Johan Cruyff tells Soccer AM what makes the beautiful game so special to him.
We all love football. But why?
Well Soccer AM has been asking some of the biggest names in the sport what makes the beautiful game so great.
This week Barcelona and Holland legend Johan Cruyff reveals who he used to watch when he was younger and what aspect he would change about the beautiful game.
MY EARLIEST MEMORIES OF FOOTBALL ARE...Well, playing myself and sometimes on a Wednesday you could see it on television. But maybe for only ten minutes so your favourite (players) came from the paper on Monday morning, but seeing was very difficult.
WHEN I WAS YOUNGER I USED TO GO AND WATCH... I used to watch Ajax because I lived in the neighbourhood. And then I had a favourite in England which was Tottenham Hotspur. I don't know why! Probably because of the name or something like that!
YOU WOULDN'T KNOW THAT I USED TO... Ajax at that time when I was playing as a kid had a baseball department and I played as a catcher. I played in until the Babe Ruth league which was 15-years-old and then we had to choose football or baseball because they started training in February and I was still playing.
IF I COULD CHANGE ANYTHING I WOULD... Maybe some small things. The offside position - you're either offside or you're not. I would make it as easy as possible. Less rules means less possibilities to fail.
I LOVE FOOTBALL BECAUSE... What is a very important thing is that football is a game of mistakes, you are allowed to make mistakes. Because even the best player in the world will make 50 per cent of mistakes because you do everything with your feet and as you know your foot is a lot less secure than you can ever be with your hands. So it's a beautiful game for everybody because everybody can play it.
