Defining Cruyff is not easy but there are some objective facts to assist: three times European Champion, three times Ballon d’Or winner, voted Europe’s Player of the Century in 1999, and third place in the World’s Player of the Century at the same time.
On the field, the most damming criticism of him is that he wasn’t Pele or Maradona, both of whom won World Cups, but neither changed the direction of travel in the game as Cruyff did. Pele’s Brazil seemed out of sight as they strutted their stuff at the 1970 World Cup. By 1974 the Dutch, with Cruyff pulling all the strings, had tactically moved the game on a generation. It would be decades before Brazil won the tournament again.
The Dutch know all this and, rightly, place Johan at the pinnacle of the game, but there was more going on in the Netherlands at the time. Feyenoord beat Cruyff and Ajax to the European Cup by 12 months as a generation of players matured together.
While the Netherlands took hosts Argentina to extra time in the 1978 World Cup final, Cruyff was watching on TV. Of course they would have won had he played, but that they came so close without him is a testament to the rest of his Dutch generation, forever in his shadow, but great nonetheless.
So would the Dutch revolution have happened without him? Something would have happened, Luxemburg would not have beaten the Netherlands in the 1970s, as they did in the 60s, but it would have been a revolution you might not have noticed. Ajax’ European Cup adventures may have ended with the 1-3 home defeat to Benfica in the 1969 quarter final. Feyenoord may not have edged extra time in the final the following season.
Allied to his skill, speed and strength, Cruyff opened the eyes of all who played with and against him. After Cruyff, opponents knew the old rules didn’t apply anymore.
Yesterday’s story in the Guardian, citing “sources at a major Premier League club” would signal the end of the last pretence of meritocracy in football, where the most wealthy will only play each other in European competition.
Resist of wither like Miss Havisham.
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Morning Timdom
Hoopy birthday Leftie.
A class act of a Man and a top Bhoy
HH jamesgang
Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood
Moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooring
CQN………………………………………………………….
SunnySkiesandLightSoutherlyWindsIntheCostas
Many happy returns to Big Leftclicktic, an absolute Celtic gentleman.
Have a good day all.
Good mooring yersel , nautical Joe.
When it became clear that RFC were heading for the graveyard, I did wonder whether Celtic would soon be counted among the collateral damage.
Not because we “can’t live without them”. Certainly not. More because it was clear that “Rangers” in one guise or another would “return”. And that this “return” would involve the shredding of just about every law of football governance and natural justice known to man. And that the Celtic board would either directly aid this rule breaking, or turn the blindest of blind eyes to it, thereby infuriating the support.
Personally, I expected their “return” to be quicker. I thought the leagues would immediately be reorganised into 2 leagues of 20, so that they would only ever be one promotion away from the top flight. It has taken four – admittedly hilarious – years for them to climb the divisions, but now that awful moment is upon us.
And the result is that the Celtic fans and the people running the club are as far apart as at any time since Fergus walked through the door.
I don’t know the ins and outs of the Res12 debate. But I would agree with BHRT’s post above that a PLC structure is not the way to run a club. Let’s face it, we have as little say over the direction of the club as we did when the Kellys and Whites were in charge. One man calls the shots, and he can’t even be bothered turning up to an AGM, never mind an actual game.
Time for a change.
Happy birthday leftclicktic
You share it with the long suffering Mrs BT
Brogan You mentioned that you don’t like the present Celtic Board, or the previous one,Tell me then who would you like to takeover the running of Celtic Football Club,
My friends in Celtic
On this particular article there are over 1900 comments.
All are equally valued, however if any individual post should be read and digested it is this one.
BRTH @ 02.33 hrs.
Well worth taking the time to read, whether you agree or disagree.
HH.
Very Hooooooopy Birthday big chap – Leftclicktic :-)))
BRTH,
More power to your analysis. I have a number of quibbles with what you penned earlier but I could not but agree that Celtic lost its special ethos that prompted Br Walfrid when the likes of Glass and Maley took control of our club.
Let us hope your wise words will shut up much of the nonsense that has been spouted here over the last couple of days. Made (for me) pretty dreadful reading.
Thank you.
Hamiltontim on 29th March 2016 8:03 am
Many happy returns to Big Leftclicktic, an absolute Celtic gentleman.
