First division did not present more optimistic picture than the second. Small countries with limited pool of players as a rule concentrate the best available talent in few bit clubs and Holland was no exception – traditionally, the top players were found in the usual three suspects, to which AZ’67 was added. But AZ’67 were rather separate and atypical case. For the troublesome state of Dutch football around 1980 it is better to take a look what the rest of the league had. The fate of many a club depended on the feet of veterans… Rinus Israel (b. 1942, PEC Zwole), Aad Mansveld (b. 1944, FC Den Haag), Dick Schneider (b. 1948, Go Ahead Eagles), Tommy Kristiansen (Dane, b. 1953, Go Ahead Eagles), Gerrie Kleton (just because he was a member of the great Ajax vintage, now – Haarlem), Pleun Strik (b. 1944, NEC Nijmegen), Jan Jongbloed (b. 1940, JC Roda), Theo de Jong (b. 1947, JC Roda), Dick Nanninga (b. 1949, JC Roda), Pim Doesburg (b. 1943, Sparta), Louis van Gaal (b. 1951, just because he became a famous coach – Sparta), Ruud Geels (b. 1948, Sparta), Willem van Hanegem (b. 1944, Utrecht). True, the stars played abroad to the usual destination for Dutch players – Belgium – another two attractive destinations were added – USA/Canada (NASL) and England after 1978, but the bulk of the league depended on a small group of very old local players. But compared to this group, the number of promising youngsters appeared pitiful… Ruud Gullit (b. 1962, Haarlem), Edo Ophof (b. 1959, NEC Nijmegen), Adrie van Tigellen (b. 1957, Sparta), Danny Blind (b. 1961, Sparta), Martin Jol (b. 1956, Twente), Hans van Breukelen (b. 1956, Utrecht), and the Norwegian Hallvar Thoresen (b. 1957, Twente). The future certainly did not look bright. And it was clear that none of the promising youngsters will play for their current club for long. Currently, Holland had not a generation capable of maintaining the high standards set by Cruyff and company in the first half of the 1970s. Which affected negatively the top clubs too – the big three were still the best in Holland, but already lost their leading position in Europe. The same happened to the national team this very year at the European finals. The league itself was divided into three groups this season – four above the rest, a big bulk of middle of the road teams, and 6 at the bottom trying to escape relegation. Three outsiders were unlucky – or simply worse than the others.
Haarlem finished last with 24 points.
Third row, from left: Jaap Elzinger, elftalleider, Frank Kramer, P.D.J.M. Huyg, P.L Th.M. De Jong, R. Boersma, E.M. Metgod, Ruud Gullit, Jan Frantz.
Middle row: A. Van Der Ban, E.L. Melgers, C.C. Verkaik, G. Kleton, F.W.M. Reuser, Cees Duindam. Sitting: D.A. George, K.L. Masefield, T. Hendriks, B. Hughes,A.M.F. Haar, W.P.T. Balm.
Ruud Gullit had to play second division football before becoming world-famous stars of the 1980s.
Vitesse finished 17th with 25 points – hardly a big surprise, for the club was outsider at that time.
NAC (Breda) was the unlucky 16th – with 27 points, they were relegated because of worse goal-difference than 3 other clubs – NEC (Nijmegen), PEC Zwole, and Sparta (Rotterdam).
Sparta was the best placed among the outsiders – 13th.
Of the small clubs, the bulk of the league better than the outsiders, but not in the same league with the best, Utrecht was the best.
Top row from left: v. Breukelen, Tervoort, v.d. Vlag, Carbo, de Kruyk, Rietveld, Stroomberg.
Middle row: Han Berger, Wildbret, Cabo, du Chatenier, v. Doorn, Streuer, v. Tamelen, Norbart, v. Oostrom, Verkaik, Okhuysen
Sitting: Rietveld, Flight, Gozems, Wouters, Adelaar, Kruys, Witbaard.
