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If you take golf, you have a teacher for the drive, a teacher for the approach play, and a teacher for the putt. That's three specialist coaches for one player. In football, one coach looks after 25 players.
Johan Cruyff -
Footballers from the street are more important than trained coaches.
Johan Cruyff
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When it was clear that I was leaving Ajax in 1973, I was sent all kinds of poisonous messages and lots more of that kind of nonsense. But the worst thing for me was that Ajax gave my mother, who had always done her best for the club, an inferior seat in the stadium. Behind a pole. That absolutely crushed me.
Johan Cruyff -
When I don't have control of the ball, what do I do? I press to get it back. It's a way of defending.
Johan Cruyff -
Ajax is a multicultural club, and we have found that many talented immigrant players quit when they reach puberty. So we wanted to tackle this problem with someone from the same background who had come through it. And that was Edgar Davids. During one of our fights, I pointed that out to him. But it had nothing to do with his skin colour.
Johan Cruyff -
It's like everything in football - and life. You need to look, you need to think, you need to move, you need to find space, you need to help others. It's very simple in the end.
Johan Cruyff -
For years, we have had many coaches in football, but there are no teachers anymore. And you see that in the play itself.
Johan Cruyff -
I always use the basic quality of people to achieve what I want to achieve. That's a different way of thinking. I always love that they do things. And when it goes wrong, well, try to correct it in one way or another.
Johan Cruyff
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My generation put in a lot more hours playing football after school than kids today. These days, all the football these kids play, they play at their clubs, so the clubs need to work seriously on the basic skills.
Johan Cruyff -
I haven't always been understood. As a footballer, as coach and also for what I did after all that. But OK, Rembrandt and Van Gogh weren't understood either. That's what you learn: people go on bothering you until you're a genius.
Johan Cruyff -
How can you create a team and bring all these egos together? The main goal for Manchester United is for them to play well - and not have a player saying, 'I play well; I scored two goals'. Because if I score two goals, but three goals go into our net, then we lose.
Johan Cruyff -
In my teams, the goalie is the first attacker, and the striker the first defender.
Johan Cruyff -
Ajax was spending too much money; they were buying players that were too expensive. If you get 100 per cent, you can't spend 120 per cent. It's quite easy.
Johan Cruyff -
Football should never be a worry. It should be exciting. When a child plays football outside, he doesn't need to worry. Professionals should be the same.
Johan Cruyff
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Coaching courses are still much too theoretical, and this is what you see reflected in the basic technical skills of the average player. I even see things deteriorating.
Johan Cruyff -
One trophy is good, but two are better. That way, when a hero wears his medals on his chest, at least his steps are level as he walks by.
Johan Cruyff