……………………
Will echo that sentiment from the little I know of the big man.
BRTH
You’re long statement on RES 12 deserves a considered response and I would just say that the thing that caused me to lose faith in it was the lack of openness by those handling it on behalf of those shareholders who had supported it or like me had encouraged others to support it with their share proxies.
Your attack on critics of Auldheid, Morrisey or Canalmar may be justified in light of what has been said on this site (I don’t know having not read back all posts) but when in May 2014 I raised the issue of a lack of feedback to shareholding supporters that I knew of while others were being given private briefings I was attacked with some venom by Canamalar and Morrisey, whose praises I had sung while lobbying for support for them.
Auldheid had a more subtle approach by trying to get me on board with the “under the radar” policy and promised that he could get my questions put to PL by me.
I said after these exchanges that I wouldn’t be commenting on RES 12 again as I found them troubling and it was obvious to me that Auldheid in particular holds a place of the highest esteem on this site and I didn’t want to cause a family squabble with CQN’s father figure as this would be devisive. I am breaking my promise on that score.
It is as you say wrong to suggest that any of those who took up RES 12 on behalf of the shareholders had taken a gratuity? did you call it? But it is also wrong to say that they might not have been influenced, consciously or otherwise to favour the board’s views to the detriment of the goal of getting RES 12 acted on.
Auldheid in particular was always able to present the board’s position in a favourable light even though that took ingenious and complex arguments to do so. Time will tell if the board deserved his support or if he was right to trust them to the degree he obviously did when there was no obvious reason for his faith; eg JAG meetings supporting FoCUS.
In summary I thought the requisitioners were indistinguishable from the board in their aims and actions.
All IMHO of course.
Leftie…………Happy Birthday Bhoy!
………..in ither news
……Please God, help all those Tims doing something constructive to fight the cause of Celtic Football Club.
……..”…The Sleekit will never win as
….There’s Always Gonna Be A Show………….
BRT & H
All informed information is good at this juncture.
It may not be enough for those that want to cling to their opinion based on who they do and do not like, and who they imagine might be betraying them by simply not having the exact same views as themselves, but most people on here will welcome the clarifications.
It would still be helpful to hear more from the club directly so that you guys are not left hanging in the wind as targets for those that love a scapegoat.
The root cause of the reluctance of the board to play a more active part in resolution 12, is for me, simply personal greed. What other reason can there be? Cheating, corruption and breaking and bending rules by the regulatory body would be met head on in almost any circumstances, yet it appears our custodians are paying this lip service.
why wouldn’t sporting integrity be at the forefront of any decent men/women? The only reasons would b either;
1. They don’t care
2. There would be a personal loss
I know which one I would suggest is more likely.
Money sows mistrust. It ends friendships. History is littered with examples of money’s ability to destroy an ethical approach.
That is what we are seeing here.
‘Our’ board? Yeah sure.
Clarification
In summary I thought the requisitioners were indistinguishable from the board in their aims and actions.
I should make it clear that I though that the requisitioners started out with the right aims of taking action because of the board’s lack of same but ended up being sucked in to the board’s agenda. Now with the arrival of Rangers to the Premier division the board are casting them adrift, and board will be able to say that they don’t want to inflame OF situation.
All IMHO of course.
– See more at: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/resist-of-wither-like-miss-havisham/comment-page-51/#comment-2802430
Apologies for the typos on that post. Was trying to use work PC to submit it. Another example of when selling out isn’t always progress. Trying to post on here now if not on a personal device where you can download your own ad blockers etc, is frustrating to the point of ‘why bother’
TnT
I think this crisis has exposed the myth of DD and PL etc as genius businessmen, or clever operators. They aren’t.
Desmond bought shares in Celtic for one reason only – in the hope that, one day, we would play in the EPL. And he would effectively own the new Man Utd. His career shows he is willing to play the long game, but he has no intention of playing a day to day role of building up the club, in the way that Fergus did.
His plan is simply to wait. Getting into a massive regulatory and legal fight over Sevco is a waste of his energy and time.
PL is an accountant, whose main loyalty is to DD. This means he views what happened to Rangers purely in terms of immediate dollars and cents. He considers their demise to have cost us money. Therefore he wants them “back” asap.
