It's a pity that when I started following Man Utd/Netherlands, Dennis Bergkamp was playing for neither. He was an Arsenal legend already by then and had retired for Oranje post-Euro 2000. When his auto biography was released last year, there was clamor for the copies from the Arsenal fans. He was the first super star signing for Arsenal in Premier League era (and I think it was PL record transfer as well with 7m back in 1995) and everyone was interested in what he was going to say. I wasn't one of them. For someone who is Dutch, he is one of the most boring persons in interviews. It doesn't mean that he isn't articulate, you only have to read his interview with David Winner regarding that goal he scored in 1998 World Cup against Argentina. [It's in one of the Blizzard editions]. It's just that he prefers to be away from the limelight and get on with his work – just like his playing style. He was never a super star off the pitch. But on the pitch, there were few who were better. I already read David Winner's Brilliant Orange: Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football and it instantly made to my "best books ever" shelf. So, when I learnt that Bergkamp bio was written with the help of David Winner and I fortuitously got my hands on this copy just as I finished Metamorphosis & other stories, I decided to give it a go. And what a decision it was. One of those few I'm proud of. What followed was one of the most amazing stories and I didn't sleep till I finished.
An extensive story of Bergkamp is available in the Dutch edition and as Winner says, the English edition only covers one-third of it. But it's still a good one. (Auto)biographies of footballers only click when the said players are among the colorful characters on and off the pitch. Neville's and Scholes' books were routine and I already knew most of what they said in their books. Cantona's [written by Arsenal fan Philippe Auclair] and Keane's however – brilliant! Bergkamp's bio certainly ranks among those. #AjaxBias
The book starts predictably with Bergkamp's childhood and there were continuous attempts by Winner to understand the foundations of Bergkamp's genius. What did he do differently in the childhood? Was he always a step ahead of others – not in terms of skill but in terms of vision? How did the gymnastics background of his mother help him? How did the football enthusiasm from his brothers help him and so on. Is it necessary for the kids to be underprivileged for them to really show 'hunger' in football? [Kaka certainly dispels that myth]
Bergkamp was lucky that he got into Ajax side when they were on the edge of their 80s revolution with Amsterdam's favorite son – Johan Cruyff – in charge. To begin your professional career under Johan Cruyff, surrounded with legends like Van Basten and Rijkaard has to be a dream start for every Amsterdam kid. His initial years show how he was taught not just skill but also temperament and patience by Cruyff. Bergkamp had a dip after Cruyff left to Barça and Van Basten-Rijkaard went to Milan as Leo Beenhakker didn't really rate him. Those were certainly the dark days after Cruyff's departure as Ajax went through several managers [9 in 4 yrs I think]. PSV kept winning under Guus Hiddink. But once Van Gaal took over, the glory days returned again. Bergkamp provides an interesting comparison between Cruyff's and Van Gaal's methods. They both play 4-3-3. They both want attacking football but the way they go about the players is different. While Cruyff wants players to be individualistic in a system, Van Gaal prefers the system to the ultimate zenith. Every player must adhere to the system.
And then, Bergkamp moves to Inter Milan, of all the places. I mean, AC Milan already had the Dutch trio of Van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard and with continuous injuries to Van Basten, Bergkamp would have been the main man at Milan under Capello. But it was a bad choice to move to Inter. Those two years at Inter are usually brushed away in the history books. The world (certainly the one I live in) knows about Bergkamp's Ajax years and Arsenal years. The Inter ones, not many know. This book has a huge chapter on his time at Inter Milan and what actually went wrong. We don't just hear Bergkamp's views, David Winner takes the pains to interview Inter players/officials back then like Osvaldo Bagnoli, Giuseppe Bergomi and Riccardo Ferri and to get their points as well. So it's a balanced presentation of both sides of the argument. Milan is also where Bergkamp's fear of flying started and still continues.
After two futile years in Italy, Bergkamp moved to Arsenal under Bruce Rioch. I didn't know Bruce was so loved at Arsenal. Bergkamp certainly talks as if Bruce would have continued for a long time if not for the arrival of a genius Frenchman named Arsene Wenger. Bruce only got into the job after George Graham had to be sacked for taking illegal payments. Oh also, I didn't know Bergkamp met Ian Wright [another Arsenal legend] accidentally at a gas station in South London on his first day! If I had read this 10 yrs ago, I’d have gone 'awww'. But thankfully, people grow up eh. And I already knew the part about Wenger bringing professionals to the club to take care of players' diet.
