Did I ever see JC play live? I surely did! I saw him play at Ajax (although I was pretty young), I saw the WC74 when I was 12 (man did that make an impact) and I saw him play for Feyenoord, my team. I was there when JC had his first training at Feyenoord. 10.000 people around the pitch. I was what, 22 years old? I was mates with Feyenoord’s 2nd goalie. When JC was signed, some players said they’d show him how they played in Rotterdam (meaning rough). The first ball for JC was followed by a flying tackle. JC jumped up and didn’t flinch. Second ball for JC, he handled the ball and then hit a Feyenoord player (can’t remember who, probably Ben Wijnnstekers) pretty hard. The crowd cheered and from that moment on, nobody tried anything anymore. His right ankle was hurt so bad in these days that he only used his right leg/foot to stand on. Did everything with his “weaker” left. I saw most Feyenoord matches live, that season. Man, was he good! Only thing I didn’t like was that he kept Andrej Jeliazkov benched – he thought the Bulgarian striker was tactically not good enough – who was one of my fave players… Anyway…long time ago .

I remember Willem Van Hanegem’s farewell game pretty well. That was at the end of the season before JC’s season. JC was a guestplayer at Feyenoord then, but there were rumours about JC signing for Feyenoord. Most fans were against, but Willem was pro. So during the match, it was obvious that Willem did everything to allow JC to score for Feyenoord. Which he did (header). After the match, Willem said he thought it looked good to see JC score in the Feyenoord colors. From that moment on, Rotterdam embraced JC. Stop me if I’m ranting, ok?

That turd quote wasn’t Cruyff and neither Clarence’s. It was used by a financial consultant I once hired and we were looking at some bad news… He said: hey…don’t chew the turd…just quickly swallow it… . I thought that was soooo gross but also so very on the mark. Will never forget that…

I was happy to be able to use it in this blog.

my all time fav. Cruijff wisdom;

The italians cant win from you but you can be beaten by them anyhow (difficult to translate, help jan please!)

grtz

I love his pearls of wisdom

think he was the first dutch footballer to see what a pro needs to do..make money…in a society like the dutch, wich is still a calvijn one, making money (and not being ashamed by it) is not popular: Embarrasment of riches.. thats very dutch

it always amazes me how special the cruijff position is in Holland

your comment on winners is very interesting; its very true that in dutch society there is little room for anything outside the regular..the country is just too small for extremes (Poldermodel, gedogen etc.) its importent to keep the peace.. now a real winner sometimes need to be extreme and will therefor get alot of shit, a winner (in football at least) needs to have people around them who really believe and who are willing to sacrifie..the one person in dutch history who could achive this is ofcourse Cruijff.. the one real winner is post war dutch history..the only one who the dutch are willing to follow blindly..cause we believe in him…hes the closest thing to God in my country..
Seedorf is ofcourse a winner, he can be the first one to win the Cham.Leg. 4 times, he hade a spectacular metamorfse, he looks so at ease with himself, he plays better than never before but
hes not that kind of winner who really takes it up another lever and so really can aggitate people because of it..

Lets see what tomorrow will bring; Kuyt or Seedorf

grzt

sorry for kuyt’s and bolo’s (hope he will play)fans,but for tomorrow: forza clarence,go milan!!!

he will deserve his 4th cl victory.