First division – the real thing. Some up, some down, but not really a season disturbing the status quo. Telstar was the early and hopeless outsider.
Second row, from left: Mircea Petescu – coach, John Massa, Paul Stam, Eddy Kraal, Arno Wellerdieck, Nico Schroder, Rogier Krone, Frans van Essen, Jos Jonker, Cees Kick – assistant coach.
Front row: Martien Burgers, Koos Kuut, Ab van Oorschot, Torben Mikkelsen, Paul van der Meeren, Fred Bischot.
More than modest squad, winning only 14 points and naturally finishing dead last months before the end of the season.
The race for escaping the deadly 17th place was thrilling – 6 teams desperately tried to avoid relegation. Five lucky, one unlucky. FC Amsterdam, once strong and aiming high, failed. Looked inevitable – the club was declining for years, changed name hoping to reorganize, but the downfall was unstoppable. Money was the main reason, along with the difficulty to co-exist with Ajax. With 26 points, FC Amsterdam was a point short from safety.
All smiles before the start of the season, but not at the end: standing from left: T. Bruins-slot (assistant coach), N. Grozenipper (masseur), A. Kampheus, Th.Swart, E. van Aken, C.Swerissen, A. Raven, L. de Leeuw, W. van Bommel, M. Wiggemansen, A. Wetzel, G.v.d. Bildt (coach) P.v.d. Meent.
First row: J. Wiesman (equipe manager), C. De Jong, L.v.d. Merut, H. Bouwmeester, H. Wisman, H. Stuy. van Veenendaal. W. Busker, C. Stout, Tj. Koopman.
Not much of a team… perhaps the only interesting thing was their goalkeeper. From all players of the great Ajax Heinz Stuy was the least appreciated. He also was the one disappearing quitely and without trace – at least for outsiders. He went to FC Amsterdam, replacing there Yongbloed, who, older than Stuy, was keeping his curious place in the national team and even moved to a better team. The German-born Stuy went down and nearing his retirement really plummeted – from champion of the world on club level, he was going to second division. Sad fate.
Sad fate for Feyenoord too – they finished 10th. The crisis was coming for some time – aging. Feyenoord was late in starting a new team and went down. Unlikely club went the other way – FC Volendam had a strong year, finishing 7th.
Standing from left: Dick Zwarthoed (masseur), Fred André, Hans Mol, Johnny van Wensveen, Wim Kwakman, Billy Bond, Frans Hoek, Jaap Jonk, Dick Bond, Cor Zonneveld, Kees Tol, Kees Guyt, Jan Mak (trainer)
Sitting: Harry Smal, Frank Kramer, Jaap Braan, Jaap Visser, Kees Molenaar, Piet Kkoning, Klaas Kwakman, Paul Bijvank, Jan Schokker, Dick de Boer.
Not exactly a promising side, Volendam had a strong season, but unlikely to be repeated, even less bettered.
The really strong clubs were the top four, leaving the rest 5 points behind. At the top, there were differences too, dividing the leaders into two groups. Twente, reaching their peak more or less two years earlier, was still running strong on inertia.
Solid squad, but with aging key players (Pahlplatz, van Ierssel, van der Vall, Drost, Boss), who were never more than second-stringers, compared to the really big stars of the early 1970s. The team had younger bright players – Wildschut, Thijssen, the Norwegian Thoresen, and to a point Arnold Muhren), but it was unlikely Twente had the means to keep them and build a new team led by them. So far, Twente was able to maintain strong position among the best, but it was not a real contender. Not yet in decline, but not rising either – the likelier direction was downhill. Twente finished 4th with 45 points.
Bronze medals went to a rising club: AZ’67 was impressive the year before and now did better. They were not contenders yet, but certainly ascending, stii not reaching their peak.
Bronze medals was not everything this year for the young club, so nothing more about them now. Except their kit – advertising Hitachi, but… this is a training, unofficial kit. So far there was no shirt advertisement in Holland – it was made legal later. Training – yes, may be used in friendlies, but not in official matches.
Second finished Ajax, practically the only challenger of the champions, and in the same time not really – they ended 4 points behind the top team and two points ahead of AZ’67. Under Tomislav Ivic the team improved indeed – champions in 1977 and second in 1978. The turn-over of the squad was finished: only Ruud Krol remained from the great Ajax and only Schrijvers, Geels, and van Dord from the feeble idea for keeping the club afloat by buying well-known names. New and younger men were rapidly their names now, but although the team was playing good and fast football it was not on the level of the earlier total winners. The squad was still too young for consistency and did not promise return to the glory days.
Silver – almost a failure for Ajax, always aiming high. A very promising team, but somewhat suggestive of mostly domestic success. Like AZ’67, shown here in unusual kit – yellow was unlikely colour.
PSV Eindhovem won their 7th title quite comfortably – they lost only games, tied 11, and won 21. With 53 points, they finished 4 points ahead of Ajax, having the best defense and third best attack – 74:21. Ajax outscored them by 11 goals, but had leakier defense. Eindhoven’s record once again confronted their reputation for recklessly attacking football scoring as much as possible – the key to their victory was seemingly the defensive line. Once again triumphal.
One more club using unusual colours this season – who would think Eindhoven dressed in green? Like AZ’67 and Ajax above, this was a reserve kit, but still going against tradition.
Of course, most of the time the champions played in their familiar red and white stripes and black shorts. And they were the most familiar Dutch team as well, still coached by Cees Rijvers. So far, PSV Eindhoven was successfully avoiding the crisis of generational change – transition was conducted smoothly and the new players blended well. Huub Stevens, Jan Poortvliet, Ernie Brandts, and the Swedish import Torbjorn Nilsson were the future, gradually replacing aging players. There were still plenty to go in the next few years: Lubse, van Beveren, Krijgh, van Kraay, but the balance was already achieved. The van de Kerkhof brothers were the key players and far from retirement. They were perhaps the top players in Holland at the time, representing the turn from the freewheeling, artistic total football of Ajax to physical, determined, serious German-like football. This was perhaps the greatest season in the history of PSV Eindhoven – winning the UEFA Cup as well as the domestic title. Finally with European trophy, shoulder to shoulder with the Ajax and Feyenoord at last. The modest Welsh player in their squad Nick Deacy certainly achieved more in Holland than he would ever in England.