Bergkamp spent 11 yrs at Arsenal but the book doesn't talk a lot about his Arsenal years. We get several interviews from players like Vieira and Henry about what they thought of Bergkamp. His dressing room jokes (Martin Keown certainly ended up the wrong side of those), his professionalism off the pitch ("beer before match day? Holy!"), his professionalism during training sessions and of course a lengthy interview about his Newcastle goal. David Winner constantly probes about Bergkamp's vision – how he sees the runs of players like Overmars, Vieira, Ljunberg, etc – with his back to them. Part of it is training and part of it is vision. I mean, Bergkamp knows where people make runs without even seeing them. So cool! I liked the anecdote from Vieira: he explains the roles of everyone in the team and finishes the statement with "and I'm the one who gets sent off". Certainly made me chuckle.
Everyone knows the Dutch imploded in Euro 1996. But this is the first book where I read about what exactly happened there. Was it actually internal racism at Ajax/Oranje or was it because of misunderstood racism? I certainly can't cover all that in this review, the book explains it better. And of course, everyone knows the Dutch were the best side in 1998 WC and 2000 Euro but they ended up losing in semis. What's interesting is Henry's comments about France dressing room during those two tournaments – they thought they were fked if they had to face Dutch in finals and Henry still doesn't understand how France avoided them both times. Have to thank their lucky stars.
Four (!) other major points which bring new light to certain matters
1. Tony Adams asking the Arsenal board about assurances regarding the club's ambition during the start of Wenger era. If you keep your football fan brain (which is filled with lot of prejudice) aside and think logically – the sport is a profession for most players. And for a player like Tony Adams who spent all his career at Arsenal, it was understandable to ask where the club is going I suppose. I mean, fans do that all the time during the good years. Think of them during the bad times! At that time, the 1991 league winners side was long gone. George Graham is gone. Bruce Rioch is gone in short time. There comes a Frenchman with his own ideas (radical, at that time). So the players had every right to check with the board.
Now bring back the football brain and see how much a few players are abused just because of this reason. Nobody can say that Tony Adams is not a legend. Heck, he is probably one of the three finest players in Arsenal history. And if a player like that can ask for assurances over club's ambitions, I guess a few players from current era can be cut some slack. Also, Bergkamp had disagreements with Wenger about the way he was handled in final years. While Bergkamp obviously wanted to play all the time, Wenger had to see that Arsenal get the best out of Bergkamp and how he's going to make the team better. When David Winner asks if there was a 'fight', Bergkamp denies it immediately. Just two professionals who wanted to stick to their points. Who woulda thunk eh? :)
2. Bergkamp about ‘diving’: In his opinion, it is acceptable if a player exaggerates contact to show the ref that he got fouled. But how much contact is necessary for the player to fall? Should a small nudge enough to imbalance a player's run be considered a foul? After several questions by David Winner, Bergkamp finally agrees that the decision eventually comes under a player's own moral judgment. It is interesting that he says that this attitude comes from his playing time at Inter Milan. The Italian matches back then had five defensive players vs two opposition attackers and the defenders did a lot of sneaky and underhanded fouling unseen by referees. Also, since the players rarely had chances to score (every team playing Catenaccio), they were forced to win free kicks or penalties whenever they can to get the elusive goal. We can sit here and pass moral judgment like we've always done, but it's an interesting perspective, nonetheless.
3. Ajax revolution 2010 aka Cruyff vs Van Gaal: Lot of new details. Once again after a lean period where Cruyff thought that the club lacked proper direction and was being meddled with board people unrelated to football, he wanted to bring a change. He had support from ex-players, the fans and the media. Then Van Gaal came into the picture and stood as Cruyff's opponent in the war. Despite saying how much it hurts to do it, Cruyff went to the court against the club and eventually won. After that bitter struggle, Ajax are back in safe hands with Frank de Boer, Dennis Bergkamp, Jaap Stam, Marc Overmars, Edwin van der Sar, etc in higher roles at the club.
4. The Ajax way: After taking over responsibilities as one of the coaches at Ajax, Dennis Bergkamp explains the Ajax way of training. How they went back to the Cruyffian ideals and started teaching the players to be individualistic and provided them confidence to take their own decisions depending on the game. I mean, nobody can practice everything in training. Bergkamp would have practiced a lot regarding taking high balls into his stride but he did not and could not practice a 50 yard pass over his shoulder to control with one touch and hit into the goal with the outside of his foot. It all depended on where the ball fell after his touch and where Ayala moved in 1998. Similar is the Newcastle goal. The skill to take those touches can be taught, but the players have to decide themselves that they have to take that touch and then decide what to do after it depending on the match situation.
Also, it seems accepted by Bergkamp and others in the club that Ajax train players not only that they become good but also that they eventually leave and earn money to the club. It is a continuous production cycle - players are trained in skills and technique, they play for at least five years with Ajax, win trophies and then leave to bigger clubs around Europe earning money for Ajax, which is again invested in the training of young players. This is an economic eventuality and the current reality. I've debated this with other fans but it finally came from Bergkamp so I guess it can be taken as an official statement.
