February 21, 20215 yr

JOHAN NEESKENS: MORE THAN JUST THE OTHER JOHAN

30/10/2018 by PRIYA RAMESH. www.thesefootballtimes.co.uk

July 3, 1974: crowds throng the Westfalenstadion in a match between two immensely talented sides.

A match whose victor would face the host nation in a quest to etch their names into the history books indelibly; to hold and cradle the newly-commissioned, fresh-from-the-workshop, five-kilo golden baby that was the World Cup.

A few minutes into the second half, and with a free kick swiftly taken, a wavy-haired and wiry youngster speeds off with the ball, relaying it on to his teammate who sends it back in his path from the right wing. For a second he does not believe he will reach it – it’s played in front of him and there’s a defender challenging. As pathetically poetic as it sounds, he’s never been one to flinch away from an insurmountable task; never one to give up the chase. So he slides. Stretching his foot as far as he can, the contact he hopes for is achieved. One strong touch is all it takes for the ball to rise up, beyond the goalkeeper and in a perfectly-planned trajectory, and drop into the goal.

The scorer of that lob was, of course, Johan Neeskens.

It’s instinctive of almost everyone you meet on the street to associate Total Football and the Dutch golden 70s with Johan Cruyff. He won accolades with his teams as well as individually, and according to many people, single-handedly revolutionised the sport forever. His level of artistry and skill combined with on-pitch omnipresence and efficiency was largely unprecedented in football and the world stood mesmerised upon the arrival of this footballing Messiah.

Yet Total Football, as Rinus Michels envisioned it and his teams executed it, was not just all flash and feints. As yet another manifestation of duality is found in nature, there was another side to the astounding creativity with the ball in Michels’ philosophy, and that was the almost-maniacal, ruthless pressing and harassing when not in possession. To put it into lesser words, if Cruyff was the yin that exemplified the former, Johan Neeskens was the yang that exemplified the latter.

Neeskens was not a product of the famed Ajax youth system, instead he was a rough diamond extracted from Racing Club Heemstede in 1970, an addition who would complete the jigsaw as Michels tried to achieve European glory, having already been pipped to the honour of being the first Dutch club to do so by Ernst Happel’s Feyenoord the year before.

The 19-year-old right-back was a revelation for the team and the manager, as his tenacity and ferocity in duel fitted in perfectly with the vision of sweeper Velibor Vasović as well as Michels’ attempt at forming a functional offside trap.

An indefatigable runner, Neeskens was then pushed higher up the field by Michels, who recognised that his instinctive harrying of opponents could be a trigger for the entire team to move up-field with him and capitalising on a key Dutch concept in space. By making themselves more compact, the team made the pitch smaller, reducing the opponents’ variety of options and limiting their mobility. Sjaak Swart once quipped that Neeskens could “play for two in midfield”.

Generally tasked with being more of a destroyer at Ajax, even the great Eusébiofaded into the background as this “kamikaze pilot” – as Bobby Haarms described him – rose in influence and intimidated legends into anonymity. However, that was not the end of Neeskens’ ability and work on the field.

In the aforementioned match against Brazil, Neeskens played in a midfield trio with two Feyenoorders in Wim Jansen and Wim van Hanegem and was given the task of pushing the Brazilian back line – who were not prepared for a collective tactical challenge – as far back as possible. In fact, Neeskens was almost playing up top by himself, as he was frequently found to be furthest forward, keeping the Brazilian defenders occupied, such that there were acres of space left in midfield for the roaming Cruyff and Van Hanegem to weave their magic in.

There was a certain uniqueness about the way Neeskens went about his game. He had an aggressive yet committed swagger about him; it was a gladiatorial aplomb. It perhaps comes as no surprise that in Spain this quality is perfectly captured in a picture of Neeskens standing over the rolling and writhing Paul Breitner in El Clásico circa 1975. It is almost entirely reminiscent of a predatory bull prodding and pawing the ground, snorting down at its suffering prey. Indeed, it comes as no surprise that Neeskens was nicknamed El Toro in Spain by the Barcelona faithful.

The Dutchman had a never-say-die attitude on the field which resonated as loud as a siren in his play. His style of play was all-out, high-octane and with little care for his own safety or the opponents’ in a bid to make his team win. He was advised by every coach he ever had – Michels included – to tweak his game such that it was not so demanding and he could reduce the chances any lasting damage or injury. But the man did not flinch, later saying he lived his life the same way: “When I walk onto the field, I always want to win and get the ball – I am not concerned about myself.”

This is perhaps what stood out most about the man from Heemstede on the pitch. Forget tactics, forget footballing ideologies, forget systems: if you watched him knowing zilch about his team or the man himself, you too – as millions did – fell in love with the way he seemed to be a fan in a player’s body, with unparalleled commitment to the cause and irrepressible energy in fighting to win the ball.

Consequently, Neeskens enjoyed a cult status amongst the fans wherever he went and was revered at every club he played for. Girls adored him for his rock star looks and long, wavy, dirty-blond hair, and olive-coloured eyes. But people of all backgrounds, genders and occupations were unanimously enamoured by his charming and infectious passion on the field, how he seemed to be an embodiment of spirit and could give as good as he got.

