9th February 1974
It seems that Johan Cruyff was not only a great footballer but also a persuasive husband! When his wife was expecting their third child, the story goes that he persuaded her to have a caesarean, so the child could be born early in a two-week break his club, Barcelona, had previously arranged from competitive football. That would leave him time to prepare for their next match, against Real Madrid! So on 9th February 1974, his only son was born in Amsterdam and was named after the patron saint of Barcelona and Catalonia, Sant Jordi (Saint George in English). Johan Jordi Cruyff, was also to become a Dutch international footballer with his clubs including Manchester United and Barcelona. And the match against Real Madrid? Johan Cruyff was man of the match in his first El Clásico and scored a goal in Barcelona's 5-0 win at the Santiago Bernabéu. Not a bad week in his life then! He is now 50 TODAY!
Johan Cruyff named his newborn son 'Jordi', after the patron saint of Catalonia, but was denied registration because of the Franco dictatorship's ban on Catalan Names. Rather than politely settle for 'Jorge', he flew the family to the Netherlands and registered him there. Jordi's record....PICTURED BELOW
| Youth career | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981–1988 | Ajax | ||
| 1988–1992 | Barcelona | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1992–1994 | Barcelona B | 47 | (14) |
| 1994–1996 | Barcelona | 41 | (11) |
| 1996–2000 | Manchester United | 34 | (8) |
| 1999 | → Celta Vigo (loan) | 8 | (2) |
| 2000–2003 | Alavés | 94 | (8) |
| 2003–2004 | Espanyol | 30 | (3) |
| 2006–2008 | Metalurh Donetsk | 28 | (0) |
| 2009–2010 | Valletta | 17 | (10) |
| Total | 299 | (56) | |
| International career | |||
| 1996 | Netherlands | 9 | (1) |
| 1995–2004 | Catalonia | 9 | (2) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2009–2010 | Valletta (player-assistant manager) | ||
| 2010–2012 | AEK Larnaca (sports director) | ||
| 2012–2017 | Maccabi Tel Aviv (sports director) | ||
| 2017–2018 | Maccabi Tel Aviv | ||
| 2018–2019 | Chongqing Dangdai Lifan | ||
| 2020 | Ecuador | ||
| 2020–2021 | Shenzhen | ||
| 2021–2023 | Barcelona (sporting director) | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
On the same date 1979
Trevor Francis became the first £1m British footballer when moving from Birmingham City to Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest. Cloughie insisted that he only paid £999,999 for Francis but with add-ons the total fee was over £1.15m. The new record fee was over double the old record set just the previous month when David Mills moved from Middlesbrough to WBA.
and....Forty years after the end of the conflict the Second World War, the postponement of a Football League match in 1985 was caused after an unexploded Second World War bomb was found near Sheffield United's Bramall Lane ground. This forced the postponement of the club's Second Division fixture against Oldham Athletic. After the bomb was safely disposed of, the match was played 3 days later, on February12th.
| Score | 2-0 to Sheffield United |
| Competition | League Division Two |
| Attendance | 8,857 |
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