Bottom of the league table and enduring their worst ever run of form, Mexico’s most successful soccer side have turned to a European great for salvation in their most desperate hour of need.
The club owner hailed him as the “Pope” of football, and sure enough the mere presence of Dutch legend Johan Cruyff inspired an immediate improvement last weekend, with Guadalajara Chivas finally recording their first win of 2012 against in-form Santos Laguna.
But is Cruyff’s appointment a footballing masterstroke or a pricey and elaborate rebranding act by chairman Jorge Vergara?
Cruyff, 64, was officially unveiled as a part-time advisor to the club before 400 fans at the Omnilife Stadium on Saturday. He is the latest link in the Dutch connection, with Chivas having previously employed his compatriots Leo Beenhakker and Hans Westerhof to coach the club.
Widely considered one of the greatest soccer players of all time, Cruyff is one of only four players to have won the Ballon d’Or prize for world player of the year on three separate occasions. He was the star of the Dutch national team in the 1970s and won a host of trophies at Barcelona and Dutch club Ajax, before returning to both sides during an equally successful career as manager.
Cruyff’s arrival is a major coup for Vergara. Nothing if not ambitious, the millionaire businessman says he hopes “to make Chivas the best team in the world.” On the surface, the appointment of such a big name should go some way to placating fans who are angry at Vergara’s stewardship of the club.
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