Just reading 'Always on the Attack' a biography of Johan Cruyff by Auke Kok.
While Vic Buckingham was managing Ajax. He gave Cruyff his senior debut.
Wasn't a very good manager for us
FFC players hated him...Bobby Keetch told him to F**k Off when he tried to get the players to ballet dance in training.
Keetchy was my hero as a kid and that **** sold him to QPR.
His brother Lennie worked for my dad and he got me a trip around the cottage back in the times of Haynes (only thing was I never knew how good Haynes was when I was 12)
I remember some of the players asking what position I played and I said goalkeeper so they put me in goal at the Hammy end and proceeded to put balls past me very easily
Victor Frederick Buckingham (23 October 1915 – 26 January 1995) was an English football player and manager.
He played for Second Division side Tottenham Hotspur. As manager he won the 1954 FA Cup final with West Bromwich Albion and finished runners-up in the First Division. He had two periods as manager of Ajax, leading the side to the Dutch Championship of 1960. In 1964, Johan Cruyff made his league debut under him.
In 1971, Buckingham's Barcelona side finished as league runners-up and won the Spanish Cup. He also held manager positions with Fulham, Sheffield Wednesday and in Greece. Buckingham is considered to have been a pioneer of the footballing philosophy known as Total Football, later further developed by his protégé Johan Cruyff.
Quote from: battersea boy on July 22, 2026, 08:05:09 PMFFC players hated him...Bobby Keetch told him to F**k Off when he tried to get the players to ballet dance in training.
Keetchy was my hero and that **** sold him to QPR.
Bobby D. Keetch (25 October 1941 – 29 June 1996) was a footballer who played as a defender for West Ham United, Fulham and QPR.
Keetch was a centre-half. After a brief career at West Ham United, he joined Fulham in 1959 and played for the club between 1961 and 1966, making 106 first team appearances, scoring two goals. He signed for QPR in 1966 from Fulham. Keetch played 52 league games for QPR before joining Durban City in 1969. After three seasons in Durban, he retired in 1971. Keetch was quite a man-about-town and an entrepreneur in business.[citation needed]
He died, aged 54, on 29 June 1996, after suffering a stroke. Fulham FC were desperately short of money in 1996 and in the lowest league. Jimmy Hill has said that the club had so little money that they could not afford a wreath at Keetch's funeral, but somehow they managed it.
The highs and lows of a managerial genius.
High: Discover Johan Cruyff.
Low: Sell Graham Leggat after he had scored 5 goals in his last 2 games.
Quote from: cmg on July 22, 2026, 08:32:34 PMThe highs and lows of a managerial genius.
High: Discover Johan Cruyff.
Low: Sell Graham Leggat after he had scored 5 goals in his last 2 games.
He managed about 13 clubs. Ajax twice. Over 30 years quite a few for just a season.