Many modern-day fans seem to look upon Total Football as an innovation of Cruyff’s, whereby he invented the entire idea and made it happen with Michels. While he did effectively orchestrate a large part of it and made things happen on the pitch, in all honesty, none of it would have been possible to the extent it has been if he had not had such players around him – every single one of whom embodied the crux of the Total Football ideology.

A consequence of the god-like reverence Cruyff receives as being the ‘Total Footballer’ is the fact that many geniuses in the Ajax and Dutch teams in the early-1970s have gone criminally underrated and unheralded. There is still a sizeable number of people in the Netherlands who believe Wim van Hanegem was just as good as Cruyff, but much better defensively, making him more complete than the Dutch legend.

Hence, ‘Johan Segon’ (Johan the Second, as Barcelona fans called him; Johan the First’s identity is rather obvious) was not merely a cold-blooded, ruthless destroyer. He was also one of the most complete midfielders football has ever seen. He is, perhaps, the first real proponent of what we have now become accustomed to as the box-to-box midfielder role.

Every player in those teams was a Total Footballer in his own right and Neeskens was one of the most all-rounded; he could be fluid and operate in any part of the pitch while retaining key elements of his game as well as his fundamental technical abilities of extraordinary ball control as well as heading. Neeskens also held an extremely respectable goal tally for club and country, renowned for his powerful shot. His passing was by no means sub-par and he set the bar high for future midfield generals with his ability to dictate the tempo of games.

However, for the larger part of Neeskens’ career, he remained perpetually in Cruyff’s shadow. El Salvador only came into his absolute peak as Neeskens started operating directly behind him. Neeskens followed him into the Dutch national team, and was prized at the personal request of both Cruyff and Michels to sign for Barcelona. They realised that he was absolutely vital to Cruyff’s success, and that they needed Neeskens to strong-arm opponents and create space. Neeskens was the George Harrison to Cruyff’s John Lennon.

He followed his more illustrious colleague across the Atlantic too, but he signed for New York Cosmos while Cruyff signed for the Aztecs. Sadly for Neeskens, he was unable to find substantial success in the States. The Heemstede-born man with rock star looks started to fall to rock star ways in America, with addictions to alcohol, cocaine and gambling plaguing his life for a significant period.

In 1981, Neeskens – not even 30 at the time – was desperately trying to keep his head above the waters of the River Lethe. He had missed a team flight to a conference final in Los Angeles and had consequently been indefinitely suspended by coach Hennes Weisweiler. Meanwhile, Dutch qualification for the 1982 World Cup was on the rocks and they needed a spark – any spark. Kees Rijvers decided to travel to New York to see how Neeskens was doing and

Manager Kees Rijvers decided to travel to New York to see how Neeskens was doing and said he would give Neeskens a start versus neighbours Belgium if he could keep his fitness in shape. As a result, there was a lanky figure of a man running up and steps in the stadium every afternoon, trying to improve his stamina. He needed no training for the tackles, they were second nature.

Indeed, in late 1981, he was due for his return in the vibrant orange of his nation. Tickets sold out, and fans travelled from thousands of miles just to get a glance of their beloved star again. The Dutch team soon burst out of the tunnel at Feyenoord’s legendary De Kuip stadium to a rousing cheer by the fans but it quickly subsided as their eyes scanned for the unmistakable light-brown hair and olive eyes. “Where is Johan?” Confusion took over as emotions conglomerated in a turmoil of disappointment, betrayal, anger and denial. Where was the man of the evening?

A few minutes later, they got their answer as sprinting onto the field was the wiry midfielder. The concrete in the stadium was shaken as the thousands inside screamed out their voices to a hoarse whisper. “Johan! Johan!” In that precise moment, it was perhaps not at all hard to believe that the Johan there was of the Neeskens type and not Cruyff.

Yin and yang are often seen as dichotomous entities but more often than not they are complementary.
Cruyff’s yang of beauty and skill required Neeskens’ yin of tackling and creating space, and Neeskens’ yin needed Cruyff’s yang to be fully aware and capitalise on the space he created, such that the team benefits.

The dichotomy here is false, though. Yin and yang are entirely complementary and, in fact, work in tandem to create a system where the whole is larger than the sum of its parts; the very essence of Total Football.

By Priya Ramesh @Priya8Ramesh

He won the European Cup with Ajax in 1971, 1972, 1973. European Cup Winners Cup in 1979 with Barcelona.
49 Full International Caps and a World Cup Runner Up in 1974 and 78 with The Netherlands.
Opened the scoring in the 1974 Final.

