some players started to get jealous of Johan. Some even voted him out as captain. I didn’t of course. I knew Johan brought home the bacon but this powerstruggle began.
If Johan wouldn’t have left, we would have won even more European Cups. Bayern Munich should be thankful for Johan for leaving otherwise they’d never win three cups in a row.

Some players thought we could do it without Johan too, but I always said we couldn’t dominate a whole season without him.

In 1974 we had the WC1974. With Rijsbergen, Neeskens, Krol, Van Hanegem and myself we had enough streetfighters. That team had it all. Grace, skills, speed, toughness… And most players knew their limitations. Like myself, I had to dispossess the opponent and pass the ball to Wimpie or Willem. I did take opponents on, but that was more a coincidence, haha… I didn’t care, but those stories how I could cross a ball were exaggerated. Come on… Willem van Hanegem would always say I did it on purpose because I had a mate behind the goal and I’d aim to play the ball to him, haha… I could enjoy that humor. But I did had some crucial crosses and some crucial goals were scored on my crosses. Yeah, Van Hanegem and Rinus Isreal, they were the kings of football humor. Biting and cynical but also good fun.

Some people say we underestimated the Germans, but we didn’t. We knew they had a good team. Overath, Hoeness, Beckenbauer… Great players. I personally think Michels shouldn’t have played Robbie Rensenbrink. He was limp, injured. But Robbie said he was fine and Rinus trusted him. I don’t think it matters now, but back then I felt Rensenbrink should have put his personal interest aside for the team.

In 1978 we did have a good team, despite the fact that Van Hanegem, Cruyff, Van Beveren, Muhren and Geels weren’t there. They were tremendous players. I never understood that Cruyff – Van Beveren story. It wasn’t even such a big conflict, I think. But Van Beveren and Van der Kuylen wanted justice and you simply can’t win against Johan… We did have good goalies back then, with Schrijvers and Doesburg and Jongbloed, so Michels must have thought: what the hell, I need Johan and I don’t necessarely need that PSV goalie. Too bad…

I liked Van Beveren. He would budge for Cruyff and he would give him a piece of his mind. I spoke to Jan later, when he lived in the USA and he was happy. Didn’t regret a thing.

After the WC1978 we went to the queen for some celebration. I had fun there. The little Willem Alexander was there and I said: mate, tell grandma we’re staying for dinner, hahaha….. and when Prins Bernhard asked me what I thought about the palace, I said: it could do with some paint! But it was true. It did! It didn’t look royal at all. After that, Ernst Happel came up to me: Willem, you can’t say that!! I told him then and there: Ernst, you had a contract for the WC1978. The WC is over so you don’t tell me what to do and what not to do, hahahaaa…

I left Ajax in 1977. I was second on the list of players with the most games, but I didn’t even get a bunch of flowers when I left. But you know, I’m not more than anyone else. I’m just a simple city boy but it would have been a nice gesture at least. Ajax wasn’t doing too well so I left to play for Schalke 04. I had a great time there, good team with good players. Russman, Fichtel, Klaus Fischer, Bongartz… Friedel Rausch was the coach and actually a good one too. Not some typical German, but a good tactical head on his shoulders. When Rausch had to leave, due to some fraude story, we got this new coach who only believed in running… We had a track around the pitch and we trained as if we were Olympic athletes. All the players hated it but none of them would say anything. I demanded to know: Did Schalke hire an athletics coach? You can guess, I was benched immediately and only when Schalke didn’t win games anymore did I come back. I had a good last run with them, before I went to France and played for Metz. Not much later I joined Michels and Cruyffie in Los Angeles with the Aztecs.

Michels had losened up a bit, but we still trained very hard. Leo van Veen was with us and he didn’t know what happened to him. I told Leo we even trained more intense at Ajax. I had a good contact with Johan but not overly so. I never wanted to push myself into friendships. In Holland, Barry Hughes was coach at Sparta and had some trouble keeping the club in the Eredivisie. He called me and asked me to come and help them out. I played half a season there and we only lost one game. We finished sixth in the standings. After that, I played in Hong Kong and in Singapore and coached in Qatar, the USA and The Emirates. I owned a company in Dusseldorf and I came back to Holland to have a shot at coaching here.”

