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Ajax Training Sessions

J. Smink
Ajax, Barcelona, Cruyff

Frits Barend, Henk Van Dorp

Johan Cruyff stands among the elite in the pantheon of football's greats. Perhaps, only Pelé ever surpassed him. And that is arguable. Ajax Barcelona Cruyff constitutes a collection of interviews with Holland's greatest ever player conducted by Dutch journalists Barend and Van Dorp. Most of the conversations transcribed here touch on the issues which followed Cruyff throughout his successful career as player and coach, both with Ajax of Amsterdam, and Barcelona. The authors refer to Cruyff as an obstinate maestro, an impression certainly evident in the text. However, it is also undeniably clear that under the surface remains a man who cares, with perhaps unparalleled insight into the mechanics of football and of modern footballers themselves. While Cruyff's view of his numerous disputes with coaches, chairmen, players, journalists and just about anyone else willing to argue, are well-aired here, and provide another perspective on an already well-documented career, the most intriguing dialogue deals with tactical matters. This provides elementary reading for anyone thinking about the game today. Few, if any, players have had such an impact on the tactical side of modern football. As the innovator responsible for the total football played thrillingly by the Dutch in the 1970s, Cruyff passes comment on Dutch masters past and present such as Van Basten, Koeman, Rijkaard and Bergkamp. When the interviews turn to Cruyff's own playing systems, the Dutch superstar's comments seem at once revelationary and simplistic. Unintentionally, this superb book could have become as essential as any ever written on football tactics. Meanwhile, it stands as a tour de force in its own right. --Trevor Crowe
The Coaching Philosophies of Louis Van Gaal and the Ajax Coaches

Henny Kormelink, Tjeu Seeverens
Ajax, The Dutch, The War: Football in Europe During the Second World War

Simon Kuper

In Ajax, the Dutch, the War, Simon Kuper, broadsheet journalist and author of the bestselling Football Against the Enemy, turns his attention to the Dutch club Ajax of Amsterdam, and the hidden history of the Nazi occupation of Holland in WW2.
At one level the book can be seen as an investigation into the mystery of how and why Ajax, like one or two other of Europe's major club sides, are considered to be a Jewish team--their supporters, of no discernable faith, still wave an Israel flag at matches; in return some rival fans revel in anti-Semitic language and gestures. Kuper tries to locate the roots of this alignment through interviews with the ever-decreasing number of living witnesses, players, club officials and supporters, who experienced the period from the early 1930s to the end of the Second World War in 1945--a time in which the soul of Amsterdam, "the city of Jews and bicycles", was indelibly stained by the horrors of occupation, ghettoisation and the Holocaust.
What he finds is the story of a city, its people and its football team, that challenges the semi-truths and misconceptions about civilian lives in wartime that most of us hold--including how and why the mass obsession with football thrived in the unlikeliest circumstances. It's a personal history too. Kuper's parents, Jews from South Africa, moved to the Netherlands more than 30 years after the war had ended, but were confronted by its legacy at every turn.
By weaving himself, his family and the contemporary voices of ordinary people into what is essentially a book on a facet of 20th Century Northern European history, Kuper pulls off the remarkable feat of creating a readable, entertaining work out of potentially difficult material. Free of the occasionally pompous, cod-academic tone that soured parts of Football Against the Enemy, the book breathes a little more easily, is more involving, funnier, and more moving than its predecessor--and as such, is warmly recommended. --Alex Hankin
Ajax, The Dutch, The War: Football in Europe During the Second World War

Simon Kuper

In Ajax, the Dutch, the War, Simon Kuper, broadsheet journalist and author of the bestselling Football Against the Enemy, turns his attention to the Dutch club Ajax of Amsterdam, and the hidden history of the Nazi occupation of Holland in WW2.
At one level the book can be seen as an investigation into the mystery of how and why Ajax, like one or two other of Europe's major club sides, are considered to be a Jewish team--their supporters, of no discernable faith, still wave an Israel flag at matches; in return some rival fans revel in anti-Semitic language and gestures. Kuper tries to locate the roots of this alignment through interviews with the ever-decreasing number of living witnesses, players, club officials and supporters, who experienced the period from the early 1930s to the end of the Second World War in 1945--a time in which the soul of Amsterdam, "the city of Jews and bicycles", was indelibly stained by the horrors of occupation, ghettoisation and the Holocaust.
What he finds is the story of a city, its people and its football team, that challenges the semi-truths and misconceptions about civilian lives in wartime that most of us hold--including how and why the mass obsession with football thrived in the unlikeliest circumstances. It's a personal history too. Kuper's parents, Jews from South Africa, moved to the Netherlands more than 30 years after the war had ended, but were confronted by its legacy at every turn.
By weaving himself, his family and the contemporary voices of ordinary people into what is essentially a book on a facet of 20th Century Northern European history, Kuper pulls off the remarkable feat of creating a readable, entertaining work out of potentially difficult material. Free of the occasionally pompous, cod-academic tone that soured parts of Football Against the Enemy, the book breathes a little more easily, is more involving, funnier, and more moving than its predecessor--and as such, is warmly recommended. --Alex Hankin
Ajax, Barcelona, Cruyff: The ABC of an Obstinate Maestro

Frits Barend, Henk Van Dorp

Johan Cruyff stands among the elite in the pantheon of football's greats. Perhaps, only Pelé ever surpassed him. And that is arguable. Ajax Barcelona Cruyff constitutes a collection of interviews with Holland's greatest ever player conducted by Dutch journalists Barend and Van Dorp. Most of the conversations transcribed here touch on the issues which followed Cruyff throughout his successful career as player and coach, both with Ajax of Amsterdam, and Barcelona. The authors refer to Cruyff as an obstinate maestro, an impression certainly evident in the text. However, it is also undeniably clear that under the surface remains a man who cares, with perhaps unparalleled insight into the mechanics of football and of modern footballers themselves. While Cruyff's view of his numerous disputes with coaches, chairmen, players, journalists and just about anyone else willing to argue, are well-aired here, and provide another perspective on an already well-documented career, the most intriguing dialogue deals with tactical matters. This provides elementary reading for anyone thinking about the game today. Few, if any, players have had such an impact on the tactical side of modern football. As the innovator responsible for the total football played thrillingly by the Dutch in the 1970s, Cruyff passes comment on Dutch masters past and present such as Van Basten, Koeman, Rijkaard and Bergkamp. When the interviews turn to Cruyff's own playing systems, the Dutch superstar's comments seem at once revelationary and simplistic. Unintentionally, this superb book could have become as essential as any ever written on football tactics. Meanwhile, it stands as a tour de force in its own right. --Trevor Crowe