February 21, 20215 yr

JOHN CHARLES: THE GENTLE GIANT WHO BECAME THE GREATEST IMPORT IN JUVENTUS HISTORY

15/09/2017 by MATTHEW EVANS. www.thesefootballtimes.co.uk

LAND OF MY FATHERS swept through the cold St David’s Day air, the Swansea Male Voice Choir sang for one of their own. The crowds outside the Leeds parish church were there to say farewell to John Charles – a man as respected in the northern heartlands of England as he was in the valleys of South Wales to the industrious cities of north-west Italy. Known as Il Gigante Buono, he never once rose to provocation, with no yellow or red cards throughout his career.

Legends of the game were in the throng to pay their respects, including Jack and Sir Bobby Charlton, Norman Hunter, Denis Law, John Toshack and Sir AlexFerguson. Yet it was the diminutive gentleman in the camel-hair coat who had flown in from his native Argentina who represented a time when John Charles was arguably the best player in Europe, if not the world.

Omar Sívori arrived in Turin the same summer as Charles and the homesick Argentine found himself rooming with him on away trips. Despite the language barrier, the pair bonded over smiles and nods, and an instinctive friendship grew which was the harbinger for their success on the field. Alongside Giampiero Boniperti at Juventus, they formed the ‘Holy Trident’, an imperious attacking triumvirate still revered on the streets of Turin almost 60 years on.

Charles was born and raised in Cwmbwrla, one mile north of the coal mining city of Swansea. An evacuee during the Luftwaffe blitz of World War Two, his footballing life began in the youth ranks of his home city.

Disillusioned by the lack of games at his hometown club, he opted to move to Leeds United in 1948. It was here, under the tutelage of Frank Buckley, that Charles rose to prominence, the six foot two inch powerhouse tried first in defence, then as a centre forward.

In testament to Charles’ character, he didn’t question the change in position, or when Buckley slotted him back into defence for the remainder of the 1951/52 season. Come the October, though, Charles was again moved up front and this time there was no going back; he scored 11 goals in his first six games including the club’s first hat-trick in two years.

Despite Charles’ goalscoring prowess, Leeds found themselves unable to escape the Second Division and clubs began circling to try and tempt the prolific Welshman away. The 1955/56 season saw the West Riding side finally gain promotion as runner-up to fellow Yorkshire club Sheffield Wednesday. Charles was finally in the First Division.

His debut season saw him finish top scorer with 38 goals in 42 games as Leeds secured a creditable eighth-place finish. This achievement did nothing to dull his appetite for improvement, frequently the last to leave training. Buckley was pushing him all the way, designing a drill to improve his leap by having Charles jumping to head the crossbar without a ball in sight.

His debut season saw him finish top scorer with 38 goals in 42 games as Leeds secured an impressive eighth-place finish. This achievement did nothing to dull his appetite for improvement, frequently the last to leave training. Buckley was pushing him all the way, designing a drill to improve his leap by having Charles jumping to head the crossbar without a ball in sight.

A host of clubs had tempted the Leeds’ resolve with numerous bids for their clinical giant, with
Sunderland, Manchester United, Arsenal and Lazio all being rumoured to have bids refused over the years. With the promotion and subsequent season in the First Division, Arsenal readied a bid as did Cardiff. An opportunity to move back to Wales piqued Charles’ interest, though a move to a division rival was rejected out of hand by Buckley and the Leeds board.

On 18 September an incident occurred that would shape both Leeds and Charles’ future. Prior to a home league game with Aston Villa, an electrical fault at Elland Road saw a fire rip its way through the West Stand, causing catastrophic damage. The dressing rooms, club offices, physiotherapy equipment and even playing kit were reduced to ash. Owing to the huge increase in interest in football since the end of the war over a decade earlier, the game was awash with money. The maximum wage cap kept player salaries under control but the heavy costs that the clear up and rebuild would entail saw Leeds at a crossroads.

A year earlier, 22-year-old Umberto Agnelli became president of Juventus, a moment that would herald an era of success for La Vecchia Signora. Umberto’s father, Edoardo, was a principal shareholder in the family’s Fiat motor company and helped turn it into one of the major car builders in Europe.

The Agnelli family’s other passion was calcio. Their ties with Juventus began in 1923 and helped turn the Bianconeri into Italy’s first professional club, and also saw the club move into Stadio Comunale, where they won five straight championships from 1931. However, by 1957, they had seen only two further successes.

Football agent Gigi Peronace had followed John Charles’ career with interest, and over the years the two had even become friends. Peronace was now in the ideal position as speculation grew over the future of the popular striker. Interest in Charles was at fever pitch, the 38 goals in the First Division catching the eye of European giants Real Madrid and Inter Milan.

Eager to steal a march on the competition, Agnelli flew to Belfast to see Charles play for Wales with rumours of a bid imminent. The refusal from Leeds to sell was beginning to wane, the huge costs of repairing the West Stand at Elland Road emptying the coffers at an alarming rate. By Easter 1957, Leeds caved in, and so long as it wasn’t to a rival, they were open to offers for their talisman.

Charles, who had seen two previous transfer requests refused, was suddenly looking at an opportunity to make riches beyond anything he could dream of in England.

