The legendary Barça player and coach explained that summer of 1987 what his football concepts were, the same ones that he launched a year later at the Camp Nou and La Masía and that revolutionized football for the following two decades. Journalistic archeology allows us to rescue the interview that the Prophet of Goal, who died in March 2016, had with this newspaper. On April 25, he would have turned 75.
Johan Cruyff had just turned 40. In those days, Barça badly digested the penultimate historical disaster, the unforgettable Dutchman was regarded as the alchemist who annulled so many curses. The echo of the European Cup lost in Seville against Steaua still lasted. The prestige of the coach Cruyff was based on the conquest of the European Cup Winners’ Cup with Ajax. Would Núñez dare to sign him? It took a year to become a reality.
That July morning, Cruyff arrived on time for the 9 o’clock appointment at his refuge in El Montanyà. While Albert Aymamí prepared the cameras, we occupied a table where he unveiled the style book that fed the world of football for two decades. An infusion, a mineral water, several camels without a mouthpiece. “I’m looking for peace of mind. For a month I get to be the father I would like to be for the rest of the year.” Today, Johan Cruyff would have turned 75 years old.
-After the success of the Recopa, what can you expect from Ajax? We are going, as they say here, for all. We will try to keep the same game philosophy and achieve new feats.
– Aren’t you worried about the departure of your figures to Italian football? The truth is, no. We have reinforced ourselves with two Dutch players and two Danes that will allow the scheme not to be broken. Ajax is a young team, with the exception of Muhren, who already has a luxury substitute: the Danish Sorenssen, who until now played for Monaco.
-Van Basten already belongs to Berlusconi’s Milan. Doesn’t this escape from his figures bother you? It is logical that a footballer wants to improve financially. I’m not against it, although in the case of Kiyard I felt annoyed with the attitude of PSV Eindhoven, whom I had already tempted before the end of the League. They did the same with three other players. It is not ethical to do these things, because in football there are laws that are not written anywhere, but that we all know and must comply with. PSV has not respected them.
-The great teams that succeed in Europe set the style of play in the rest of the continent. When will we see Ajax systems in other teams? It’s something I don’t know. My mission is at Ajax. We try to play good football, put on a show and score goals. It does not mean that we dispense with defending our goal, but that there must be a balance in the entire team that allows this style of play.
-There are fewer and fewer figures, team football dominates over the brilliance of individualities… It is possible, because figures do not come out every year. It takes work and patience. Personally, I am in favor of the individual player who knows how to deliver his skills to the whole. That knows how to adapt to a scheme and try to perform to the maximum.
-Where is the best football in Europe played? The French and Danish national teams are the ones that have shown the best football in recent years. Their league competitions are weaker, but on the whole they are admirable. Since 1986 the Soviets have come with force. There is the quality of Dynamo kyiv. The English League remains the most attractive. It is the toughest in the world. Three games are played per week and their players never give up, always looking for victory.
-He talks about his admiration for English teams. Would it be good if UEFA lifted the punishment of not playing in European competitions for the Heysel tragedy? I am not the one to say if the punishment should be lifted. I think the people who decided it would have sufficient grounds to convict them. I was in Brussels and saw the tragedy up close. And I still can’t quite believe my eyes. Something incredible. Two years later, I still don’t understand what happened.
-Do you follow the progress of the Spanish League? Not in a fixed way. I have watched a game, and from time to time some friends tell me things. Good football continues to be played in Spain, although I still don’t understand some of the tactical approaches. I understand football as something more than the need not to lose. The fan must be given a show, that he leaves a football field happy. In Spain, the clubs are still marked by the obligation not to lose and they change radically when they play away from home. That does not go with my football conception.
-Inevitably the name of FC Barcelona comes up: a new lost League, another year of controversy… The truth is that I have also followed little Barça. I have seen a game and I always try to be informed. Barça is a special club, where it is never easy to talk about things clearly. This year the League has been lost. Well, it is difficult for me to know the reason for this failure. You have to experience it closely to be able to give a fair opinion.
-It seems that time does not pass. The team’s problems go beyond the locker room, something that Cruyff already experienced in his time, right? Yes, it is curious. Every season something happens, there is a bump for whatever reason and it’s hard to get out of it. Never forget that Barça is more than a club.
-What is your opinion of the Schuster case? I don’t have enough data to define myself. You’d have to know exactly what happened from the beginning, know where all the fuss is coming from. There must be something more than what has been published in the press. I understand that at first Núñez and Schuster got along very well and that the player even spent weekends at the president’s house. Then came the confrontation. Both should be clear that regardless of their confrontation is the club, which must always be above personal conflicts.
-With Johan Cruyff as coach, would that Núñez-Schuster controversy have existed? No. If I were the Barça coach, my conditions would be respected, which would mean that in sports I would be in charge and therefore I would not have allowed all this to go so far. Cruyff would have solved the problem in the locker room by talking to Schuster.
-What do you do with a team with five foreign players if only two can play? This is another aspect that I only know superficially. On the one hand, there is the signing of the Welshman Hughes, a striker who scored goals very easily in his previous team. I don’t know exactly why it doesn’t work now at Barça.
Lineker, Archibald… We all know about Lineker who has responded better. He is a goal man, but he could improve a lot. In my opinion, scoring goals is not the only important thing. Goals are not enough, you have to play good football. I already knew Archibald from his time at Tottenham, and this season has been quite special for him.
-So, is there a solution? I continue to maintain that being out of the club I am nobody to question anything. However, when you have an excessive number of players it is good to let them play, even if it is in the lower teams. For this, the best is the system we have in the Netherlands. In my country, footballers are never unemployed, since they can play every week in the lower teams of a club. If at a certain moment you need them, they can return to the first team. It is a good formula to deal with the youngest – at Ajax, on each matchday, there is always a youth who goes out for a few minutes with the first team – and to temper the spirits of those more veterans who are conflictive.
-How do you coordinate all the sections of Ajax? I am responsible for choosing the style that all the club’s teams must develop. I regularly hold meetings with the coaching staff. Everyone has the opportunity to express their opinion and, subsequently, a common work plan is established. My idea is that from the children’s teams, the footballers gradually adapt to my game systems, that everyone is capable of developing the approaches of the first team. At Ajax we control a total of 150 footballers who play in the different categories.
-They say that his son Jordi, one of them, is on his way to becoming his successor. Do you see it that way too? Don’t exaggerate. He is still very young. Of course I follow his evolution, but I don’t like people saying that he can be my successor, because he would be conditioned. I want him to continue playing and if one day he is in a position to climb higher, go ahead. He is not required to be a footballer. Above all, he is my son, not the son of the footballer Cruyff.
-The Blaugrana fan caresses the dream of seeing Cruyff here as manager. Will it be possible? People talk about this, but I don’t have much to say right now. In the first place, there would have to be a will to love me as a manager and then it would be a matter of talking. I’m very comfortable at Ajax and I don’t set myself the goal of changing clubs, nor do I have Barça as my final goal.
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-What should happen for you to sign for Barcelona? When I sign for a team, the first thing I ask is that they give me freedom of movement. Each one must be very clear about what their functions are. As manager, it is I who decides everything related to the purchase and sale of players and the organization of technical work.
-All this is possible in the current Barça? If there is nothing discussed, it is better not to guess. Now I am in a club with an important history in Europe, such as Ajax. What I ask is that the president of the club respect me and leave me alone with my work. I have all that in Ajax.