Wim Suurbier was assistant coach at Heerenveen during the time of this interview. He’s now assistant national team manager of Albania.

Suurbier won three European Cups, the World Cup for clubteams, national titles, cups, supercups, you name it. He played 60 caps for Oranje and two WC finals.

Tags: Ajax, Cruyff, Group C, Michels, Oranje, Piet Keizer, Van Hanegem, Wim Suurbier, WK 1974

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By Alfonso | August 6th, 2009 at 1:38 am

Great article–growing up with Ajax in those days, I love reading about the players. Every one of those guys was so interesting and had a lot of character. Some of them never quite go their due because they weren’t featured in the 74 World Cup. Barry Hulshoff, for instance, who was just brilliant. Awkward looking, not particularly inspiring confidence when you first see him, but if you check out games from that era, he is phenomenal–and not just in the air. He was great passer, and scored some goals too. Piet Keizer was a legend in Holland, and an outrageously good player. Cruijff has said he was simply the best player he ever worked with. And of course Gerrie Muhren, who was a wonderful combo of great technique and incredible lung power…and the often overlooked Horst Blankenbug. Many people wonder about him, but if you have any doubts, get a copy of the cassic game when Ajax beat Bayern 4-0. Blankenburg is all over that game.

Well, obviously I’m getting sentimental here. Thanks for the article–Wim Suurbier was a great player, a real character, and undoubtedly one of the best defenders of his era. He deserves respect and props!

By Carlos | August 6th, 2009 at 1:46 am

Alfonso or Jan – not sure if this is/was true but stories abound that Horst Blankenburg actually applied for Dutch citizenship ? Anyone can enlighten on this Urban Myth ?

Posted from Singapore

By ferenc | August 6th, 2009 at 3:15 am

hulshoff and the famous guy from den haag (don’t remember the name) got injured and blankenburg applied for the dutch citizenship. michels and others wanted him. i don’t know whether he got it or not but finally he was not allowed to play for oranje 74. the reason was stupid: because he played once for germany u21. today it would be different.

i like stories anout these guys. grerat article,Jan. thx for everythng you do for us,oranje lovers – you are a living encyclopedia of dutch football,you know everything about clubs’ and oranje’s past, present (even the future? D)

Posted from Hungary

By Tiju | August 6th, 2009 at 4:36 am

Great article dear……..i am just 28 year old …..these are all new things to me.

Posted from India

By Jan | August 6th, 2009 at 4:56 am

Aad Mansveld…

Thanks for your kind words, Ferenc, but I’m a good thief, that’s all .

Horst Blankenburg was a German, of course, and he knew about the strife between the Dutch and the Germans. When he was presented at Ajax, he walked into the dressing room he said: My name is Horst, I’m a Kraut and I come to play football with you guys… That broke the ice.

Feyenoord wanted to sign Jurgen Grabowski, by the way. The German right winger. But the players didn’t want him. They were mates with Henk Wery, who’d have to give up his spot. So when Feyenoord played a friendly against Eintracht (?), where Grabowski played, every Feyenoord player would give him a knock. Grabowski was on the pitch screaming most of the time. After the game he told his manager he didn’t want to move to Feyenoord and Henk Wery remained their right winger

By Tiju | August 6th, 2009 at 6:43 am

Out of topic I am getting annoyed……..Very son a cricket match is going to take place in switzerland……..that means this fucking game want to fuck another country…….i think indians are instrumental in developing this stupid game and blind belives……….

Posted from India

By OranjeRules | August 6th, 2009 at 7:20 am

Tij – your cricket comment makes me think you’ve been drinking!

By sonneveld | August 6th, 2009 at 7:40 am

@oranjerules: haha same

By finnster01 | August 6th, 2009 at 8:19 am

It is very hard not to agree with our very own swami and guru Tiju. I nearly dropped my coffee in my pants reading that.

By Jan | August 6th, 2009 at 8:23 am

Ok, Tiju… This is about someone’s son… I read something about Blind… Fucking… This must be…a riddle…

Danny Blind fucking…that ends in a son, Daley Blind. He played Indian instrumental music during the romp… He was conceived in Switzerland (when Soarta played a friendly there in 1991??)…

I give up. I think the answer is Romeo Castelen!

