THe biggest football club ever?
How often don’t you hear players saying that the club they joined, has always been the club of their dreams? There are even players that claim that every club they join was their childhood favourite clubs. Eden Hazard left Chelsea for Real Madrid, because as a child he was a Real Madrid (and Arsenal) fan. There are lots of players who make the same claim. Is Real Madrid the biggest football club in the world? Looking at their trophy cabinet, it’s very hard to disagree. But i personally do disagree rather strongly.
To be honest, i don’t like Real Madrid, because i have this weird trait that i dislike perennial winners. But that is not the only reason. Real Madrid became the nig club they are because they attracted the best player in the world in the 1950’s: Alfredo Di Stefano. That transfer was a hold-up. Di Stefano was destined to go to Barcelona, but generalissimo Franco, the Spanish dictator decided otherwise and DI Stefano went to Real Madrid. The fact that the club was supported and favoured by a vicious dictator and even more recently has got some (illegal) support from the communidad de Madrid disqualifies them for me as biggest club ever. Of course that is only my totally biased opinion.
But perhaps there is a more objective way to look at things. A few years ago football magazine FourFourTwo made a ranking of the biggest football clubs ever and came to the same conclusion as me. So perhaps my opinion is that outlandish after all.
AJAX
To me there is no doubt whatsoever. Ajax is the biggest football club in the world ever. Is it because of their trophy’s? Not really. To me Ajax is the club with the biggest legacy or influence in the world.
Until the ‘60’s Ajax was a very ordinary club that wasn’t even the biggest Dutch club. And then somethin happened. Totaal voetbal. Visionary coach Rinus Michel had the luck to have an outstanding crop of players at his disposal: Jaak Swart (later Johnny Rep), Piet Keizer, Ruud Krol, Arie Haan, Gerrie Muhren (my personal favourite, the keeppie ups at Benrabeu for example), Johan Neeskens and of course Holland’s best player ever Johan Cruijff. This was a generation of exceptional players who had also very outspoken and strong opinions on the way football should be played. At the beginning of the ‘70’s this team won 4 ‘Champions Leaugues’ (it was called EC I by that time) in a row and then the players went to other clubs to earn lots of money. Michels, Cruijff and Neeskens went to Barcelona and El Salvador Cruijff won the title for Barcelona for the first time in a long time.
Later Michels became the coach of the Dutch team that played fantastic football at the 1974 WC but that was beaten after a seks scandal that never happened. That team (the best of Ajax combined with Feyenoord, PSV and Anderlecht) was beaten by Beckenbauer’s West-Germany, but they were already beaten by the German tabloïd Bild and by their wives before one ball in that final was kicked. Cruijff would stay home for the next World Cup in Argentina. The official reason was a dispute about shoe sponsors and money, but the real reason was Dani, his wife. Dani never really believed that Johan and his team mates did in fact not swim naked with young girls in their hotel swimming pool in 1974 and she said she would leave Johan it went to Argentina. Robbie Rensenbrink was the star of the team that once again lost the final against the organizing nation.
But let’s focus on Ajax again. That 60’s and early 70’s team left a legacy that shaped modern football. First off all there was the Ajax youth system. Their academy was a real conveyor belt of outstanding football talent, with dozens of future stars. Nowadays the academy is knowsn as De Toekomst (The Future, what a great name). It produced players like Van Basten, Vanenburg, Rijkaard, Bergkamp, father and son Kluivert, the brothers De Boer, Danny and his son Daley Blind, Davids, Arnold Muhren, Huntelaar, Frenkie De Jong and de Ligt. They are all Dutch players but also attracted very young foreign players that they developed into stars: Jari Litmanen (imo the one who came closest to Cruijff, very underestimated), Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Vermaelen, Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Kanu, Finidi George, Moussa Dembele and others. Everybody who reads this article will be able to add players that i have forgotten to mention.
But the leagcy is much bigger than ‘merely’ developing fantastic players. Barcelone took over the idea of building an academy and other clubs did the same. Ajax was the first club to embrace this model.
Ajax is also a club with a very recognizable playing system that is played by all the youth teams and the first team. Every single Ajax team from the five year olds to the team that played CL semi-final plays 4-3-3 and this is still the same (but perfected) style of Totaal Voetbal. Barcelone took over this style of football and countless other bog teams did the same. Without Ajax, the Arsenal invincables would never have been. Wenger himself was the first to admit that Ajax, Cruijff and Barcelona had a major influence on all he did. Pep Guardiola’s teams at Barcelona, Munchen and Manchester City have all embraced Ajax’ philosophy.
Is there another club that has the same legay as Ajax? Arigo Sacchi’s AC Milan team might come close, but they might also be influenced by Ajax’s playing system and philosophy and two of their star players (Van Basten and Rijkaard) are Ajax youth products.
Ajax really deserve more credit. I hope they can win another CL to add to their 4 previous ones.
