Earlier this evening, Sky Sports football journalist Graham Hunter described better than anyone what Johan Cruyff meant to fans of the sport, and an otherwise sad day has been lightened somewhat by the constant stream of moving homages and fond memories of the Dutch legend.
In 1983, the three-time Ballon D'Or winner joined Feyenoord at the end of a two-year deal with Ajax, the club whom he had first represented as far back as 1957. Despite a perpetual battle with injuries during his second stint in Amsterdam, Cruyff played a major role in Ajax claiming back-to-back Eredivisie titles. However, he was not offered a new contract by De Meer.
Instead, he made the ballsy call to move to Ajax's bitter rivals in Rotterdam, with Feyenoord fans initially sceptical about recruiting a 36-year-old who had haunted them so zealously in the past. That season, despite an 8-2 defeat to Ajax along the way, Feyenoord won the double, and Cruyff was named Dutch football writers' player of the year as the curtain closed on his illustrious playing career.
Feyenoord hosted Sparta in a charity match at De Kuip earlier this evening, and both sets of players halted the game to pay their respects to a footballing colossus - Godly enough even to make the number 14 shirt famous during an era where players usually lined out wearing 1-11.
