1971
Total football arrived. It was brewing already, but the big bang happened and the herald was Ajax. Although 1972 was the greatest year of the club, in the 1970-71 season Ajax brought the new exciting and revolutionary kind of play to the front: it was the whole package – players changing positions as the game flowed, covering the whole field, defenders attacking and scoring, all of them highly technical and perfectly fit. No wonder the Dutch became everlasting darlings, fondly remembered by those who saw them. Total football finished the stagnated defensive football of the 1960s, bringing back the sheer joy of watching the game. New heroes in every sense, for it was revolutionary team not only on the pitch: long hairs, loose manners, no suits, opinionated and even arrogant young men, looking more like hippies instead of stiff workers. Even their numbers were different – no longer following the standard 1-11 numbering, Ajax players used individual constant numbers and among them the number 14 – Johan Cruiff – was God.
