They were gifted players. The blend was right and they
had the genius of Cruyff to take them to another level
AVIE Hay was only 23 years
old when he was part of the
Celtic team that went
head-to-head with the wonderful
Ajax side of the early 1970s.
The great Johan Cruyff was their
inspiration but he was surrounded by
world-class talent, and their trailblazing
style of Total Football' proved an irresistible
force in European football,
Try as they might Hay and Celtic
couldn't halt this juggernaut in March 1971,
losing 3-1 on aggregate to the Amsterdam
outfit in the European Cup last eight,
Ajax went on lift the trophy that year,
beating Panathinaikos in the final at
Wembley. They would retain it for the next
two years, establishing themselves as one
of the iconic club sides of the modern era,
Confident they could compete with any
team on the continent, Hay and his Celtic
team-mates were bitterly disappointed to
lose to Ajax, Still, they recognised they had
faced a special side with special players,
And ahead of tonight's visit of Ajax in the
UEFA Champions League, the matchday
programme caught up with the Hoops
great to hear his recollections of going up
against Rinus Michels' brilliant outfit,
What are your memories of the games
against Ajax in 1971?
We got beat! That's my memory, We were
playing against an Ajax team who were
coming to the fore, and who won the
European Cup for the next three years,
The first game was in the Olympic Stadium
and the score was 0-0 until the latter
stages of the second half. Cruyff played in
that game and I was trying to mark him,
You would think you had him and the next
minute you wouldn't, It finished 3-0 to
them and the second-leg was at Hampden
and even though we beat them 1-0 we
never looked threatening to pull back the
three-goal deficit. That was the start of
that great Ajax team,
Having been beaten by Feyenoord in
the European Cup final the previous
season, you would have all known
how good a team Ajax were.
The difference was in the Feyenoord game
we underestimated them. In the Ajax away
game we were doing reasonably well. We
were containing them, but sometimes in
European games, if a door opens, they can
score a quick few goals in a short period of
time, They just proved, in the latter stages
of the game, too good for us.
You were tasked with marking Johan
Cruyff - how good a player was he and
how difficult was he to play against?
He was one the best players ever, without
a shadow of a doubt, First of all, he had a
good football brain and was exceptionally
quick, He had a quickness of movement
and was a highly intelligent player. Anyone
playing against him had to be at the top of
their game, He really came to the fore again
in the 1974 World Cup, when he developed
that magic trick. That whole team was
world class but he was exceptional and is
one of the best players ever in the history
of football.
You were only 23 when you faced up
to Cruyff and Ajax. Did you ever get
fazed or nervous when facing these
big teams in Europe?
No, because we broke in at the right
time, At Celtic, you were never fazed. You
actually rose to the occasion and I think
that's what they have done recently,
particularly at Celtic Park. They rise to
the occasion and the crowd take them to
another level, It was much the same when
we played,
What other players impressed you?
Johan Neeskens was there, and they also
had the big outside left, but they were
just exceptionally good overall and it was
the start of a dominant period for Dutch
football, and the start of what they called
'Total Football'. They were all gifted players,
The blend was right and they had the
genius of Cruyff to take them to another
level.
You played against a lot of top
European sides at Celtic - where does
that Ajax team rank?
You just need to look at the records and see
that they won the European Cup three
times to tell you how great a side they
were, The Dutch national team were
doing well then and a lot of the players Q
Celtic v Ajax 45
