The Man Who Turned Barcelona Upside Down

In 1973, after much coming and going, an athletic striker from Amsterdam was sold to a club of under-achieving Catalans on the Mediterranean. At the time, fifty years ago almost to the day, Amsterdam was a fount of progressive ideas, in culture and politics as well as football. By contrast, the <br/><br/>Catalans were locked in a long argument with Madrid. It made them testy, and backward-looking. They behaved like victims. The striker, who had won three consecutive European Cups, changed all that. <br/><br/>He changed it as a player and, later, he changed it as coach. It is fair and accurate to say that the football club to which he was sold for a then-record fee, would never be quite the same again.Get full written episodes of the show a day early on Substack.<br/><br/><br/>Check out The Luke Alfred Show on: Facebook YouTube <br/><br/><br/>