WHY CRUYFF LEFT AJAX IN 1973 ?

In 1973, Ajax were unbeatable. For three years they had won everything there was to win, winning the European Cup thrice. The pioneer of this winning squad was the coach Rinus Michels who implemented the Total Football philosophy and collected appreciation from every football fan in the world for his style.⁣
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Rinus left Ajax and moved to Barcelona after the first European Cup win in 1971. At that time, Barca were a struggling side in the league who haven’t won anything for 15 years. Rinus was succeeded by the Romanian Ştefan Kovacs. Though it was a major and contrasting change in management staff, Johan Cruyff still remained the captain and more of a leader for Ajax to sail across the oceans⁣
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'Kovacs was a nice guy but a lot less disciplined. Unlike Rinus, he encouraged self-development among his players but didn’t apply the same principle to himself’

~Johan Cruyff

It’s an unpopular fact, but a coach is somehow the most responsible person for squad’s unity and discipline.Kovacs' philosophy resulted in cracks in squad. Players formed groups. ⁣No doubt different opinions from different players are inevitable. One cannot avoid them. But it’s the coach responsibility to stop those contrasting opinions getting stronger and eventually turning into envy and hate for other player. Here, Cruyff became the victim. ⁣
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Because Cruyff was arguably the best footballer at the club and certainly the most famous, Kovac’s methods made him the centre of attention. Other player started thinking of him as an "attention-seeker" which he wasn’t. The last straw was the vote on the captaincy. Kovacs had left in 1973, and new coach George Knobel allowed a vote on captaincy between Cruyff and Piet Keizer. Johan thought it’s wierd to have a ballot and intended to stay as the captain. ⁣
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However not only the voting happened but Johan lost as players chose Piet. They thought Johan is selfish and too self-serving. Clearly, it was a form of jealousy he had never before experienced.⁣ The next thing he did was his move to Barca.

He never wanted to leave Ajax. He wanted to continue there, as his family was settled in Netherlands. But dressing room politics and hatred made him think for his future and in the end, he let it go.

Thi tale somehow sums up Messi’s situation. Pep being Rinus, Messi being Cruff, City being Barca and Bartomeu being Kovacs. Messi loves Barca, no doubt, but it’s something else. Everyone knows.

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