5th place most certainly was great achievement for Utrecht, but they had 4 points less than the 4th and were 5th because of better goal-difference – slowly declining since 1975 Twente in its current shape was still better than almost the whole league.
So, 4 clubs were above the rest – nothing new in Holland, except the best teams were not a reason for optimism. There supremacy was preserved largely because they were able to get the best players of the country. Of the four, two were in disarray, and one was a special case.
Feyenoord was 4th and rightly so – signs of coming crisis were noticed around 1975 and after that they were on the slippery slope. Compared to Ajax, Feyenoord missed the moment for starting a new team – Ajax constantly sold the top players and thus was also constantly looking for replacements of the stars. Feyenoord had no such approach and when the great stars moved abroad, retired, or were just too old to play outstanding football, the club was caught unaware. They started rebuilding late, from scratch, and in disadvantage – the new talent was limited in numbers and currently more successful clubs were more attractive to the youngsters. By this season a single player remained from the great older vintage – Wim Jansen. 34-years old defensive midfielder… hardly the player to build a team around and let him lead. Vaclav Jezek, the other famous name, made Czechoslovakia European champion in 1976, but in Feyenoord produced no magic may be because of the very small number of really talented players. Rene Notten, aging himself, was not a big star anyway and failed to satisfy Ajax a few years earlier. Ton van Engelen was the third veteran, perhaps making the fans wonder why Trejtel was dismissed: already 30 years old, van Engelen spent most of the 1970s as a back-up of the best Dutch goalkeeper Jan van Beveren in PSV Eindhoven. The rest of the key players were much younger and still rather ‘promising talent’ than established stars: Michel van de Korput, Ben Wijnstekers and two foreigners: the Icelander Petur Petursson and the Danish defender Ivan Nielsen. Both eventually became well-known players, but in 1979-80 were just raw unknowns. With such a squad, there was no surprise Feyenoord had nothing to do with the title and finished 4th.
Now PSV Eindhoven aged and automatically declined a bit, but they were different than Feyenoord – perhaps because PSV was the last internationally successful Dutch club, or may be because they never had such grand figures like Cruyff and van Hanegem, replacing veterans was easier and young players willing to join. PSV suffered largely by their own movers and shakers: Rene and Willy van de Kerkhof in particular, but also those veterans, who were beyond their peak for years already – Lubse, van der Kuylen, and van Kraay. Van Beveren was perhaps declining too, for he was no longer called to play for Holland – when Cruyff quit the national team in 1977, it seemed that the goalie will be willing to play regularly, but curiously he was no longer called. PSV had a big group of current stars completing the team: Huub Stevens, Ernie Brandts, Jan Poortvliet, Piet Wildschut, and the young hopeful Erwin Koeman, but there was no flair – the switch of flamboyant, fast, and risky football they were famous for in the first half of the 1970s, was gradually replaced by rather dull, strict, physical football of the van de Kerkhof twins. Their stamp was very clear – all younger players were of the same ilk and almost all of them – defenders. It was exactly the current generation of Dutch players – well prepared, tough, competent, but dull and unimaginative. Unfortunately, it was not a great generation and PSV struggled without really great players, and went down a bit.
Third row from left: Reker (ass. trainer), Harry Lubse, ?, Huub Stevens, Ernie Brandts, Jan van Beveren, Willy Heijink (ass. trainer)
Middle: Jac. v.d.Ven (verzorger), Piet Wildschut, Adri van Kraaij, Willy v.d.Kuijlen, Erwin Koeman, Willy Janssen, René v.d.Kerkhof, Cees Rijvers (trainer)
CrouchingValke, ?, ?, Adrie Koster, Jan Poortvliet, Willy v.d.Kerkhof.
Good enough for 3rd place, a point better than Feyenoord, but out of the title race.
Which was lost by the only optimistic happening in Holland – AZ’67 by 3 points.