By Miguel Rosado | August 6th, 2009 at 8:28 am

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=665448&sec=transfers&cc=3888

Beautiful news my friends!!!.

By Alex | August 6th, 2009 at 8:51 am

Always thought he would go there.
BTW there was talk about views of young talents, like V.Basten used to be. Well there are just a few examples of a wonderchild that actually lived up to the promise, but today more and more do, only because of the simple fact that now about 100 brazilian players under 18 are already marked the next Ronaldo, Romario or Roberto Carlos. Just about 10 new R.Carlos’ around right now. Still, we like to join that hype in Holland but i think we need to be careful cause we have a much lesser natural talent pool and rely more on training and developing, so aproximately only 2 or 3 of our biggest talents under 18, at the moment will make it to the top eventually, compared to 20 Brazilians.
Right now i see Castaignos as the main possibility.

Posted from Netherlands

By Alex | August 6th, 2009 at 9:01 am

I think Huntelaar is somewhere between V.Nistelrooij and Inzaghi, and getting increasingly better as a targetman upfront. No, he’s not the best player in the world, but he is among the most effective strikers in the world.

Posted from Netherlands

By Alex | August 6th, 2009 at 9:09 am

BTW, when i see V.d.Wiel play i secretly hope he’ll turn out Suurbier 2.0.

Posted from Netherlands

By Rossonero_in_Spain | August 6th, 2009 at 9:15 am

http://www.football-italia.net/aug6m.html
Huntelaar recognises the fact that Milan is especial for the dutch ….
He wants to emulate Van Basten!!!
many may not agree with me at this stage but with that extra quality leap, Huntelaar can be better than Ruud definately!!It all depends on him now how he utilises this golden opportunity to become a Rossoneri legend!!

meanwhile
http://www.football-italia.net/aug6k.html
Now that Klaas Jan Huntelaar has arrived, President Silvio Berlusconi declares that Milan “are second to none.”

In the last 24 hours Berlusconi has held a summit with management and made two crucial decisions to reject Chelsea’s offer for Andrea Pirlo and secure Huntelaar from Real Madrid for £13m.

“After the arrival of a top striker, I think our team is second to none,” grinned the patron.

a Bit farfetched, but then if Huntelaar fires on all cylinders latching on to Pirlo´s assists, then Milan can definately be on top..

Well, as per to Alex´s suggestion that Nistelrooy is better than Inzaghi, i beg to differ..RVN played for Man united and was very succesful but he did not win them any champions league titles nor did he win anything for Holland..Pippo has SINGLEHANDEDLY, WITH HIS GOAL HAVE WON CL FOR MILAN , SCUDETTO FOR JUVE AND MILAN AND HAS WON A WORLD CUP WITH ITALIA although he played a single game, he scored a great goal against the czechs..Pippo along with Muller, Romario and RVN will go down as the best poachers of this game..i just get shivers when i recall his goals against Bayern Munich at Munich for Milan in 2007 in a must winnable game..In the same season, he scored the goals (2 goals) in the final against Liverpool..

Posted from Spain

By Caleb | August 6th, 2009 at 10:12 am

Sorry Rossonero, I really have to disagree. Milan won CL titles because they had an all around great team, and I’d even say that other players on the team were more important than Pippo (Kaka, Shevchenko, Pirlo). Pippo is a great player and goal-poacher, don’t get me wrong, but he didn’t singlehandedly win them anything.

Ruud didn’t win the CL with Man U because the rest of the team wasn’t of a high enough quality back then. The defense was weak, Ronaldo was still selfish and immature (yes, more than today) and he wasn’t able to score yet because all his shots flew over the bar, and overall they weren’t close to the same Man U team they are now.

Ruud is still a better player than Pippo, there’s no doubt about that. Just look at his goal scoring record in the CL to compare. Unbelievable!

