The following year, it was Ajax's greatest rivals, Sport Club Feyenoord of Rotterdam, who made the great breakthrough by beating Reykavik, AC Milan, Vorwärts Berlin and Legia Warsaw to reach the Final in Milan. Against all expectations, they overcame a very talented Celtic side 2-1 in extra time to give Dutch football its first European trophy. They were quite unlike any other team I'd seen before, not exactly Total Football yet, but rather they relied on possession football taken almost to the extreme, the ball moving rapidly from one player to another, in any direction, at all costs avoiding being caught with it, while the opposition became disheartened chasing the ball around, and a tight, almost stifling use of the offside trap.

  Unusual tactics for the time, perceived as very defensive in outlook, and Celtic certainly weren't happy about them, but hugely effective. This method of play also demanded great fitness, an often overlooked virtue of Dutch football in the 1970s. Rinus Israël, Wim van Hanegem and Wim Jansen all played in this game, Israël even getting his picture on a stamp as a consequence.

  Having reached the Semi-Finals of the Fairs Cup (later the UEFA Cup) in 1970, with a team that now featured Ruud Krol and Gerry Mühren, Ajax went one better in the European Cup the following year. While Feyenoord were reclaiming the Dutch league, Ajax beat Nendori Tirana, Basle, Celtic and Atletico Madrid, and found themselves playing Greek side Panathinaikos (coached by Hungarian legend Ferenc Puskas) in the European Cup Final at Wembley.

  The 2-0 victory was almost a stroll, Ajax's superiority in all the arts of the game quite manifest from the first whistle to the last, and people were beginning to sit up and notice something was going on. Their movement was bewildering, their skill on the ball astonishing, their tackling frightening. We were used to seeing Italian and Spanish teams dominating Europe, but the Dutch, having seemed to get there almost by stealth, were now at last being given the credit they deserved. British commentators were even learing to pronounce their name correctly (Ay-ax rather than Ey-jax) though liberties were still to be taken with Cruyff's name for many years to come.

The Ajax European Cup winning team of 1971. Back: Hulshoff, Stuy, Suurbier, Van Dijk, Mühren. Front: Keizer, Swart, Rijnders, Vasovic, Cruyff, Neeskens.

  The Ajax team in the Final was: Heinz Stuy in goals; Johan Neeskens, Vasovic, Hulshoff and Suurbier in defence; Nico Rijnders and Gerry Mühren in midfield; and Swart, Cruyff, Dick van Dijk and Keizer up front; with Horst Blankenburg and Arie Haan as substitutes. Van Dijk, from Keizer's cross, and Haan, with a deflected shot, were the goalscorers. Ruud Krol had featured in earlier rounds, but was injured for the Final, hence Neeskens at right-back and Suurbier at left-back. The Yugoslavian international Velibor Vasovic was the captain.

  Michels was a remarkable coach by any standards, a stern disciplinarian by all accounts, and almost obsessed with physical fitness. Yet these qualities, when allied to the raw talent of the players at the club, were turning Ajax into not only the best team in Europe (to judge by results) but also the most thrilling to watch.

  And it should not go unmentioned that, when Michels left to go to Barcelona in 1971, the side actually improved quite dramatically; the best got better. In later years, the players would declare that the Romanian Stefán Kovács gave them more freedom than his predecessor, and the new outlook combined with the sense of discipline and high work-rate instilled by Michels to produce even greater things on the pitch.

  With Kovács at the helm, Ajax cruised past Dynamo Dresden, Olympic Marseille, Arsenal and Benfica (Feyenoord's conquerers) on their way to the 1972 European Cup Final, a match held in Rotterdam as further evidence of the prominence now afforded the Dutch game, and overwhelmed Italian champions Inter with two goals from Cruyff, the first the result of uncharacteristic defensive errors, the second a more memorable header.

  The 2-0 margin of victory scarcely represented Ajax's superiority, and, by now, the team's uniqueness was plain for all to see. The continued changes of position, the way they were all so comfortable in possession, the sheer look in their eyes. This was a team the like of which we had not seen before. Their triumph over the old, dull, tired-looking catenaccio of Inter seemed to offer confirmation that this new way of playing the game was about to sweep away the negativity of the 1960s once and for all.

  The line-up was: Stuy; Suurbier, Blankenburg, Hulshoff and Krol; Haan, Neeskens and Gerry Mühren; Swart, Cruyff and Keizer. Van Dijk, Ruud Suurendonk, the Austrian international Heinz Schilcher and young striker Johnny Rep had played a part in earlier rounds. Piet Keizer was captain now, following the retirement of Vasovic.

  Still it went unremarked that success at international level continued to elude the Dutch. Even with the likes of Krol, Hulshoff, Neeskens, Gerry Mühren and Keizer now added to the national squad, Yugoslavia had beaten them to the last eight of the 1972 European Championship. There would be changes for the qualification tournament for the next World Cup, not the least being the elevation of Cruyff to captain - he would also take over as captain of Ajax around this time.

  Ajax's 1973 European Cup triumph was almost an anticlimax. CSKA Sofia, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid were all brushed aside en route to the inevitable Final. A single, early goal from Johnny Rep, heading in Blankenburg's cross, was all that was required to defeat Juventus in Belgrade, Ajax demonstrating the Dutch trait of doing just enough to win, while knowing they had plenty in reserve if it was needed. Once they were a goal in front, Ajax contented themselves with taking long-range shots at the Juve goal, and inventing new formations to play in. Hulshoff, fiercely bearded these days, regularly galloped up the field like a man possessed, the full-backs changed sides, overlapped, then changed sides and overlapped, while Neeskens was everywhere, tackling, passing, heading, shooting, as Ajax's domination of the midfield was close to total.

  The only one who disappointed slightly was Cruyff, marked tightly and effectively, he dropped off ever deeper in a vain attempt to break free of marker Morini, and flitted in and out of the game, almost as if he felt the team could win without him. This question was soon to be put to the test.

  Winning the World Club Championship (against Independiente of Buenos Aires) and the inaugural European Super Cup (against Rangers) around this time for good measure, this was, perhaps, the all-time "classic" Ajax line-up: Stuy in goals; Suurbier, Blankenburg, Hulshoff and Krol in defence; Haan, Neeksens and Mühren in midfield; and Rep, Cruyff and Keizer up front. Stuy and the German Blankenburg were the only non-internationals in the team.

  In addition to the Dutch league, Feyenoord won the UEFA Cup in 1974, defeating Tottenham in the Final. The Feyenoord side for the first leg, in London, was: Eddy Treytel in goal; Wim Rijsbergen, Joop van Daele, Rinus Israël, and Harry Vos in defence; Wim Jansen, Theo de Jong and Wim van Hanegem in midfield; and Peter Ressel, Lex Schoenmaker and the Dane Jorgen Kristensen in attack. This game was drawn 2-2, Van Hanegem and De Jong scoring for the Dutch champions. For the second leg, in Rotterdam, Rijsbergen (still uncapped, although the World Cup was less than three weeks away) moved into midfield to replace Van Hanegem, the Yugoslavian Mladen Ramljak coming into the side at right-back. In a game marred by crowd violence more or less unprecedented on the continent, goals from Rijsbergen and Ressel gave Feyenoord a comfortable 2-0 win.

The Feyenoord team of 1973-74.