My Turn: The Autobiography

This book is easy to read and filled with insightful information about soccer and life lessons. Cruyff tells about his youth, his own development, his rise to greatness, how he transformed the game of soccer to create "Totaal Voetbal", his three years as a player in the US and his ideas about soccer in general. A must read for any one who wants to know more about soccer from the greatest mind the game has known, you will be much enlightened. It is as if you get a look into Cruyff's mind. He taught and inspired Pep Guardiola amongst many others.One point of criticism: the translation job from Dutch to English is sub par and just plain bad at times. For example, the locker room is called changing room or clothing room. Clothing room is a non existent word, changing room is British.

This was a truly wonderful book to read .... firstly, as a soccer fan, you appreciate the how & the why Cruyff was so driven to achieving what he set out to do from a very young age. Secondly, the birth of total football and how that brought Ajax out fo the doldrums they found themselves in the mid 60s to winning 3 European Cup in a row. One always felt the 1978 WC was poorer for Cruyff not taking part but as a family man, you understand the trepidation that he faced leading up to the tournament - without giving too much away in spoilers. Stubborn, hard headed, yet in other ways, very naive, Cruyff also shows the the rest of us that he was also capable of being kind, understanding via his foundation in helping those less fortunate than him. This book isn't all about football, tactics but of man management, threachery that we face in life and how one gets ahead .... by doing the right thing; and without fear of the consequences

Interesting to read about a player I never saw play but heard about. Reading this book showed me how the game of football has changed over the years and how Total Football came about. An interesting read for anyone who loves the game of football but not necessarily a 'wow' book.

The retrospective is helpful to understand Cruyff, his history, and his impact.Readers will enjoy the trip. Football may forever benefit from his contributions.

Excellent self reflection on the life of one of the most influential people in the history of the game. So much has been written about Cryuff over the years. It was nice to hear him explain his own thinking and his own perspective. Whether or not I agree with his thinking, at least I now know his process.

The paper back book was in good shape and the book is awesome.

A truly inspirational look into the mind of one of football's greatest innovators. Not only that, Cruyff is insightful beyond the pitch and provides words to live by to aspire to be a kind, compassionate human being.

Excellent insight in his vision of how he thinks the game should be played. At times too focused on political battles at Ajax and Barcelona. Very opinionated character but for someone that can walk the walk he can talk the talk. In terms of tactics keeps it simple but thought provoking more decisions based on position rather than possession, team spacing and movement. Must read for all aspiring coaches at any level.

I love the stories about football, and his affection for his son Jordi - very moving. However, big chunks of his career were scanned over. 1971-73 was the great period of Dutch football and we learn almost nothing. Although he won in his first season at Barcelona, why didn't they win anything in the next 4 years that he played there? I'd love to know, but we don't find out at all.The translation is really poor - I live in NL and got a bit bored with the repetition of 'busy with' (direct translation of the Dutch 'bezig met', which can be translated in all kinds of different ways.)And the last 80 pages are jammed with details about political infighting at Ajax. It was as if he agreed to the book only to be able to have his say on that stuff, that no-one outside of NL cares about.Really disappointing representation of a brilliant football player, great coach, and outstanding man.

I really enjoyed this book. A great story, about a great man and football icon, written in a compelling and captivating manner. The book flows and tells the story of the life of Dutch football legend, Johan Cruyff. Cruyff talks a lot about his philosophy and his family and how this all shaped him. he also talks openly about his enemies and leaves no prisoners, another aspect I really appreciated about the story. Whether you love the sport of football or not this is a must read for anyone wanting to learn from someone successful.

Its bittersweet reading this book as you know that it was only half finished at the time of the great mans death, it is a intresting insight in to the workings of the man and is a must read for any football fan

Not enough about Cruyff the footballer. Not enough on the great Ajax team of the early 70s or the 1974 world cup in particular. Some interesting insights into his footballing philosophies but far too much about post management wrangling at Ajax. Surprisingly, as a lover of football, especially in the 70s and 80s, I found it rather dry and rather dull.

There are some bits about Johan Cruyff the footballer, which are very enjoyable. Some bits about his philosophy, which are insightful. And a lot about how he's been unfairly treated and it wasn't his fault and he was right all along and so-and-so was picking on him, and frankly those bits verge from the boring to the painful. There are pages and pages about minor points of FC Barcelona's governance procedures that are as tedious as you can get. But you can always skip the dull bits. Pity that's what the editor did.