For Olsson and Dabizas, smart, gifted defenders, their careers will be immortalised by two moments of genius from Cruyff and Bergkamp
Tag: cruyff
Welcome to issue two of the club magazine series by These Football Times. This is 140 pages of original photos, art and words dedicated to AFC Ajax
This feature is part of Virtuoso It was November 2005, at the Santiago Bernabéu, when Ronaldinho took Real Madrid apart with such speed and flair that at least two nervous looking Madridistas…
In King Lear, when the hapless footman Oswald is tripped up by a duke and called a “base football player”, the audience is expected to sneer and snicker. Indeed, in the 16th…
This feature is part of Duology In school, one learns about the importance of a literary foil – a character whose qualities and attributes contrast with the protagonist while highlighting important elements…
Johan Cruyff is one of the true legends of football, and without any doubt the biggest Dutch star of all time, however it wasn’t always that way. In his younger years at…
This feature is a part of Hot Bovril and Cold Terraces, a series looking at first-hand memories of football before the flash. If you get the opportunity to see a legend in…
Join host Jim Hart and World Cup experts Gary Thacker and Steven Scragg as they analyse what many consider to be the two greatest World Cups - 1970 and 1974. From the…
I’VE HEARD IT SAID that non-football fans are – to paraphrase Bart Simpson – the MTV Generation, knowing neither highs nor lows. Anyone not hooked up with a femme fatale of a…
BARRY HULSHOFF – beard unkempt, socks rolled down and a mullet with a life of its own – was something of a prototype. Looking something like the love child of Rod Stewart…
To a child falling in love with football right now, there’s a world of difference between FC Barcelona and Ajax Amsterdam. Barcelona play in a popular league with megastars in every position,…
Illustration by Federico Manasse The multifarious sphere of footballing history encompasses many greats. Some prove greatness via a trophy cabinet, some gain notoriety for a single goal or piece of skill, some…
Johan Cruyff’s impact on football was far-reaching to say the least. His influence on the game in the Netherlands and Spain has been rightly lauded, and his role in the revolutionary Total…
NATURE OR NURTURE? It’s a question psychologists have debated for centuries. In the context of sport, it’s interesting that so many gifted individuals have raised children who have also gone on to…
No country has given more to the modern game than the Netherlands and no single city has given more than Amsterdam. Simply put, it’s a nation that has reinvented, redefined and reshaped…
Pareidolia – the perceiving of familiarity where none exists – is a more common psychological phenomenon than you might think. Frequently reported examples include; finding images in cloud formations, visualising a man…
After Luis Enrique announced his seemingly inevitable resignation as Barcelona coach, he made a poignant statement: “The reason clearly had to do with the way of life I need to have in this…
BENEDIKT TASCHEN’S BOOK ON 1970s FOOTBALL PHOTOGRAPHY is titled The Age of Innocence. An apt title, perhaps – it was the final time when footballers were still at some level “our lads”, clubs…