I doubt he gives much thought to the deeper issues – the historic loss of revenue, the damage to the game’s integrity, the rift being caused between the club and the support. These are all issues less important than the immediate return of something-resembling-Rangers.
It doesn’t make PL a bad man – just unimaginative.
I suspect (but can’t be sure) that the board view Res12 as an annoying distraction which, whilst it is sensible to pay lip service to, they have absolutely zero intention of acting on. And I suspect (but can’t be sure) that they have told Sevco and the SFA this…
My new favourite quote, from ole clever clogs Jorge Luis Borges ‘Football is popular because stupidity is popular’.
Aye…….ye don’t hiv tae be ‘sleekit’ tae know that, the Celtic Football Club is in the hauns of the wrang folk who will sacrifice the ‘wee’ tiny bits that are left of it’s soul tae the, hun-establishment for an easy ride – paid for wi the mugs season book money – so that, the bored can look the ither wiy when the cheating-miberry-assisted-rioting-huns-animals get their hooves under the table again.
Ye see, ye don’t hiv tae be Gamba Gazcoyne tae know that….whits left oh the Cellic is being destroyed fae the inside wi a bunch ah swivel-eyed-sleekit-serpents staunin ahint a big green curtain like the wan oot the wizard of oz….ye ken!
You’ll Never Walk Alone….in the Jungle.
BRTH,
Illuminating post and reflects the passion you have for the “club”.
As I take a look at the landscape over the last 4 years
– Ibrox based Club in top league in a few months. Good business for Celtic PLC
– D King / D Park in charge of said Ibrox Club. Good business for Celtic PLC.
– SFA still not fit for purpose and ethos of a century remains unchanged.
Celtic have missed the opportunity to put the SFA in the corner and drive change. There are no heavyweights in the SFA and it would have not been too difficult with the background of a decade plus of institutionally sanctioned cheating. However the PLC guided by Lawwells “insight” has tip toed around this including Res 12.
I wish all of you good luck with Res 12. However it is clear that the PLC acting as a silent partner with the fans/shareholders left to contact UEFA have no honourable intentions on Res 12.
As above the PLC have met the business objectives and if they have to put up with the SFA for another hundred years so be it. A decision has been taken somewhere along the line by Dermot / Lawwell this is the way the game will be played.
Many Happy Returns to Leftclicktic.
BRTH well posted but you know as well as I do it will have little effect on those who are intransigent in their views, but it needed to be said.
Me? I will always support my team, Celtic, as like everybody else on here it is in my blood, but if it is shown that the Board are guilty of collusion my support will be spiritual and all forms of financial support will be withdrawn, including cancelling my CTV subscription, however painful that will be for me.
Celtic need to make a public comment on this situation sooner rather than later, even if it just to say that things are in progress. Failure to do so will only cause further damage to the club. Their silence is deafening.
A fantastic oul’ teacher of mine – a native of Dumbarton, used to say
” empty vessels make most noise”…….
…mind, she used to have me in her sights when she said it…..
I think I understand the point she was making tho’.
The daily repetitive self-consciously dirge an’ diatribe from “those”? whose only direction is for us to chuck it, to turn on ourselves given the currant context sticks ooooot like a sore Hun…………….
HH
Nae Jungley Cellic supporters anymore = A Celtic supporter base that the…..
Hun establishment
SFA
Focus
SMSM
Cellic board and their plants
DD
PL
and the rest of the swivel-eyed-yins….
can pull the nickers aff yeez – with ease!
So, so sad.
The game, the game is over……the rebels have gone!
And ye can take that tae the bank—–ie
Ah must say, am looking forward tae the return of the huns,
joost tae git singing ‘jingle-bells’ again.
Italia bhoy
Thanks for the response. I certainly have never bought into the ‘ myth’ re PL and have said so many times. I see a flawed business strategy, and if you assess where we are positioned now in relation to where we were, and critically, to where we are heading, the conclusion would be he’s failing.
From a financial perspective he is not growing the business.
From a sporting perspective, the achievements have been mediocre. His predecessor took us to Seville. It’s been a steady slide ever since.
