The history of Ajax of Amsterdam
liéssss
he legend that Johan
HONOURS
EVEN AT
PARADISE
RETRO PROGRAMME
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1982... THAT WAS
THE YEAR THAT WAS
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When Celtic faced Ajax back
in September 1982, Survivor
were top of the charts with
Eye of the Tiger, a position
they'd hold for four weeks.
On November 2 of that year,
Channel 4 launched, giving
Britain a staggering total of
FOUR television channels...
oh for simpler times.
1982 was also the year that
goalkeepers, Victor Valdes,
Petr Cech and Pepe Reina were
all born, while the Nobel Prize
for Literature was awarded to
Colombian novelist, Gabriel Garcia
Marquez.
JWOPEAN CUP FIRST ROUND «1TIC
v AJAX
K'to^r^rSireH^nd
Four goals scored inside the first 27
minutes - two for either side - ensured
a tense second leg in Amsterdam,
though Ajax had the advantage,
having scored two away goals.
At Celtic Park, the Dutch side twice took
the lead, only for Charlie Nicholas and Frank
McGarvey to draw Celtic level.
The return leg saw Nicholas and George
McCluskey score to give the Hoops a 2-1
win on the night and a famous European
triumph.
irful we
1s to t>
lope tha
to thei
befittinc
held
his performances at the WnhL age
and international tootbaN hate ht
h a consistently brilliant otJLa f tbeen of
'ersally acclaimed as one ot m he is
kenbauer. 'e^CS S Ste-'
,of035SheitisiScfeaSrlt°oaPs?i? T ,hal al >ba
n great footballers can't test t®8' and that
influence Cruyff hat ert-J ,Te' Yel
nation of the present Si". ,rans~
fuyff s association with Aiax pvtonwe u
/ears to when he was oniv m„J nds back
if--" ,u"international ho^'8 bul
immedlal
We hopt 3 g naturg, ^fpt'onal Qualities, Cruyff is
Giasgoy \a natural leader and he was snnn^T,;/
acquain AJax and Holland. He plaved dnn f ptam~
biI HeeweaPs °am'fd ,be c°n^pt of total
>h alert aWnd dS&JT?
European Cun'erm Ai3*' '^SS?18IS
O-r the years
a smal
lis in the
e. Two
Angela J
i/e beei
light, i
to get
formei
Itendec
ilthough
o^V\o^uchU'men°rcjose8 ma6k'fT1en' handed
resulted in hard often u marking of Cruyff
this accounted for his manyfnju^es"6"985 a"d
disillisioWnmem with DuIc^Vh '°r Cru>"''s
'ootball. After 74 Criivff m 1? international
or a fee of £1,000 000 Thfe Barcelona
fans was soon to be folinwoH k S ;k for Ajax
disappointed footban fans tnanother which
world. This was the annonn throughout the
ough Holland had duaïï "l6"1 thal al,h-
Cruyff would obviously be an t'r9en,ina and
tion he did no, wish toL'c^eT* S8'8C-
Players comteg^o ythi0itofemafnrt °the' 9real
careers in (a;jng ft® ^ose of distinguished
played first with CosjJ5" ,0 America. He
New York Cosmos and then ^t?6^' tflen 'he
Diplomats. Cruyff reioPned fi fe Washington
as a 'Technical Adviser' hot®* a sh°rt time
ed back to Spain early' tef! 9 attract-
second division Levant.rtL Sr i? plaf f°r
ment of Dumbarton!!) disappoint-
clubarrang,ed1/£t'oo'oocisOCCLJrred When ,he
him and also offered him a PS°rsWp deal ,or
receipts. The results hZl lhare of ,he Sate
mented with the nh h /I been weN docu-
pionship as well as Ba !?a9ue cham-
Crowds and Johan is onrt^f It increased
the Dutch press and fans darling of
wishing
them a
iw fireek mythology, Ajax was the son of King
The statistics speak (or themselves; Aja*
have been Dutch champions on 20 occasions
and have won the Dutch national cup eight
XsTnctuded in these figures are tour Lea-
due and Cup doubles', achieved In 1967,
1970 1972 and 1979
OU,S/dueDr^atrmésAiTwoaVE7o^rne!uTe'r
cups and one World Club'Championship
Trophy merely emphasise the extent
successintheearlysevent.es.
ThA stars of that great A]ax 3ide, Cruyn
end in successive World Cup tinais in 1974
and 1978.
In view of this astonishing success rate it is
all the more remarkable to consider that the
Aiax club was a relatively slow starter. Interest
football in Holland began at the tal ©"J?'
hA last century and by the time Ajax was
success the following season.
As is often the case, this first P©ak
fniinwed by 12 lean years before Ajax were
again crowned champions in 1931. Jh®^other
manaaed to win the championship another
fï>uM?mes in the thirties. The financial offshoot
of this success was that plans were'drawn f„
tor a brand new Aiax Stadium, the De Meer in
Amsterdam with a capacity of 29,000. Today
the club is'still housed in this stafiu™-a[l£"
ouah for European Cup and other big matches
thev prefer the 65,000 capacity Olympic
Stadium in Amsterdam It is to this larger
stadium that Celtic will carry our hopes jn a
'"klaas'alter the war that Ajax really began to
appreciate the benefit of developing their own
yoEng piSyeiS. Today in Holland where only
the leading clubs have tull-tlme professionals,
all the clubs have teams which play competi
tive retches from the ages of nine years and
upwards Ajax have ten competitive
"^provide expe%n^edfoTaSpfey^hu°u9h lke
8 1 qsaTaw Ajax's first venture into the Euro
pean Cup w£ they reached the quarter
K before losing to the Hungarian side
Vasas But a major turning point *h0'«
fortunes coincided with the aPp0'"trT®"l Pi
Rinus Michels as manager. Between 1966-68
Aiax won the championship for three years in
succession, thus creating a new Dutch record
In 1969 they reached the European Cup final
tor the first time only to '^^.^o^nabeu
one to A.C Milan in Madrid s BernaDeu
Stadium.
aiax's first European Cup win was merely
d$ïd InWO-T^ after compte'lnp the dou;
saw TMax^at Panathanikos 2-0 through goals
^evious season they Sfectod! as ^result
o, the experience of Celtic Ar.aMtlan. Fe^en-
Independiente, whom they defeated to take
their fourth trophy ot the season
in 1973 Aiax followed Real Madrid to
1-0 The following season saw the club rep
bel eventualfy 'Competed in tt«
World Cup final of 1974.
Wo'dd Cup8 Johnliy Rep
Qniirhipr went to Schalke, Gerry Muhren to
The next few years saw widespr^nges
in the club on the p y Qne maJor
administrative fronts and saw y en the
Championship w n cor |rom
appointment ot tramer Hwever Cor Brom
(etTthe cfub prematurely b^eeded by
peanPCunpS whete Aiax lost to Nottingham
Forest
Beenhakker was manager when ^ax. ap;
personnel wasmatchecunly b,^changes in
aker and Lerby.
EUROPEAN CUP FIRST ROUND CELTIC v AX
Celtic v Ajax 39
