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Words: Stephen Murray
Neeskins was just as important to Ajax and Holland as Cruyff
THE legendary Johan Cruyff's name will
always be synonymous with the Ajax
glory years of the 1970s. However, there
is another Johan from that period who is
also revered by the Ajax support - Johan
Neeskens.
Neeskens joined Ajax in 1970 and quickly
impressed everyone with his fine performances
at right-back, although in keeping with the Dutch
concept of total football at that time, he was
comfortable in performing in any of the midfield
roles.
He was an immediate success in Amsterdam
and played a major role in Ajax's legendary three
successive European Cup wins in between 1971
and 1973 against Panathanaikos, Internazionale
andjuventus, respectively.
To this day Celtic fans still recall the two Ajax
games from 1971 where Neeskens played a crucial
role in Ajax's 3-1 aggregate quarter final win over
the Celts.
He enjoyed a tremendous on-field relationship
with Cruyff and during the 1974 World Cup in West
Germany it is thought that both players were at
their peak as Holland launched a major assault to
win that tournament,
