At the bottom of first division – hopeless outsiders. VVV Venlo were well bellow the league’s level.
Third row,from left: C. v.d. Boogaart, G. van Rosmalen, Jochen Vieten, E. Sobczak, H. Schreurs, R. Monnee, P. Franken.
Middle row: (man in blazer unknown), K. Rettkowski, L. Hilkes, J. Hermans, H. Janssen, H. Brunnenberg, P. Pala, M. Jovanovic, H. Janse, H. Croon.
Sitting: T. van Veggel, S. Kurcinac, W. Bothmer, F. Nijssen, A. Oostrom, T. Gubbels, M. Leushuis, A. v.d. Weide.
4 wins, 6 ties, 29 losses, 23-79 goal-difference, 14 points. There was no escape with such performance – VVV Venlo sunk early and stayed last to the end. The better known players in the team were foreign – two obscure Yugoslavians Stefan Kurcinac and Mikan Jovanovic, a West German journeyman, who played in the Bundesliga for a while, Kurt Rettkowski, and the best known joined the team during the season – the former Austrian national team defender Eddie Krieger, who was a regular in the great squad of FC Brugge, which played twice European cup finals. Krieger was 33 at the time, but the others were not much younger – Kurcinac was 31, Rettkowski – 30, and Jovanovic – 29. Aging players, who were not much even at their prime – but aging perhaps was the key: Jovanovic arrived in Venlo in 1973, when he was 23 years old – by now, he was perhaps not just getting old, but also not very inspired. VVV Venlo largely played in the second division, even dropping to amateur football for few years. Playing first division football was very high achievement for them – but the three-years spell ended with relegation.
The other relegated team was also an obvious suspect – FC Volendam.
Like VVV Venlo, they usually played in the second division. Survival among the best was their only aim and they failed, to nobody’s surprise. But they put some fight – the safe 16th place was missed, unfortunately.
The opponent of FC Volendam was Haarlem. Ancient club – founded 1889 – successful in the past, but completely insignificant in the professional era, Haarlem were just happy to play in the first division – occasionally.
Haarlem did not have much to offer – one of the most exotic looking players in the world
and a young English defender – Keith Masefield – who never played for his former club, Aston Villa. Masefield settled well in Haarlem – he played 11 years for the small club. The third name is impressive from a distance – a merely 17 years boy was eventually included in the squad. His name was Ruud Gullit. This squad fought bitterly for survival and clinched 16th place with 6 wins, 13 ties, and 15 losses. Three points ahead of FC Volendam.
A vast group of more or less equal clubs was spread between 15th and 5th place – 5 points was the difference between the highest and lowest, and the best said about them was only that these clubs did not worry about relegation. Vitesse (Arnhem) were 14th.
Third row, from left.: Bosveld, Mellaard, Zaaijer, Mulderij, Hofs.
Middle row: Heezen, van Hardeveld, Bursac, Bals (assistant coach), Veenstra, Das, Meyers, Horrée (assistant coach).
Sitting: Beukhof, Bleijenberg, Nijhuis, Wullems (coach), Boeve, Gerdsen, Hendriks.
Unknown club at the time, they were a typical small Dutch club. They had much better days in the future, but nobody would have imagined that in 1978-79.
FC Utrecht finished a place above Vitesse – 13th.
Third row, from left: H. v. Breukelen, B. Rietveld, A. de Kruyk, F. Dimmendaal, H. v.d. Ham, L. v. Veen, J. Stroomberg.
Middle row: H. Vonk (coach), H. v.d. Ven, G. Tervoort, T. du Chatenier, J. Streur, M. Cabo, C. Hildebrand, R. Vriezen, J. Berger (coach).
Sitting: Dr. A. Querido, J. Oostdam, E. Gozems, J. v. Staa, W. Flight, J. v. Tamelen , A. Witbaard.
Another insignificant team, having a youngster becoming famous in the future – Hans van Breukelen.
PEC Zwolle were 8th.
Standing, from left: F. Korbach (coach), B. Nieuwenhout, J. Hendriksen, C. Steinvoort, R. Israel, G. Kasperski, C. Kornelis, B. v. Geffen, K. Hoekstra.
First row: B. Hendriks, R. Jans, R. IJzerman, J. Banhoffer, J. Rasmussen, J. Frandsen, Tj. v. Leland, Y. Hamming, K. Mulder (masseur).
Rinus Israel was the only famous player – but too old.
Sparta (Rotterdam) were 6th – seemingly, well placed, but only to the eye. In reality, Sparta were typical mid-table club, no worse, but not better either, than the bulk of the league. Their 33 points were just 5 points more than the 15th placed, and their final position was on top of the massive bulk of the league only thanks to better goal-difference.
