Cruyff must wake up to truth behind Ajax decline

IT’S not that long since Ajax were the best club in the world.

They won big trophies — European Cups in 1971, ’72, ’73 and ’95.

They had great players — Cruyff, Van Basten, Bergkamp, Litmanen. And the founding father of the Ajax myth, Rinus Michels, gave them total football, the distinctive playing style that was the envy of the world.