Posted from Canada

By Rossonero_in_Spain | August 6th, 2009 at 11:13 am

Caleb, iam not for arguing about this..But the facts speak for themselves..Ruud might have scored a lots of goals in CL but HAS failed to score when it really mattered that too against top teams..remember 2004??for example,,Milan went to Old Trafford and came back with a 1-0 lead and Ruud at the height of his prowess was a no entity in a match in which SAF and RUUD himself and many pundits expected him to run riot..in the return leg at San Siro, Ruud precited that he would break Milan easily, but look what happened..he was again marked out by Nesta..Pippo has constantly scored in important matches, albeit with the assists of Pirlo/seedorf/serginho/sheva…but still he has scored in important matches..while RUUD though a great player has failed in important matches..(ex..in the 2008 euro quarterfinal against Russia, he failed to score when it was required for him to score)..
Grazie

Posted from Spain

By Alex | August 6th, 2009 at 11:29 am

lol, i didn’t even mean it like that. But it doesn’t matter how much u praise Inzaghi, Pippo really has no other qualities than scoring, u won’t see him do anything else. So the better player will always be V.Nistelrooij cause is he is a more allround striker, in terms of goalscoring Inzaghi was equally lethal, yet in another sort of way. Discussion closed.

Posted from Netherlands

By Jeroen | August 6th, 2009 at 11:46 am

@Rosso

Ruud did score in the quarter finals against Russia…

RVN is probably the best in-the-box striker of this past decade. Golden boots in Premier League and La Liga are a testimony to that. You bring up one example of where he didn’t score, but there are plenty of cases where he did. The statistics say enough, as do the people who played with him. Ruud and Inzaghi are both very good, but I would pick Ruud over Inzaghi any day.

I think if Huntelaar plays starting squad for the next year then we have definitely found our starting striker for the World Cup (not to mention that if he develops over the next 2 years he can simply become one of the best).

I hope at least VDV or Sneijder goes to AC; they could both learn a lot from Seedorf, Pirlo, and ofc Ronaldinho (oh how much VDV could learn from him!).

All Dutch players please leave this failure club Real Madrid so I can root against them next year. I seriously hope they lose horribly and watch them as they struggle to pay off their 200+ million euro debt. Spending in such hard economic times calls for justice.

By finnster01 | August 6th, 2009 at 12:48 pm

Not to mention playing with Gattuso. He is like Hunters dad, hard as nails, works all day, does not complain, does not dive, sings the national anthem like no other player I have ever seen.

This is a good fit. I am very happy for Huntelaar and Oranje.

By goose | August 6th, 2009 at 3:50 pm

Pipo ‘ just offside’ Inzagi is what we call him at my house

he always looks like hes gonna burst in tears any minute

good move for Klaas-Jan ; Real is like a swamp

Posted from Netherlands

By Mario | August 6th, 2009 at 3:54 pm

Rossonero, Inzagui is nothing compared to Ruud with all the respect Inzaghi deserves.

By ferenc | August 6th, 2009 at 4:16 pm

actually ruud is the best finisher of this decade. 1. rvn,2. eto’o – and after them might come superpippo (but i’m not so sure about his third place). it’s quite difficult to differentiate finishers and strikers.
@finnister01: i’m glad to see that other people appreciate gattuso as well. i really like this guy,he’s an example. i remember him singing the national anthem… huntelaar will feel great there. next season i’ll watch more italian games: clarence,the hunter,ronaldinho (hopefully he will be good),eto’o. exciting. would be great to see sneijder and vdv there too – one of them at ac milan,the other at inter.

Posted from Hungary

By sonneveld | August 6th, 2009 at 4:22 pm

pippo has a less than goal every other game ratio, ruud is way better

By Alfonso | August 6th, 2009 at 5:36 pm

Yes, Jan–please keep it up and an article about Pietje Keizer sometime soon..alsjeblieft!

Blankenburg never played for Germany because Beckenbauer had the gig locked up. It must have been part of the motivation for him to play such an outstanding game against Bayern! That was really a classic game, by the way–read about it here.

http://www.ajax-usa.com/desk/the-greatest-game-ever.html

Youtube has extensive clips. This is (4/5):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWocdf-Ey0I

Yes, I’ve read in many different places that Cruijff also wanted Blankenburg to be on the team, so that’s a vote of confidence from many quarters for old Horst.

Bedankt, Jan!

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