What can be said about them was trivia: Romanian coach – Mircea Petescu; a 36-years old goalkeeper, who made 8 appearances for the national team between 1967 and 1981 – Pim Doesburg; one still unknown young defender, who was to become famous as a teammate of the 1988 stars – Adri van Tiggelen; a veteran Northern Irish striker, whose best days were perhaps with Aston Villa (1973-75) – Sammy Morgan; and run of the mill midfielder, becoming famous coach – Louis van Gaal. So far, van Gaal played 0 matches for Ajax in 1972-73 and spent the next four years in Belgium with Royal Antwerpen with little success. Moved back to Holland and played for second division Telstar in 1977-78 from where he went to Sparta for the 1978-79 season. From this squad perhaps the most interesting figure in the actual time was the coach – Petescu, born in 1942, was relatively successful Romanian defender – twice champion of the country with UTA (Arad). He also made 5 appearances for the national team. His finest moment was perhaps in 1970-71, when UTA eliminated the current holders of the European Champions Cup – Feyenoord (Rotterdam). May be thanks to that he finished his playing career in Holland, where he moved to in 1973 to play for lowly FC Dordrecht. Hard to tell was it a legal transfer or a defection – by 1973 Romania was closing her export of football players and also Petescu never went back: he finished playing in 1975 and immediately became a coach. He coached only Dutch teams – and was respected for his fondness of young talent. His greatest discovery is Danny Blind.
Above the insignificant bulk were two clubs, which finished divided by a single point. They were different: for the moment, the 5th placed looked like lucky club having brief strong season. So far Roda JC did not catch anybody’s eye.
Third row, from left: Bas Jacobs, Peter de Wit, Adri Koster, Johan Toonstra, Stan Ziegler, Leo Degens.
Middle row: Jan Jongbloed, Joop Dacier, Dick Nanninga, Michel Mommertz, C. Riemens, Jan Kolding, Norbert Keulen.
Sitting: T.Lees, André Broeks, Leo Ehlen, Pierre Vermeulen, John Meuser, Theo de Jong, John Pfeiffer.
Hardly an impressive squad, but they had Jan Jongbloed and Dick Nanninga, fresh from 1978 World Cup, and Theo de Jong, who played at the 1974 World Cup. None was young, but seemingly three stars were enough for strong year.
AZ’67 (Alkmaar) continued there strong years – they finished 4th. However, little attention was paid to them – they played no part in the battle for the title, largely fighting for 4th place with Roda JC. To a point, AZ’67 appeared to be a team without a future: they were peculiar mix.
AZ’67 had a strange policy – they hardly depended on home-grown players, but on veterans not needed elsewhere. Van Hanegem, Hovenkamp, Nygaard, and Meskovic were seemingly the movers and shakers of the team, but their best years were behind them. The rest were good players, but not exactly desired by the big clubs. Or at least not yet. It was a shaky-looking team – the veterans clearly were going to retire soon. The rising youngsters, who were increasingly playing for the national team, were surely to move to bigger clubs. What was not really noticed – especially outside Holland – was the way AZ’67 slowly built a decent squad: the Danish striker Kristen Nygaard (b.1949) arrived in 1972 from IHF Aarhus. Now he was 30 years old and no longer needed for the Danish national team, but more or less the team started with him. The same year unknown youngster came form lowly Heerenveen – Kees Kist (b.1952). By the end of the 1978-79 season he was one of the top Dutch players. Hugo Hovenkamp (b.1950), often included in the Dutch national team, but not a regular starter, arrived in 1975 from Groningen. In 1976 Rizah Meskovic (b. 1947), a member of the 1974 Yugoslavian world cup squad, arrived from Hajduk (Split). Two other newcomers in 1976 were the great, but aging, Wim van Hanegem (b. 1944) from Feyenoord and two unknown promises – Peter Arntz (b. 1953) from Go Ahead Eagles, and Johnny Metgod (b. 1958) from Haarlem. Jan Peters (b. 1954), already a national team player, came from NEC Nijmegen in 1977, and finally in 1978 two men came from Austrian Swarovski Wacker (Innsbruck) – the West German coach Georg Kessler (b. 1932), who coached Anderlecht among other clubs, and Kurt Welzl (b. 1954), who was part of the impressive Austrian team at the 1978 World Cup. The only player AZ’67 could have claimed as their own was Ronald Spelbos (b. 1954), who debuted in 1974. Surely a good squad, but somehow not exceptional and not exactly a team with a future – the veterans did not have much time left to play and those who were becoming leading Dutch footballers most likely were to move to bigger clubs. It was easy to see why they were in AZ’67 – compared to the big names of the 1970s, they were somewhat lower class – except for Kees Kist. Even Meskovic – at his prime, he was merely third choice for the Yugoslavian national team and was not called again after 1974. To a point, the 4th place this season looked like a sign of inevitable end of a club which took advantage of players nobody was looking for a few years back. The strange mix was not going to last, nor it was of the really winning kind. How wrong was this impression!