I am not buying into the selling of our biggest assets as being necessary. It’s only necessary now because it’s the strategy he chose. Sell and strengthen with like for like replacements or sell and weaken through substandard replacements? He’s chosen the latter. By doing so he’s lowered our chances of European participation at the highest level, lowered crowds, lowered income and ultimately is serving us up dross most match days . He has even managed to lower expectations amongst the support, which I find sad.
The only factor that has been bettered, is his annual bonus. Tragic.
Leftclicktic
Happy – Hoopy – Birthday
You’ll Never Walk Alone….in the Jungle.
HH
Ah wunner if, the Cellic will still be aboot when it comes tae
‘jungle-bells’ time again ?
Hmmmmm ?
Wance the penny draps oan the heids of the gallant myuuutineers
they might pull the rug fae the swivel-eyed-sleekit-yins
fae-ahint-the-green-curtain-oot-the-wizard-fae-oz ?
Hmmmmmmm?
Empty the park, empty the swivel-eyed-sleekit-plants, pool the season book money, sit on it till the coast is clear, move in, drag whits left of the Cellic ontae the operating table, inject a new heart & soul, git a new Jungle built, charge a fiver to stand in a 20,000 safe-standing-Jungle-area, charge £10 to sit on the rest of the seats, give Big-hunskelping-mind-games-McGhee the keys of the football dept….take it fae there…..
….oot-zzzzz…..
Kev
32 months and counting till I hang up the working jaicket for the last time. Plan to be back in Scotland . The ould jungle bhoys might be back in situ at that time. Now that would be a great retirement present I reckon.
I’ll organise a reunion at the first hame gemme that we can all stand at, and all you’ll need to bring is two pale ale cans to staun oan, enough money to buy a spam roll fae the cardboard box n a pckt ae wriggleys spearmint chooing gum and yer specs tae read the hauf time scores aff the chalkboard.
You’ll be the guest o honour my friend.
Big Nan. 8.35. I agree completely with what you’ve written. Mind you, Auldheid’s invite to get you on board seems much more nuanced than the offer I received immediately after the 2013 adjournment decision. I’ll try and post later and add substance to my comments.
Kev
If big Marky bhoy is in the dugout ahm no gaun:-))
Twists n Turns on 29th March 2016 9:39 am
______________________________________________
If, I’m still aboot….ah’ll look forward to that amigo.
Big Marky bhoy might be selling the rolls by then :)))
HH
Morning Bhoys from a Sunny Central Scotland. H.H.
…..oot-noo-zzzzz……
DBBIA @9.05 .
Some more from Mr Borges –
” Football is one of England’s greatest crimes ”
” There is an idea of supremacy of power in football that seems horrible to me ”
” Nationalism only allows for affirmation and every doctrine that discards doubt is a form of fanaticism and stupidity “.
I recall a tv interview with the man where he bemoaned a Brazilian Military Junta’s use of an iconic image of Pele for political ends .
Some choons for you –
Small Town Country Vol 1 -Various Artists ( Orion Reed )
Wayfaring Strangers -Cosmic American Music 68-70 – ( Numero group ) .
Available on vinyl ( and CD if you have to — )
kill ultra on 29th March 2016 9:39 am
Big Nan. 8.35. I agree completely with what you’ve written. Mind you, Auldheid’s invite to get you on board seems much more nuanced than the offer I received immediately after the 2013 adjournment decision. I’ll try and post later and add substance to my comments.
– See more at: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/resist-of-wither-like-miss-havisham/comment-page-51/#comment-2802434
…………………………..
Interesting to see what you’re experiences were.
Mine is all documented including PMs so I can always refer to them to refresh my memory.
But from memory Canamalar and Morrisey were vitriolic and Auldheid subtle though he wasn’t averse to a bit of rough stuff in the course of debate on here which I didn’t take to.
ItaliaBhoy on 29th March 2016 8:57 am
“I think this crisis has exposed the myth of DD and PL etc as genius businessmen, or clever operators. They aren’t.”
Forbes rich list:
Dermot Desmond on Forbes. … Real Time Net Worth As of 3/28/16; $1.92 Billion. Age: 65. Source Of Wealth: finance, Self Made. Residence: Dublin, Ireland.”
Not bad going for someone who is more of a financial idiot than a genius businessman, specially when you factor in he is from Macroom and not Motherwell.