This was the most successful championship season of the club so far. Also, this was the most promising team at the moment, but in the same time AZ’67 was a special case and not taken entirely serious. The record shows astonishing climb: the club won Second Division in 1971-72 and debuted in First Division the next season, in which barely survived, finishing 15th. But after that it was only going up and – 7th in 1973-74, 5th in 1974-75 and 1975-76, 3rd in 1976-77 and 1977-78, and 4th 1978-79. And Az’67 won the Cup in 1978. Yet, the club was hardly ever mentioned, let alone considered a big news. Perhaps staying out of scrutiny helped, but there was a sense it was a special project, a bit of artificial development, which prevented permanency. Success depended on special blend – AZ’67 took discarded veterans from other clubs and added young talent missed for one or another reason by the big clubs. This season started with Eddy Treytel and Hugo Hovenkamp as veteran anchors. The rest of the team was much younger, but already the current stars of Holland – Ronald Spelbos (b. 1954), Johnny Metgod (b. 1958), Jan Peters (b. 1954), Peter Arntz (b. 1953), Kees Tol (b. 1958), and the fantastic scorer Kees Kist (b. 1952). Add two talented imports: Kristen Nygaard (Denmark) and Kurt Welzl (Austria). But one thing was not missed by any careful observer: apart from Kist, AZ’67 did not have home-grown players – all were bought from elsewhere. Thus, the future depended on the ability of the club to sign players of good quality, replacing those who will inevitably move away, for AZ’67 was in a position to prevent neither Dutch giants, nor foreign clubs offering more lucrative contracts. How long would be possible to keep ‘constructing’ teams was the question, leading observers to be cautious about AZ’67. And in the same time it was the only really improving team in Holland and more importantly – the team playing attractive football, close to the standard set by the great Dutch players of the first half of the 1970s.
As good as AZ’67 were, they were still beaten. Ajax finished first with 22 wins, 6 ties, 6 losses – 50 points and 77-41 goal-difference, which was worse than AZ’67’s, but Ajax won 2 more matches than their rivals. Tradition and deeper squad were perhaps the keys to success – Ajax really won the tile away from home: AZ’67 earned 17 points from away games, Ajax – 21. And this was so far the clear shortcoming of AZ’67 – all of the Dutch big clubs were more successful at away matches than the mavericks.
By now, it was even pointless to count Ajax’s titles – some other aspects were more important. There was a single survivor of the great team of the early 1970s – Ruud Krol. This was his last season in white and red, though – more than reminder that new team should have been made since 1975. But so far Ajax struggled – no new version came even close to the earlier standards. Of course, they were too high a hurdle to be easily overcome, but no new team even relatively close to the old Ajax emerged so far. Transition was painful, players were hired and fired, and the only result was that Ajax lost its strong position in international football. This version was neither well-shaped, nor particularly strong – just like every other version since 1974. Without Krol, this team was left with leading veterans like Piet Schrijvers and Pim van Dord – a far cry from the golden days of Cruijff and Keizer. The newcomer was famous and arrived from Real (Madrid) – the Danish star Henning Jensen – but he was one more example of what did not work so far: after Cruijff was sold to Barcelona in 1973, Ajax visibly changed their concept – earlier the formula was finding young promising players either in smaller Ducth clubs, or in their own youth system. After 1973 Ajax was buying well known names, but old – probably hoping to build a new team around them. Results were mixed and certainly not long-lasting. Henning Jensen’s arrival showed continuation of this ill-fated policy – to the point that not many people remember him playing for Ajax. Of course, Ajax had bright talent as ever – Tahamata, La Ling, Schoenaker, Meustege – but none of them ever became a big star and a true leader. To a point, the best discoveries were foreigners – Soren Lerby and Frank Arnesen, both Danish. They were recruited so young and unknown, that they could be considered a product of Ajax, but they were not Dutch… and more importantly, it was unlikely they will stay for long. On one hand, Ajax never changed its policy of selling profitable players; on the other hand – foreigners were naturally less loyal, especially to a club, which lost its veneer. At best, Ajax was strong enough for the domestic championship, especially when PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord were not in great shape.