Total Football is just a memory now, but a very pleasant one. If the Dutch were it’s true proponents on the international stage in the early 70’s, then Ajax was the equivalent at club-level.
Cruyff, Neeskens, Haan, Suurbier, Krol, Keizer, names from the first Amsterdam team to conquer Europe simply roll off the tongue.
Like all football systems, Total Football’s success didn’t last long, maybe until 1976, just before Bayern Munich relinquished it’s hold on the European Cup. Like all football systems, the tactics were only as good as the players a coach had to fit within the framework.