'Total football' pioneer dies

Rinus Michels was without question one of the most influential figures in football in the 20th century.

The legendary Dutch coach, who developed the concept of 'Total Football', died early this morning in a hospital in Aalst, Belgium at the age of 77 after complications resulting from heart surgery two weeks ago.

He was the architect of a coaching framework and style of play that encouraged outfield players to switch positions during a match.

Good individual technique was the key to this strategy, but it worked for the Dutch and produced some of Europe's greatest players.

Dennis Bergkamp and Arjen Robben are fine modern-day examples, though Michels is credited with the development of players such as Johann Cruyff who even today is still recognised as the best exponent of 'Total Football.'

According to Cruyff, Michels made football look like "a game you played with your head".

Born near Amsterdam's Olympic Stadium in the year of the 1928 Games, Michels played for Ajax in the years after the War and also won five caps with The Netherlands.

After service in the army, he became a sports teacher and in 1965 Ajax appointed him coach in succession to Vic Buckingham, an elegant Englishman who moved back to London to manage Fulham.

At the time Ajax, in common with all Dutch clubs, were run on a semi-professional basis. Michels changed that and, in so doing, set about establishing the Dutch as one of football's most powerful nations.

With players like Cruyff, Neeskens, Krol, Haan and Rep, Ajax dominated European football in the early seventies becoming the first club since Real Madrid to win a hat-trick of European Champions' Cups.

Michels was manager for the first triumph, in 1971, but was then lured to Spain by Barcelona. Shrewdly, he eventually persuaded Cruyff to follow him.