The maximum wage ruling meant Charles would earn the same £18 per week whether at Leeds, Cardiff or Arsenal. Agnelli arrived in London with the promise of a £10,000 signing on fee as well as healthy bonuses.

Fiat cars readied, the Italian faction were on their way to England to strike a deal.

Charles’ agent Teddy Sommerfield was also on his way north with close friend and football presenter Kenneth Wolstenholme. Sommerfield’s other clients were in the showbiz and entertainment world, so Wolstenholme was there to add football insight. Charles and his hastily-assembled crew took up base in room 222 of the Queens Hotel, whilst Agnelli, Peronace et al were across the corridor in 233.

Despite his relative lack of experience in football negotiations, Sommerfield was prepared with figures on the cost of living and the average Italian player’s wage. A fee of £65,000 was agreed between the clubs and a determined Sommerfield struck the best deal for his client.

Charles, his wife and three children moved to their hillside home overlooking Turin. Every detail was taken care of, from first class travel, tailor made suits with matching silk shirts, and a brand-new Fiat sports car on the drive. Any potential logjam was averted when captain Boniperti was dropped back into midfield by coach Ljubiša Broćić to accommodate the new arrivals, with a return to title-winning ways the top priority.

His impact was instant; a 3-2 victory over Hellas Verona in the opening game of the 1957/58 season saw Charles score the winner. Incredibly to his teammates, the fans and the board, Charles would never react when he was kicked or punched – instead he would get up, dust himself down and look to score. The concept of fair play was mind-boggling to the likes of Sívori, and the Argentine would become incandescent with rage should Charles put the ball out of play for an opponent to receive treatment.

Opponents tested Charles’ to the very limit, although the roughhouse treatment – sly kicks, stamps and spitting – would always be brushed off with the Welshman choosing to smile and shake hands with the protagonists. On one such occasion in a game against Inter Milan, Benito Lorenzi attempted a unique way to rile Charles by making unsavoury comments about the Queen. “She’s not my Queen, I’m Welsh,” an unfazed Charles responded. Boniperti and Sívori would not stand for such behaviour towards their teammate and would very often deliver their own justice on Charles’ behalf.

The results of that first season were incredible thanks to the trio of Boniperti, Sívori and Charles.

The latter two combined for 50 goals – Charles with 28 of them – on the way to being named Italian Footballer of the Year in his debut season. La Vecchia Signora raced to the title, finishing eight points ahead of second placed Fiorentina, although a defeat to Lazio in the Coppa Italia semis ended hopes of a domestic double.

Twenty-three wins and 77 goals secured the Bianconeri‘s 10th Scudetto, giving them their first gold star to sit atop the badge on the famed black and white shirts.

A 7-0 European Cup humiliation at the hands of Weiner Sport-Club of Austria the next season led to stuttering displays in the league. Broćić was removed in November as the team slumped to a fourth-place finish, although on a personal note, Charles scored 19 goals.

With the frustrating league performance behind them, the Bianconeri were desperate to appease the trophy-hungry tifosi. A resounding 6-2 win over Alessandria, followed by two 3-1 victories over Fiorentina and Genoa, set up a Coppa Italia final with Inter in front of 68,000 fans. Charles opened the scoring as Juve went in at the half two goals to the good. Inter pulled one back but Sergio Cervato scored his second of the game, and with Sívori adding a fourth, the Turin outfit won their first Coppa Italia title since 1938.

Juventus legend Carlo Parola – the former skipper and some say inventor of the scissor kick – took over for the 1959/60 season. With Charles’ initial two-year contract was ending, and his value soaring to a world record £140,000, Agnelli joked that more Fiats would need to be sold to keep him at the club, but was delighted to extend Charles’ stay, as were the fans. He had quickly become the single most adored man in Turin.

The laid-back approach off the pitch reaped dividends on it, and a further 50 goals for Sívori and Charles delivered the title back to Juventus in 1960. League runners-up Fiorentina stood in the way between Coppa Italia victory and a historic double. A Charles brace sent the game into extra time where an own goal from Dante Micheli gave Juventus back-to-back Coppa wins.

Juve’s refusal to take European competition seriously was there for all to see in the preliminary round of the European Cup against CSKA Sofia. A 2-0 home win was wiped out in the return leg, with a brace from Nikola Kovachev. Two more second half goals for the Bulgarian champions gave them an unlikely 4-2 aggregate lead. A last-minute consolation from young striker Bruno Nicole proved futile as the Bianconeri exited to a smaller side again. The Italians consistently struggled against more robust, fitter sides from the continent, and their focus was largely on matters at home.

Parola left then quickly returned when Gunnar Gren – a former member of Milan’s legendary ‘Gre-No-Li’ forward line – lasted a mere two games in charge. The emergence of Bruno Nicole saw Parola mix and match his forward line, employing Charles on occasion in several positions including his beloved centre-half role. Inter, bolstered by the free-scoring Antonio Angelillo, headed into the winter break with a three-point lead over their rivals, but the rest invigorated Juventus, who roared up on the outside of the Nerazzuri with five straight wins.