The book ends with a collection of some colorful photos from Bergkamp's playing career. Worth printing each one!
I read the book on Saturday and when I watched Ajax vs Heerenveen on Sunday, with Frank de Boer and Dennis Bergkamp on Ajax bench, Marco van Basten on Heerenveen's bench, Van der Sar along with Johan Cruyff and Michel Platini in the stands, it made me all warm and fuzzy.
Dennis Bergkamp - great pro, unbelievable player and one of the modern greats!
An extensive story of Bergkamp is available in the Dutch edition and as Winner says, the English edition only covers one-third of it. But it's still a good one. (Auto)biographies of footballers only click when the said players are among the colorful characters on and off the pitch. Neville's and Scholes' books were routine and I already knew most of what they said in their books. Cantona's [written by Arsenal fan Philippe Auclair] and Keane's however – brilliant! Bergkamp's bio certainly ranks among those. #AjaxBias
The book starts predictably with Bergkamp's childhood and there were continuous attempts by Winner to understand the foundations of Bergkamp's genius. What did he do differently in the childhood? Was he always a step ahead of others – not in terms of skill but in terms of vision? How did the gymnastics background of his mother help him? How did the football enthusiasm from his brothers help him and so on. Is it necessary for the kids to be underprivileged for them to really show 'hunger' in football? [Kaka certainly dispels that myth]
Bergkamp was lucky that he got into Ajax side when they were on the edge of their 80s revolution with Amsterdam's favorite son – Johan Cruyff – in charge. To begin your professional career under Johan Cruyff, surrounded with legends like Van Basten and Rijkaard has to be a dream start for every Amsterdam kid. His initial years show how he was taught not just skill but also temperament and patience by Cruyff. Bergkamp had a dip after Cruyff left to Barça and Van Basten-Rijkaard went to Milan as Leo Beenhakker didn't really rate him. Those were certainly the dark days after Cruyff's departure as Ajax went through several managers [9 in 4 yrs I think]. PSV kept winning under Guus Hiddink. But once Van Gaal took over, the glory days returned again. Bergkamp provides an interesting comparison between Cruyff's and Van Gaal's methods. They both play 4-3-3. They both want attacking football but the way they go about the players is different. While Cruyff wants players to be individualistic in a system, Van Gaal prefers the system to the ultimate zenith. Every player must adhere to the system.
And then, Bergkamp moves to Inter Milan, of all the places. I mean, AC Milan already had the Dutch trio of Van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard and with continuous injuries to Van Basten, Bergkamp would have been the main man at Milan under Capello. But it was a bad choice to move to Inter. Those two years at Inter are usually brushed away in the history books. The world (certainly the one I live in) knows about Bergkamp's Ajax years and Arsenal years. The Inter ones, not many know. This book has a huge chapter on his time at Inter Milan and what actually went wrong. We don't just hear Bergkamp's views, David Winner takes the pains to interview Inter players/officials back then like Osvaldo Bagnoli, Giuseppe Bergomi and Riccardo Ferri and to get their points as well. So it's a balanced presentation of both sides of the argument. Milan is also where Bergkamp's fear of flying started and still continues.
After two futile years in Italy, Bergkamp moved to Arsenal under Bruce Rioch. I didn't know Bruce was so loved at Arsenal. Bergkamp certainly talks as if Bruce would have continued for a long time if not for the arrival of a genius Frenchman named Arsene Wenger. Bruce only got into the job after George Graham had to be sacked for taking illegal payments. Oh also, I didn't know Bergkamp met Ian Wright [another Arsenal legend] accidentally at a gas station in South London on his first day! If I had read this 10 yrs ago, I’d have gone 'awww'. But thankfully, people grow up eh. And I already knew the part about Wenger bringing professionals to the club to take care of players' diet.
Bergkamp spent 11 yrs at Arsenal but the book doesn't talk a lot about his Arsenal years. We get several interviews from players like Vieira and Henry about what they thought of Bergkamp. His dressing room jokes (Martin Keown certainly ended up the wrong side of those), his professionalism off the pitch ("beer before match day? Holy!"), his professionalism during training sessions and of course a lengthy interview about his Newcastle goal. David Winner constantly probes about Bergkamp's vision – how he sees the runs of players like Overmars, Vieira, Ljunberg, etc – with his back to them. Part of it is training and part of it is vision. I mean, Bergkamp knows where people make runs without even seeing them. So cool! I liked the anecdote from Vieira: he explains the roles of everyone in the team and finishes the statement with "and I'm the one who gets sent off". Certainly made me chuckle.
