Johan Cruyff

[max cady]

Poor guy has cancer allegedly.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34602348

 

[Dharmabum]

I just read that myself, What a pity, as football is set to lose (unless he is cured) one of the most influential figures ever - maybe the most influential football figure ever. I said MAYBE as that statement, of course, can be disputed, But remember he was the man behind setting up Barca's youth academy, using Ajax as a model, and then - after returning to Ajax - he re'organized their youth academy. And he was the main - but not the only - man behind Barca's style of play.
As a player he was up there with Maradona, Messi, etc.
He was a chain smoker as a player so it did not really come as a surprise that he got cancer.

 

[Danners9]

I read that he gave up smoking in 1991.

Hope he beats the illness, what a bastard it is. If only it was an opposing player, he'd find a way round it.

 

[BuryMeInEngland]

Bad news. Anyone who was around when he was at his best will feel a little saddened by this.

I never even realised he was a (former) smoker, but back in those days it didn't have the stigma it does now and we never really believed the stories that it would give you cancer (and I speak as someone that gave it up 30+ years ago).

Hope he somehow beats it, but it will be a tough fight.

 

[THX2208]

 

[Gassin's finest]

I just read that myself, What a pity, as football is set to lose (unless he is cured) one of the most influential figures ever - maybe the most influential football figure ever. I said MAYBE as that statement, of course, can be disputed, But remember he was the man behind setting up Barca's youth academy, using Ajax as a model, and then - after returning to Ajax - he re'organized their youth academy. And he was the main - but not the only - man behind Barca's style of play.
As a player he was up there with Maradona, Messi, etc.
He was a chain smoker as a player so it did not really come as a surprise that he got cancer.

Can't agree more with this. Then man arguably refined and created the modern approach to football, inventor of Total Football and all the legacy it led to.

 

[Dharmabum]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/bayern...g-mentor-cruyff-barcelona-111704495--sow.html


"Cruyff built the cathedral. We only maintained it," Guardiola once said about the former Ajax and Barcelona playmaker.