PWith seven games to go Juventus led Inter by four points with a home tie against Helenio Herrera’s men to come.

The pouring rain did nothing to abate the fans, with the Comunale bursting at its seams. More and more fans found their way into the ground, finding vantage points on top of the dugouts and the edges of the pitch.

With half an hour of the game gone and the match scoreless, the referee summoned an end to proceedings citing a pitch invasion as the reason. A 2-0 victory was awarded to Inter and the aggrieved Juventus instantly lodged an appeal.

The final week of the season saw both sides level on points, and with winnable games ahead, an end of season playoff was looking more and more likely. On the eve of the games, the Italian Football Federation upheld Juve’s appeal, declaring a replay as their conclusion. Inter were now back to two points behind Juventus and president Angelo Moratti fumed.

Umberto Agnelli’s influential position inside the federation was seen as a conflict of interest, and a fierce rivalry was born. The decision was final, and with their spirit demoralised and concentration broken, Inter lost to Catania with the Bianconeri‘s point at Bari enough to secure the title with only the controversial rematch left to play.

In protest, Moratti ordered Herrera to play the Primavera side, Juventus destroyed the youth team 9-1, Sívori gleefully scoring six. Boniperti hung up his boots at the season’s end, closing the chapter on the book of the magical trio. His selfless role in enabling Charles to slot into the forward line and settle into Italian life one that would not be forgotten.

The next season would prove to be Charles’ last in Turin. It was one blighted by injury but highlighted by an unprecedented run in the European Cup. There was a winner-takes-all playoff to decide the quarter-final between Juve and Alfredo DiStéfano’s Real Madrid. Charles found himself in a different position in each game, Parola throwing him forward when a goal was needed and hauling him back when a more conservative approach was required. A 1-0 win for Los Merengues ended the marathon encounter.

The abolition of the maximum wage in English football and his wife’s desire for their children to be educated back home saw Charles re-sign for Leeds. The Welshman later declared the move as “the biggest mistake of my life”, spending a mere 91 days at Elland Road before returning to Italy to play for Roma. Knee injuries, marriage problems, and business failings took their toll and an inevitable return to Wales followed. Charles played until he was 42, first with Cardiff, across the border with Hereford United, and finally back in Wales with Merthyr Tydfil.

Despite leaving Turin in 1962, Charles was always amazed at the response he would get when he returned to visit old friends, and was honoured to be named the Bianconeri‘s best foreign player during their centenary celebrations of 1997. His legendary status was later confirmed with his induction into the Italian football Hall of Fame.

The influential Agnelli family never forgot the service he provided for their club, coming to his aid when taken ill during a book tour in Milan. Charles, wife Glenda, and a medical team were flown home at the club’s expense as his health faded. After his death in February 2004, a minute’s silence erupted into resplendent applause as Juventus lined up to play Bologna the next day.

Charles’ money worries saw much of his fortune gone, a trail of failed business ventures the cause. Yet his standing in the game never faded, and a memorial bust was unveiled at Swansea’s Liberty Stadium, with the stand his transfer helped rebuild at Elland Road renamed in his honour. His three Scudetti, two Coppa Italias and 93 goals for Juventus will echo through eternity.

Perhaps the summation of the impression he made in Italy should be left to his old friend Sívori: “When we were at Juve, the two most important people for most fans were the Pope and Il Gigante. For the 40 percent who were communist, it was Stalin and Il Gigante.”

By Matthew Evans @Matt_The_met

February 21, 20215 yr

John Charles is still revered by Juventus supporters.

February 21, 20215 yr

the-gentle-giant-remembering-wales-legend-john-charles-body-image-1478628148.jpg

Trademark John Charles in action.

February 24, 20215 yr

www.thesefootballtimes.co

Posted in July 2013.

Josef Bican

Pelé, Di Stéfano, Puskás, Romário: if asked to name the greatest goal-scorers of all time, these names would trip off the tongue of most knowledgeable football fans. But as is often the case, a player with less of a reputation, playing for a club not considered amongst Europe’s established elite, often seems to fall below the radar. For according to statistical organisation the IFFHS (International Federation of Football History & Statistics), the greatest goalscorer of the last century is not Pelé or Romário, but Josef ‘Pepi’ Bican, Slavia Prague’s greatest ever player.

Born to a Viennese-Czech mother and Czech father in Vienna in 1913, Bican grew up with the consequences of World War One, which left the imperial city under an entente embargo, severely limiting supplies to the population, leaving many starving or in poverty. Playing barefoot and using a bundle of rags known as a ‘hadrak’ for a ball as leather footballs were too expensive, Bican and friends from the neighbourhood would play football “all day, from morning to evening”, while their parents lived on the breadline, plotting their way out of a life of poverty.

In 1925, with Vienna only now emerging from the devastation of the war, Bican joined the junior ranks of his father’s club, Hertha Vienna, earning a schilling for every goal he scored. At the age of 18, Bican’s talents were spotted by the city’s biggest club, Rapid Vienna, and it was there that Bican was able to truly showcase his ability on the big stage. In his four years at the club, Bican scored 52 goals in 49 appearances and earned 30 caps for Austria, notching an impressive 19 goals. In 1935, Bican made a controversial move to city rivals Admira, where he scored 18 goals in 26 appearances.

