A double is the always coveted, and there was a double in Holland in 1977-78, but a different one. PSV Eindhoven had to be satisfied with the title. The Cup final opposed the second and the third in the championship – Ajax vs AZ’67. A chance for either club to win a trophy and also worthy final for still the top clubs participated in it. Traditional winner vs young upstart. Both teams on ascend. As often happens, the final was not full of goals – the stakes were high, the opponents were quite equal. Photos may be misleading:
Peter Arntz shoots towards Ajax’s net – the Amstrdam’s defender looks desperate and the picture suggests overwhelming supremacy of AZ’67. It was not so, but still they managed to score and Ajax did not. 1-0 for the young club from Alkmaar. The Cup was theirs.
Peter Arnzt, Hans Reijnders, and Kees Kist triumphal.
Roger Schowenaar sharing his happiness with the masses. The strange Dutch habit of the 1970s to appear in white robes, pretty much bathrobes than anything else, still persistent. New Cup winners no matter how they look.
Double losers, Ajax. Second in championship and second in the Cup tournament. Disappointment… or may be an ominous signal that despite their promise, this vintage was not going to be really great and Ajax had to wait for another one. Yes, the team was young, full of talent, had equally young and talented coach, but… this was more or less a squad to be second-best. Squad photos like this one are nightmare for a historian, for they do not belong to any season and Ajax had more than its fair share of such pictures – this is neither 1976-77, nor 1977-78. The reason is in the clubs quite unusual transfers during the 1970s, beginning with Cruyff’s in the autumn of 1973. This picture was taken in the summer of 1977, before the season’s start. Come October and, the season already in progress everywhere, and suddenly Suurbier and Notten were gone. The faith of Rene Notten is clear – he went to Feyenoord. Wim Suurbier’s remains a mystery: he went to Metz (France) or Schalke 04 (West Germany)? Or to both? Certainly he played for Schalke 04 this season – but only 12 matches, which deepens the mystery … not a full season. Was he loaned by Metz? Or by Schalke 04 to Metz? But never mind Suurbier – with his leave, Ruud Krol was the sole survivor of the great Ajax. It was a brand new vintage – Schrijvers, Geels, and van Dord provided experience, but it was generally a squad of bright youngsters – Schoenaker, La Ling, Tahamata, the Danish imports Lerby and Arnesen. The team was still a bit inexperienced and needed perhaps a few years to really ripen. But it was not to become a great team… the transfers continued steadily, may be because the talent was not exactly successful and Ajax had to wait for some years until the next really strong team appeared. In a way, second best – this year, twice.
AZ’67 won their first trophy – a big success for barely 10 years old club.
Yes, the boys from Alkmaar were rising, this season they confirmed that were not one-time wonder, but were evaluated with caution. It was the making of the squad which prevented commentators from excitement: young rising stars, rapidly becoming known in Europe, seemingly came from nowhere – Peters, Arntz, Metgod, Spelbos, the Dane Nygaard, and especially the fantastic goalscorer Kees Kist. But the other half of the team was made of old veterans, some discarded from their previous clubs: van Hanegem and Mladen Ramljak, formerly of Feyenoord, Hugo Hovenkamp, Theo Vonk, and the second Yugoslavian Rizah Meskovic. It was almost impossible to envision a great future for such a squad: the veterans had a second wind, but they were on their last legs and surely would not last. The youngsters also were not expected to last… after all, AZ’67 was a small club and inevitably their talented players would be snatched by wealthier clubs from Holland and abroad. Winning was to be their undoing… but they won the Cup, it was fantastic, and most importantly, contrary to expectations, AZ’67 was still to go up and reach higher peaks without changing their strange approach to building a team.