Koeman pays moving tribute to Netherlands legend Cruyff
Ronald Koeman has written an emotional tribute to Johan Cruyff as English football gets set to commemorate the Dutchman's passing this evening.
The FA will invite a sell-out crowd at tonight's friendly between England and Holland at Wembley to applaud the Ajax and Barcelona legend, who died on Thursday aged 68.
Fans will have the opportunity to clap in appreciation in the 14th minute of the game, when his image will be shown on big screens at the stadium.
Koeman wrote a piece about Cruyff to feature in the match programme before he lost his fight with cancer.
The Southampton manager played under Cruyff at Barcelona and scored the winning goal for his team against Sampdoria in the 1992 European Cup final at Wembley.
Yet Koeman's memories of him stretch back much further and he said: "When I was a boy in the 70s, Johan Cruyff was always on my mirror, you could say.
"With Ajax he won the European Cup three years in a row and was never really out of view. In 1974 we went to the World Cup to see the Dutch team in West Germany, where he was the captain and best player.
"His intelligence was plain to see and as a player he was already a manager on the pitch. He was a very technically skilful player and he was strong tactically.
"He was clever, he organized the team, opponents could not anticipate his attacking movements and he also scored goals.
"Normally attackers are selfish, focused on scoring goals, but he was looking after everything, deciding things on the pitch and giving instructions to the rest of the players."
Cruyff played for Ajax and Barcelona then managed both, pulling off the rare feat of being incredibly successful in both capacities.
He also turned out in America for Los Angeles Aztecs and Washington Diplomats before returning to Europe with Levante, Ajax again and their rivals Feyenoord.
Koeman added: "When he finally came back to Holland and Ajax at the age of 34, his first game was against Haarlem and he scored a great goal, chipping the keeper from 20 meters.
"What a fantastic memory that is. All the expectation on him coming home and he rises to it and scores a wonderful goal.
"We can celebrate his skill and cleverness but the most significant quality all the best players have is the ability to win big titles.
"He won in Amsterdam and he won in Barcelona. It was a great pity Holland did not win against the Germans but we played attacking football and became famous for it.
"That was a legacy that became the tradition of the Dutch game. His influence is alive at Ajax, throughout Dutch football and at Barcelona.
"He was the man who started Barcelona's great football, that style they still have. Later on other coaches did the job even better than him but he was the man who started it all."