In 1937, with Hitler’s Nazi party seizing control of Austria, Pepi decided to leave Vienna for his father’s homeland of Czechoslovakia, joining the all-conquering Slavia Prague, winner of seven of the previous ten Czechoslovak league titles. It was here that Bican would truly establish his legend. In his 11-year stint at Slavia, Bican would play 217 games for Sešívaní, scoring an extraordinary 395 goals, including an even more remarkable three 7-goal hauls.

As a result of his record-breaking exploits, Bican was named Europe’s leading marksman for five consecutive seasons from 1939 to 1944. While this is unquestionably an astonishing record, Bican’s ability when compared with the likes of Pelé and Alfredo Di Stéfano is called into question by those who believe that his achievements were artificially high due to the state of war across Europe during Bican’s most prolific seasons weakening the Czechoslovak league, and removing some of the biggest stars from other leagues across Europe. Indeed, while Bican was scoring at a rate of almost two goals per game, top players from some of Europe’s strongest nations were otherwise engaged on the battlefield.

“When I talk to young reporters, they always say, ‘Mr. Bican, scoring was easier back in your day’. But I ask them, ‘How come? Look, are there opportunities today?’ And they tell me, ‘Of course there are, many of them’. And I say, ‘There you go. If there weren’t opportunities, it would be difficult.”

Nevertheless, Bican’s prolific finishing can never be called into question. Two-footed and with an unerring composure in front of goal, his shooting ability was legendary, with it being said that Bican would only miss one out of every 20 opportunities which fell his way. During his time at Slavia, his training sessions would be attended by thousands of spectators eager to witness Bican’s favourite party trick, whereby he would place empty bottles on top of the crossbar and aim to hit as many as he could from 20 yards. Legend has it that at his very best, Bican would manage to hit nine of every 10 bottles he placed on the crossbar.

When added to his ability to run the 100 metres in 10.8 seconds despite his very powerful frame, it becomes clear that in any league in any era, Pepi would be a formidable opponent for any defence. Upon retirement in 1955, Bican had an official tally of 805 goals in 530 games in domestic football, and 31 in 44 for Austria and Czechoslovakia on the international stage.

But it was not only his prodigious ability on the field that made Bican a Slavia hero. Unsurprisingly, Pepi’s feats on the football fields of Czechoslovakia did not go unnoticed by Prague’s social elite. Ian Willoughby’s excellent piece on Bican’s life states that “he played tennis with the famous actor Vlasta Burian, dined with the actor Jan Werich and knew the film star Adina Mandlova” while the rest of Europe was at war. Bican had become unquestionably one of the biggest names in Czechoslovakia, and a demi-God in the eyes of many Slavistas. His ascent from the ruins of post-war Vienna to fraternising with Prague’s great and good was an inspiring tale for those enduring the instability of Central Europe during Bican’s life. However, it was this ascent to fame which would ultimately lead to the end of his playing career at Slavia.

For in 1948, communism came to Czechoslovakia. Having turned down a lucrative move to Italy due to the possibility of a communist uprising, Bican was dismayed by the rise of communism in Czechoslovakia, and refused to be any part of Gottwald’s KSC. Faced with the prospect of losing everything he had earned during his career, Bican decided that he had to leave Slavia for his own safety, and joined steelworks club Železárny Vítkovice, before moving again to Hradec Králové in 1953, where he scored 19 goals in just nine appearances. It was here that Bican recalls an extraordinary event which threatened to end his career:

“It was May Day and they persuaded me to take part in the May Day parade. From the loud speakers you could hear Long Live President Zapotocky, Long Live President Zapotocky. But people came out on the streets and shouted Long Live Bican, Long Live Bican! But you know, I myself wasn’t responsible for that. The factory Communist Party committee called me in to the office and said these two comrades will escort you to the train station and in one hour you’ll be out of Hradec Králové. I hadn’t moved so fast in a while. I packed my suitcase and they really went all the way to the station with me and waited till the train had gone. It’s a wonder they didn’t wave.”

Encountering a group of workers while being escorted to the station, Bican was asked if there was a problem, to which he said there was not. The workers said that they were glad, for otherwise they would have gone on strike, for which Bican could have faced a twenty-year sentence for inciting a strike. His exit from Hradec Králové was to pave the way for his return to Slavia, now renamed Dynamo Prague in accordance with communist naming laws, where he would score another 22 goals in 29 appearances before retiring in 1955 at the age of 42 as big a hero on the field as off it.

