Johan Cruyff 1947-2016

as a lot of people have said, no individual has had a greater impact on the game. No one even comes close.
 
RIP, most influential man in football without a doubt, he'll be missed, so young also
 
Bollocks. The world has its shitty moments and this is one of them.
 
Someone on here posted a great video of him talking on Dutch TV a couple of weeks ago:

 
What?! Had no idea he was even ill; terrible, terrible news. RIP
 
Read a fairly in depth article on him a couple of days ago. It mentioned he had cancer, didnt think he was that close to the end. Rip.
 
Gràcies per tot

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Terrible news. One of the greatest of all time.
 
The most intelligent of footballers - in terms of playing intelligence - and perhaps the most stylish too. My favourite player. :(

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A Pioneer, Barcelona wouldn't be the same without him, his introduction of La Masia and the same playstyle throughout Barcelona.

Players like Messi, Xavi, Iniesta all greatly benefited from this, the most influential in football without a doubt.

There's been some truly great managers, but Johan was the embodiment of football.

He'll be missed, a true legend and every time we tune in to football and the Dutch idea of "total football" and you see creativity, flair thank Cruyff.
 
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We have numerous sayings in Dutch. One of them is" hij hoorde de klok luiden, maar weet niet waar de klepel hangt". This loosely translates into: "He heard the bell tolling, but doesn't know where the clapper hangs". Meaning, he heard some things about this subject, but he doesn't really understand the essence. Again, speaking in another language (can't remember which, could be German or English) he actually said: "this player heard the clock tick, but doesn't know what time it is...". This Cruyffian statement got a lot of laughs in Holland, and most people now use this JC-version of the saying, hoping for others to actually correct them. So they in turn can go: hey, this is the way JC says it, so it must be right!! Later, JC confessed that he did know the right way to say it in Dutch, but that while he was saying the words, he realized he didn't know what clapper (klepel) was in German/English. Then he added: my version of the saying is actually more logical and better.
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When JC just started coaching Barca, he was asked a question during a press conference. He later confessed, that he actually gave the answer in Dutch in his head, before translating it for the Spanish press.
Now, in Dutch we have a little phrase that goes "op een gegeven moment", which translates into English something like: "at a given time, or at a given moment". This is a phrase the Spanish language does not have. JC didn't know, so he started his answer with: "Un momento dado..." Nobody understood this. A moment was given?? By whom? To whom? How??? Everyone was clueless. But JC didn't know, and he went on to use that phrase ad nauseum (he does say it a lot in Dutch too) until 1) people started to get what he meant and 2) (after a while) it became a popular and "normal" phrase in Spanish too. In fact, it is now added to the official Spanish dictionary.
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ottosec said:
I thought his cancer treatment was going well, what happened?

RIP, one of the game's greatest players
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IIRC, he had advanced lung cancer, and despite progress in treatment over the years, that's still one of the hardest ones to treat. Fatal reoccurences are unfortunately very common.
 
A sad day for football, he was my second favorite player after Best.
 
Damn I thought he said something on the line like he was 2-0 up vs the cancer. A great or maybe the greatest ever.. Sad day.. RIP
 
Aside from Maradona, probably my most favourite footballer ever and outside of what he did on the pitch has the greatest vision for the game I have ever seen... what is more awe-inspiring is that he had the tools to implement his philosophy on the pitch and has given so much joy to many.

When I watch Barcelona today, I see it as football at its most joyous and beautiful... he is the one who is responsible for that.

Seriously gutted, legend doesn't do him justice..footballs greatest ever pioneer.
 
arthurka said:
Damn I thought he said something on the line like he was 2-0 up vs the cancer. A great or maybe the greatest ever.. Sad day.. RIP
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Sadly, when you have it, it gets you sooner or later.You can only buy some time.
RIP- great player, made the European Cup worth watching for me post '68
 
To think this year the media was saying about the Cruyff penalty returning too, maybe Messi knew the cancer was worse than he portrayed in the media and wanted to pay tribute atleast we got to relive that moment though
 
One of those players I really wish I could've seen live (or at least watched on TV during his playing career). He wasn't just an icon or legend of the game, he was one of the foundations of modern football, both as a player and a manager. It's a huge loss. RIP Johan.
 
Guardiola: “Nothing in football would be possible without the charisma and unmatched talent of Johan Cruyff.”
 
arthurka said:
Damn I thought he said something on the line like he was 2-0 up vs the cancer. A great or maybe the greatest ever.. Sad day.. RIP
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The facts were quite simple, he was diagnosed with lung cancer a few months ago, and it's known that the survival chances of lung cancer are very poor. But the idea of him dying is just too big to accept, so in this country there was some unrealistic optimism.
 
He seemed to speak his mind and come across as a bit abrasive, a combative style that I liked because he simply wouldn't be the Cruyff we knew without it. An incredible player and a great mind that will be missed.
 
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