What's even more interesting is that the manager of Ajax who signed Cruyff was an Englishman, Vic Buckingham, who espoused a kind of proto-Total Football at Ajax before moving back to England in the early 60s. He used the same system as the Barcelona manager immediately before Michels, who then signed Cruyff, and built on Buckingham's already established approach. So on this somewhat flimsy evidence I reckon Total Football, like football, is actually an English invention, the Dutch just gave it a fancy name. And made it star in substandard porn flicks
Good point, I don't really remember Buckingham too well, I guess you're older than me.
He was a bit like George Raynor, insofar as he went and did stuff with Johnny Foreigner, so was regarded with suspicion in England.
English football suffered from an overbearing arrogance in the 50's into the early 60's, something that the humiliation at the feet of the Hungarians in 56 couldn't quite remove.
Even today, the work of the likes of Roy Hodgson and Bobby Robson, are largely ignored....I could count John Toshack in this were he English.
I think Steve McClaren deserves a bit of credit for doing OK in Holland.