Despite his retirement, Bican’s legend now preceded him wherever he went, and without realising it he had become a famous figurehead for the counter-communist movement in Czechoslovakia. Given his fame and refusal to join the movement, the KRC government saw Bican as a potentially dangerous figure, and sought to defame the superstar in any way they could. The Czechoslovak authorities decided that the most effective means of defamation would be to brand Bican a bourgeois Viennese, despite his humble beginnings. Bican’s situation was not helped by his legendary status at Slavia, a club traditionally supported by Prague’s middle classes. His reputation scarred and his career over, Bican was forced to work on the Holešovice railway until the 1989 Velvet Revolution, sliding into poverty in the process.

With the revolution ridding Czechoslovakia of communist rule, Bican returned to public life as a hero, and was granted the Freedom of Prague by the city’s mayor in 2001. Having been allowed to once again take his standing as one of the most influential figures in the history of the Czechoslovak game, Bican was able to live out his remaining years in relative peace, content that his astonishing achievements had been recognised. After suffering from heart problems for several months, the legendary figure passed away on 12 December 2001, and was buried in Vyšehrad cemetery, where he lies alongside some of Prague’s most famous figures of centuries gone by.

With 2013 marking 100 years since Bican’s birth, Slavia made sure that they celebrated the life of the club’s greatest ever player, marking it with a day of celebration coinciding with the derby against rivals Sparta. Players from both sides of the city divide were invited to Eden to celebrate Pepi’s life, before Slavia ultras seized the mantle with two magnificent choreographic displays to honour his memory.

The first of these displays unveiled a large banner accompanied by a drawing of Chuck Norris which declared “Only Bican scored more goals than me!” It was appropriate given the nigh on mythological status of the great striker. The second display unveiled a huge poster of Bican, accompanied by a mosaic simply stating ‘PEPI’ in huge golden letters. This time the banner at the front of the stand unveiled a far more serious message. “Pepi Bican – the greatest Slavia man ever”, it proclaimed. Rarely will a group of ultras present a message more difficult to dispute.

By Simon Cripps @AI_Football

February 24, 20215 yr

A Central European Odyssey: The Life Of Josef Bican.

www.gamepfthepeople.com.

Good article on Bican. August 2017.

AUGUST 2, 2017 NEIL FREDRIK JENSEN

Josef Bican leads out Slavia in 1945. Photo: PA

IN 1928, the Olympic men’s 100 metre sprint was won by Canada’s Percy Williams. He ran the race in 10.8 seconds. Over in Vienna, a young footballer could run 100 metres in the same time, but he was wearing heavy boots and a football kit. That player was one Josef Bican, known as “Pepi” to his friends.

We should all be aware of Bican as he was named the greatest goalscorer of all time a few years ago. But generally, we are not familiar with his exploits, either in the early years of his career or in the second phase in Czechoslavakia. If he had been Italian, German or even French, we would probably list him among the greats of the world game, but for many years, the name Josef Bican was lost behind the Iron Curtain.

Bican’s life was a central European tale. From a humble neighbourhood in the Austrian capital to sumptuous dinners with movie stars in cosmopolitan Prague and then back to scratching a living. He defied two regimes, the Nazis in Austria and the Communists in his adopted home of Czechoslovakia. And while he did this, he scored goals for fun.

Born on September 25, 1913, Josef Bican had a tough upbringing in Vienna. His father, Frantisek, who came from southern Bohemia, played for a little-known Viennese club called Hertha and died at the age of 30. His mother, Ludmila, was a Viennese Czech and to make ends meet, spent her time working in a kitchen. Josef Bican attended a Czech school in Vienna and lived in an area that was notable for its high level of poverty. His only respite came during the summer months when he visited in grandmother in Bohemia, travelling by train along with hundreds of other children.

His football skills were not honed with a leather ball, but with an improvised version made from rags. At the age of 12, he followed in his father’s footsteps and played for Hertha, but Rapid Vienna soon recognised that a young talent was emerging. Bican played firstly for Schustak and then Farbenlutz before signing for Rapid in 1931.

He was just 17 when he made his debut for Rapid, on September 6, 1931. And from that moment, it was clear that his goalscoring prowess would be highly coveted. Bican netted three times in the first 28 minutes as Rapid raced into a 3-0 lead at Austria Wien’s Hohe Warte stadium. They eventually won 5-3. Rapid just missed out on the title that season, but Bican had already made his mark. In his first two seasons, he netted 10 and 11 goals respectively, but in 1933-34, Bican scored 29 as Rapid went close once more to winning the championship.

He was chosen for the 1934 World Cup squad, featuring with other members of Das Wunderteam. At 20, he was the youngest member of a star-studded group of players who won the hearts of the Austrian public. But he was not overawed by being in the presence of the likes of the great Matthias Sindelar. At Rapid, he was familiar with big names and had fierce competition for a place in the team – this was the age of Mathias Kaburek, Franz “Bimbo” Binder and Franz Weselik, all of whom were prolific goalscorers.

If Italy were the hosts and eventual champions in 1934, Austria were the “people’s favourites”, losing to Italy in the semi-final. Bican had scored earlier in the competition as Austria beat France 3-2. Strangely, when he returned to domestic football in 1934-35, he seemed to be out of favour at Rapid. He played almost no part in the club’s title dash, scoring twice in three games before disappearing from view.