Everyone knows the Dutch imploded in Euro 1996. But this is the first book where I read about what exactly happened there. Was it actually internal racism at Ajax/Oranje or was it because of misunderstood racism? I certainly can't cover all that in this review, the book explains it better. And of course, everyone knows the Dutch were the best side in 1998 WC and 2000 Euro but they ended up losing in semis. What's interesting is Henry's comments about France dressing room during those two tournaments – they thought they were fked if they had to face Dutch in finals and Henry still doesn't understand how France avoided them both times. Have to thank their lucky stars.
Four (!) other major points which bring new light to certain matters
1. Tony Adams asking the Arsenal board about assurances regarding the club's ambition during the start of Wenger era. If you keep your football fan brain (which is filled with lot of prejudice) aside and think logically – the sport is a profession for most players. And for a player like Tony Adams who spent all his career at Arsenal, it was understandable to ask where the club is going I suppose. I mean, fans do that all the time during the good years. Think of them during the bad times! At that time, the 1991 league winners side was long gone. George Graham is gone. Bruce Rioch is gone in short time. There comes a Frenchman with his own ideas (radical, at that time). So the players had every right to check with the board.
Now bring back the football brain and see how much a few players are abused just because of this reason. Nobody can say that Tony Adams is not a legend. Heck, he is probably one of the three finest players in Arsenal history. And if a player like that can ask for assurances over club's ambitions, I guess a few players from current era can be cut some slack. Also, Bergkamp had disagreements with Wenger about the way he was handled in final years. While Bergkamp obviously wanted to play all the time, Wenger had to see that Arsenal get the best out of Bergkamp and how he's going to make the team better. When David Winner asks if there was a 'fight', Bergkamp denies it immediately. Just two professionals who wanted to stick to their points. Who woulda thunk eh? :)
2. Bergkamp about ‘diving’: In his opinion, it is acceptable if a player exaggerates contact to show the ref that he got fouled. But how much contact is necessary for the player to fall? Should a small nudge enough to imbalance a player's run be considered a foul? After several questions by David Winner, Bergkamp finally agrees that the decision eventually comes under a player's own moral judgment. It is interesting that he says that this attitude comes from his playing time at Inter Milan. The Italian matches back then had five defensive players vs two opposition attackers and the defenders did a lot of sneaky and underhanded fouling unseen by referees. Also, since the players rarely had chances to score (every team playing Catenaccio), they were forced to win free kicks or penalties whenever they can to get the elusive goal. We can sit here and pass moral judgment like we've always done, but it's an interesting perspective, nonetheless.
3. Ajax revolution 2010 aka Cruyff vs Van Gaal: Lot of new details. Once again after a lean period where Cruyff thought that the club lacked proper direction and was being meddled with board people unrelated to football, he wanted to bring a change. He had support from ex-players, the fans and the media. Then Van Gaal came into the picture and stood as Cruyff's opponent in the war. Despite saying how much it hurts to do it, Cruyff went to the court against the club and eventually won. After that bitter struggle, Ajax are back in safe hands with Frank de Boer, Dennis Bergkamp, Jaap Stam, Marc Overmars, Edwin van der Sar, etc in higher roles at the club.
4. The Ajax way: After taking over responsibilities as one of the coaches at Ajax, Dennis Bergkamp explains the Ajax way of training. How they went back to the Cruyffian ideals and started teaching the players to be individualistic and provided them confidence to take their own decisions depending on the game. I mean, nobody can practice everything in training. Bergkamp would have practiced a lot regarding taking high balls into his stride but he did not and could not practice a 50 yard pass over his shoulder to control with one touch and hit into the goal with the outside of his foot. It all depended on where the ball fell after his touch and where Ayala moved in 1998. Similar is the Newcastle goal. The skill to take those touches can be taught, but the players have to decide themselves that they have to take that touch and then decide what to do after it depending on the match situation.
Also, it seems accepted by Bergkamp and others in the club that Ajax train players not only that they become good but also that they eventually leave and earn money to the club. It is a continuous production cycle - players are trained in skills and technique, they play for at least five years with Ajax, win trophies and then leave to bigger clubs around Europe earning money for Ajax, which is again invested in the training of young players. This is an economic eventuality and the current reality. I've debated this with other fans but it finally came from Bergkamp so I guess it can be taken as an official statement.
The book ends with a collection of some colorful photos from Bergkamp's playing career. Worth printing each one!
I read the book on Saturday and when I watched Ajax vs Heerenveen on Sunday, with Frank de Boer and Dennis Bergkamp on Ajax bench, Marco van Basten on Heerenveen's bench, Van der Sar along with Johan Cruyff and Michel Platini in the stands, it made me all warm and fuzzy.
Dennis Bergkamp - great pro, unbelievable player and one of the modern greats!
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