Quotes from Johan Cruyff

If you take golf, you have a teacher for the drive, a teacher for the approach play, and a teacher for the putt. That's three specialist coaches for one player. In football, one coach looks after 25 players.

Van Gaal has a good vision of football, but it is not mine. He wants to gel winning teams and has a militaristic way of working with his tactics. I want individuals to think for themselves.

I'm not religious. In Spain all 22 players make the sign of the cross before they enter the pitch. If it works all matches must therefore end in a draw.

Football should never be a worry. It should be exciting. When a child plays football outside, he doesn't need to worry. Professionals should be the same.

Ajax was spending too much money; they were buying players that were too expensive. If you get 100 per cent, you can't spend 120 per cent. It's quite easy.

The romance of English football is fantastic, but it has lost its identity under the influence of other cultures.

Footballers from the street are more important than trained coaches.

My generation put in a lot more hours playing football after school than kids today. These days, all the football these kids play, they play at their clubs, so the clubs need to work seriously on the basic skills.

Italians can not beat us, but we can certainly lose against them.

When I was playing in the Ajax youth teams - when I was, say, 14, 15 - you started to get all those international youth tournaments. All those English teams came. Well, the English were much further than we were.

There are some people who might have better technique than me, and some may be fitter than me, but the main thing is tactics. With most players, tactics are missing. You can divide tactics into insight, trust, and daring. In the tactical area, I think I just have more than most other players.

All these countries like Holland and Scotland, they create their own problems. They are always complaining, but they don't solve anything. Don't look at what you don't have; look at what you can create.

The disabled people that do sport, they don't think about what they don't have but try to get better with what they do have. That is the same for me.

Sometimes something's got to happen before something is going to happen.

Before I make a mistake, I don't make that mistake.

It's unbelievable. I changed the way Barcelona played. Now, Spain have had to change.

I learned my English from Keith Spurgeon. He had some small children, and I was young, too, and so we spoke the language together, and it was fantastic.

How can you create a team and bring all these egos together? The main goal for Manchester United is for them to play well - and not have a player saying, 'I play well; I scored two goals'. Because if I score two goals, but three goals go into our net, then we lose.

Everybody could use the money, but you don't play for it - you play with your heart - and that's a big difference you see in Barcelona. Everybody wants to play there; everybody wants to enjoy themselves. It's maybe a small percentage, but maybe it's the difference.

You have got to shoot, otherwise you can't score.

Football is about having the best offensive play possible. I always like to play offensive football, and nobody will convince me otherwise.

There is no greater medal than to be acclaimed for your style.

It's like everything in football - and life. You need to look, you need to think, you need to move, you need to find space, you need to help others. It's very simple in the end.