Bican was one of the first of his kind – a player who knew his worth and his unique offering. He fell-out with the Rapid management and, feeling unloved, moved across town to the Jedelsee neighbourhood, where Admira Vienna were located. The supporters of the club were unhappy, especially as he was now playing for a rival.

There were another side to the story. Austria, in 1934, was a country that was edging close to the increasingly menacing Germany. There had been attempt to cement a relationship in the form of a coup in 1934 and the general consensus was that sooner, rather than later, Austria would become part of the German Reich. Bican was opposed to the growing right-wing movement in Vienna and with clubs from other countries showing an interest in the Viennese goal-machine, there was the opportunity to get out of Austria.

But his stint with Admira was successful for the club if not quite as prolific for the still very young Bican. In 1935-36, the first of two titles for Admira, he scored eight goals in 15 games in the league. He started 1936-37 in good form, netting 10 in 11, but in the winter break, he departed Austria a year or so before Adolf Hitler annexed the country.

Bican headed for Czechoslavakia and decided to seek Czech citizenship. The Bican family made the journey to Prague, presumably to avoid what was about to happen. Not for the first or last time, however, fate conspired against Bican.

Eventually, German troops would march into Prague as Czechoslavakia became Hitler’s next target. Bican was already installed in his new home town and playing for Slavia Prague, a club that had tried to secure his services when he was with Rapid Vienna. It was at Slavia that the goalscoring legend was really born and he became something of a celebrity in late 1930s Prague. He would mingle with actors, play tennis with leading sportsmen and be courted by the great and the good of café society. Everyone wanted to know Josef Bican, the poor boy from Vienna.

In 1938, he led Slavia to a Mitropa Cup triumph, beating Hungary’s Ferencvaros in the final. At the same time, Bican sought to play for Czechoslavakia in the 1938 World Cup, but a very convenient “clerical error” prevented him from turning out for his new country. He had refused to play for a “German” national team that included Austrians, a decision also made by former team-mates from Das Wunderteam. If Bican had been allowed to play for the Czechs in France that year, who knows what might have happened. It is not inconceivable that he was prevented from playing to permit fascism to triumph over the rest of the world. Satisfyingly, the German Reich team flopped miserably, but Mussolini’s Italy won their second consecutive World Cup.

He did turn out for Bohemia & Moravia following the separation of Czechoslakia, and played in their last international in 1939 in Breslau. He scored a hat-trick in the Hermann Göring Stadion against Germany in a game that ended 4-4. Another former Rapid man, Franz Binder, also scored a treble – for the Germans.

Bican continued to score goals at a consistently alarming rate during the war years and between 1937-38 and 1947, he was the top scorer in Czech football, netting 50 in 1939-40 and 57 in 1943-44.

After the war, foreign clubs came looking for him again, but he was now in his early-1930s and when Juventus returned a decade after first showing an interest, there were concerns that Italy might follow other parts of Europe and turn to Communism. The irony of it all is that in 1948, that was exactly what happened in Czechoslavakia. Bican was no lover of the manifesto and was also concerned that the riches he had gained from his successful career would be taken away under the new administration.

They were certainly not keen on Bican or indeed middle-class Slavia, claiming the player represented bourgeois Austrian society even though his early life was far from privileged. It was an attempt to turn the public against the popular Slavia player, who would occasionally be referred to as “the Austrian bastard”. Slavia, meanwhile, were stripped of their name by the communists and for a while became associated with the secret police and known as Dynamo.

Concerned about his safety and well-being, Bican tried to raise his credibility by signing for Vítkovicé Železárny, a club from a Moravian working class area in Ostrava. He didn’t stay too long but moved to Skoda Hradec Karlove in 1952. Although goals kept coming, his career was starting to wind down, although his reputation and legacy meant he was as popular as ever, evidenced by an incident in a May Day parade in 1953 when the crowd started to chant his name rather than follow the prescribed narrative. As a result, he was told to leave town with his family. This could have gone very badly for Bican as the crowd sensed that the former Czech-Austrian superstar was being badly treated and industrial action could have broken out. If that had in fact taken place, Bican would have been sent to prison for 20 years and we would know even less about him than we to today.

Sadly, his life deteriorated despite a coaching career that extended into the 1970s. When the Velvet Revolution took place in 1989, Bican had some of his property restored to him. His reputation was also repaired and in 2001, he was given the freedom of Slavia Prague. It was too late, for the man who scored more than 800 goals died that year.

There are million of people who have seen their lives shaped by history and equal numbers who have suffered from twists of fate. Josef Bican was a child of his time, an era that saw extreme politics, geographies shaped and political upheaval. He lived through some of the most turbulent years in European history. Simultaneously, he did what he was best at – scoring goals by the truckload. Thanks to the people that document the past, we should be thankful that we now know much more about “Pepi”.

February 24, 20215 yr

Josef Bican.

Josef Bican leads out Slavia in 1945. Photo: PA

http://img.radio.cz/pictures/c/sport/bican_josef2.jpg