The traditional big three of Dutch football were the leaders this season. Well, leaders as usual… except they were not so usual. PSV Eindhoven was dangerously aging – as a team more than individual players – and it showed. They were still much stronger than the rest of the league, but the race for the title was not up to them.
They finished third – comfortably third, but third. Their master-builder Kees Rijvers was still coaching them – and the team was largely familiar: van Beveren (b. 1948), Deijkers (b. 1946), Krijgh (b. 1950), van Kray (b. 1953), Lubse (b. 1951), van der Kuijlen (b. 1946), Rene and Willi van de Kerkhof (both b. 1951) were the core of the squad since 1972, when Rijvers arrived. With the exception of the van de Kerkhof twins, nobody was national team material anymore. True, the twins were the prime stars of Dutch football and pretty much the leaders of the national team, but they needed younger talent around them – there was such: Brandts (b.1956), Poortvliet (b. 1955), Huub Stevens (b. 1953), and Piet Wildschut (b. 1957). Well, looked like there was younger talent… for these players, although already members of the national team, were different kind than the previous Dutch generation. First of all, they were defensive players – suddenly the problem of PSV was the attack. They were no longer the dangerous high scoring team – with 65 goals, they had the third scoring record in the league this season, but AZ’67 scored 84 goals and Ajax – 93. Secondly, the new players were more competent than talented – they were ‘trained’, knew what to do, kept themselves in excellent condition, but had no spark. The had good careers, but who remembers them today? True stars they were not. PSV needed major rebuilding already.
Feyenoord fought for the title almost to end and had the best defensive record – they lost only 2 matches. They allowed only 19 goals in their net. Perhaps that was the key – Feyenoord was not even at the middle of transition, but at the beginning of rebuilding. They started too late – may be three years later than they should have started.
Vaclav Jezek, who made Czechoslovakia European champion in 1976, was hired – rebuilding eventually started with his arrival, but the negatives was too many for anything more than silver medals. Only two of the squad feared around Europe remained – the goalkeeper Treijtel (b. 1946) and the defensive midfielder Jansen (b. 1946). Both were old… the third experienced veteran was Rene Notten (b. 1949), who reached his peak 4 or 5 years ago – his best days were with Twente. The current stars were Jan Peters (b. 1953) and Michel van de Korput (b. 1956) – strong players, but hardly big stars and not leaders around whom to build a team. Young promising players were present: the goalkeeper Joop Hiele (b. 1958), Ben Wijnstekers (b. 1955), Sjaak Troost (b. 1959), the Icelandic talent Petur Petursson (b. 1959), Arie Romijn (b. 1958), but they were still too young and inexperienced. It was still a period of searching and trying – Romijn lasted only this season, and played a single match… Hiele, Wijnstekers, and Troost eventually played a bit for the national team, but not much… and although Hiele and Troost were main feature of the next decade Feyenoord, neither is even remotely close to legends like van Hanegem or Israel. Just a lesser quality. Feyenoord had a lot to do and no wonder Jezek mostly managed to keep the team near the top in his first year. Lacking great players, Feyenoord depended on tied, pressing, slightly defensive football, aiming at collecting points – 13 ties this season! Well, 13 points fought for…
With opposition having problems, Ajax emerged as the best shaped team. It was not much really, but at least it was not fading team or at the first stage of transition. It was not a team without problems, but still better than the rest of the league. Ajax won 24 matches, tied 6, and lost four. They scored 93 goals and received 31. The numbers are impressive. Another title was fine too.
There was new coach – Cor Brom, who arrived from Sparta (Rotterdam) – but the team was already shaped by Tomislav Ivic (who returned to Hajduk Split), so there was no trouble. Still, it is questionable how wise was to hire little known coach, associated largely with smaller declining clubs. But Ajax seemingly were always choosing the cheapest solution – the precedents of the replacements of Rinus Michels and after that of his successor Stefan Kovacs were easily to recall. Luckily, the league was too weak and Brom-lead Ajax won… but the coach did not last for a second try. Anyhow, the team appeared good and with lots of potential for the future – it was not at its prime, still too young as a team . Only Ruud Krol (b. 1949) remained of the great team winning three European Champions Cups. Only two players remained from the early shaky efforts of keeping a strong team – Schrijvers (b. 1946) and van Dord (b. 1953). There was only one more experienced player – Johan Zuidema (b. 1948). The rest was younger talent – Wim Meutstege (b. 1952), Dick Schoenaker (b. 1952), Tscheu La Ling (b. 1956), the two rapidly becoming big stars Danes – Frank Arnesen (b. 1956) and particularly Soren Lerby (b. 1958), the fascinating winger Simon Tahamata (b. 1956), and the still teenaged hopeful Ruud Kaiser (b. 1960). Almost all of the above were already playing for the national teams of Holland and Denmark. May be a bit of fine tuning was still needed and more experience, but the skeleton of the next ‘great’ Ajax was at hand – soon to soar to the heights of the team of the early 1970s. So it looked like…