1.) 12 Feb 2019
12 Feb 2019 14:33:58
Thanks for the article Ed001. Have always loved this guy and always will. Probably the most influential footballer of the last 50-60 years, in terms of impact on teams he played with or coached, as well as the game, in general, and that says a lot. Would Rinus Michels have been able to execute his "total football" philosophy with that Ajax team of the 70's without Cruyff? I doubt it. Pity about the "my way or highway" attitude Cruyff had, but it's like this with geniuses sometimes, isn't it? People with strong beliefs, and the force of character to push through those beliefs, are usually like this.

{Ed001's Note - he would never have got La Masia done if he had not had that attitude to be fair. I loved what he said about Pep when he took charge at Barca: "When Guardiola was a boy and the people said to me, 'oh he's one of the best'. So I looked for him in the reserves, but he didn't play in the reserves. So then I looked at the first youth team, and he didn't play in that team. And eventually I found him in the third youth team. So I said to the coaches, 'you said he was the best one'. And they said, 'yeah, but physically no'. I said, 'put him in the reserves. He will grow. Don't worry everybody grows.' And they said, 'yeah, but we will lose'. I said, 'if we lose, we lose. We need to create players.' And Guardiola did very well." That is how youth development needs to be looked at, not this Gerrard attitude, who went in and only thought about winning matches.}

2.) 12 Feb 2019
12 Feb 2019 16:16:39
Agreed Ed001. I said it was a pity only because he had later opportunities to be back in the Boards at both Barcelona and Ajax and in both places, it was very short lived because of his volatility and refusal to accept compromise. I would have loved to have seen him succeed with Ajax one more time. But that's how it is I guess. Genius only sees one way to do "their thing". 😉.

{Ed001's Note - that is a shame but they should have let him do his thing.}

3.) 12 Feb 2019
12 Feb 2019 16:32:04
Curious on your thoughts on the best way to bridge the gap between u23’s and the prem Ed. Clearly there a gulf given how youngster can tear it up but not be ready to step into first team football, should the FA be trying to make it more competitive or is the best way to achieve promotion of youth really still through a loans system?

I’d love to see the development of a genuinely competitive PL2 such that kids don’t have to go through a series of loans to get the necessary experience to be able to join the first team.

{Ed001's Note - stop allowing loans so they have to play in the stiffs or move clubs.}

4.) 12 Feb 2019
12 Feb 2019 17:15:51
Really enjoyed reading that ed. Loved cruyff as a player one of my all time favourites but never really realised what a visionary he was really outstanding to be fair. Football is a lot poorer without him just a shame he never played or managed the pool
Up the pool.

{Ed001's Note - he did come close to being the man to rebuild the club. It was Cruyff that FSG wanted when they first bought the club. They wanted him as DoF but he was not interested in leaving Ajax at the time.}

5.) 12 Feb 2019
12 Feb 2019 17:39:55
Fantastic that Ed, he's one of my all time favourites of the game, a true legend, cheers mate.

{Ed001's Note - and mine. I did a legends article and player profile with it, but never thought to do manager profiles then, so it is nice to add this to the set, so to speak.}

6.) 12 Feb 2019
12 Feb 2019 17:52:01
Yeah I remember that legends article well Ed, I read it twice! great work mate.

{Ed001's Note - cheers mate, glad you enjoyed. That was one of the first properly long form articles I did and I wasn't sure if people would want to read so much. I ended up leaving loads out because of that.}

7.) 12 Feb 2019
12 Feb 2019 18:17:17
That would have been really something if Cruyff had come on board. I had no idea whatsoever at the time. Pity FSG settled for the likes of Hodgson, Comolli and Rodgers. But I'll assume those choices were based on "advisors" since I recognize all the good they have done for the club since those days.

8.) 12 Feb 2019
12 Feb 2019 18:56:32
I loved all the legend articles Ed mate but my favourites would be Cruyff and Tyson. From your end can you see how many people has viewed them? I imagine quite alot!

{Ed001's Note - I can see how many people visit the FNV and player-profiles sites each day, but not a count for specific pages. It has grown from about 50 per day on each to being about 600 or so on profiles if I don't post any new ones up that day and it can reach as much as 2000 if I do. As for FNV, it bottoms at about 2000 now with just the daily review posted and any other articles increase it. It's gradually going up over the months as well, which is good.}

9.) 12 Feb 2019
12 Feb 2019 19:04:01
ArAy1969, FSG did not hire Hodgson. They did fire him tho.

10.) 12 Feb 2019
12 Feb 2019 19:13:21
how did we drop from considering Cryuff to settling for Comolli?

11.) 12 Feb 2019
12 Feb 2019 21:27:25
Brilliant read Ed, definitely one of my all time favorites as well. Thank you for writing it.