Jamo Martinez
Player Valuation: £70m
One of the great revolutionaries of the game. Transformed Ajax from relegation candidates into the kings of Europe. After losing the 1969 European cup final to Milan and watching rivals Feyenoord become the first Dutch team to win the trophy, Ajax won it 3 times on the run and 'Total Football' was born.
Although Michels left after their first EC success over Panathanaikos (Grrr), he had clearly built the team which went on to win 2 more consecutive European cups. Cruyff, Neeskens, Krol, Haan and Rep became household names and the likes of Van Hanegem, Rensenbrink and the Van De Kerkhoff twins would join that list as Michels took The Dutch national team to the WC final in 1974 where they lost to the hosts West Germany.
The Netherlands reached the final again 4 years later. In the absence of Cruyff and Neeskens, Rob Rensenbrink was the star and was the width of the post away from winning it But Argentina went on to win 3-1 in extra time.
Ten years later Michels was back in charge of a new generation in the national team and gained some revenge by beating West Germany in the semi final. With Gullit, Van Basten, Rijkaard and Koeman (Yeah, I know, but he was a superb player) this was another fine group of world class players who, due to age, a lot of us will be more familiar with than the 70s vintage. To my mind though,they didn't capture the imagination as much.
As managers, Guardiola, Bielsa and others are often called disciples of Cruyff. Cruyff and Rijkaard after him are clearly disciples of Rinus Michels. As such he clearly left a tremendous legacy.
What are your memories, thoughts and impressions of these Teams and players. I'm sure posters like Dutch Toffee could give us some extra insight.
As a curious aside, I discovered some interesting details about Euro 88.
The first major tournament without a single sending off or a single goalless draw. As the only knock out matches were the semi finals and final it's not so surprising that there were no matches that went to extra time or penalties.
It was also The Republic of Ireland's first appearance at a major tournament.
Although Michels left after their first EC success over Panathanaikos (Grrr), he had clearly built the team which went on to win 2 more consecutive European cups. Cruyff, Neeskens, Krol, Haan and Rep became household names and the likes of Van Hanegem, Rensenbrink and the Van De Kerkhoff twins would join that list as Michels took The Dutch national team to the WC final in 1974 where they lost to the hosts West Germany.
The Netherlands reached the final again 4 years later. In the absence of Cruyff and Neeskens, Rob Rensenbrink was the star and was the width of the post away from winning it But Argentina went on to win 3-1 in extra time.
Ten years later Michels was back in charge of a new generation in the national team and gained some revenge by beating West Germany in the semi final. With Gullit, Van Basten, Rijkaard and Koeman (Yeah, I know, but he was a superb player) this was another fine group of world class players who, due to age, a lot of us will be more familiar with than the 70s vintage. To my mind though,they didn't capture the imagination as much.
As managers, Guardiola, Bielsa and others are often called disciples of Cruyff. Cruyff and Rijkaard after him are clearly disciples of Rinus Michels. As such he clearly left a tremendous legacy.
What are your memories, thoughts and impressions of these Teams and players. I'm sure posters like Dutch Toffee could give us some extra insight.
As a curious aside, I discovered some interesting details about Euro 88.
The first major tournament without a single sending off or a single goalless draw. As the only knock out matches were the semi finals and final it's not so surprising that there were no matches that went to extra time or penalties.
It was also The Republic of Ireland's first appearance at a major tournament.
